82-619: Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp of Joint Task Force 160 on board the United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay . The first twenty detainees arrived at Guantanamo on 11 January 2002. It was named Camp X-Ray because various temporary camps used to house Cuban and Haitian migrants in the 80s and 90s on board the station were named using NATO phonetic alphabet . The legal status of detainees at
164-544: A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In 2010, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson , a former aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell , stated in an affidavit that top U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush , Vice President Dick Cheney , and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, had known that the majority of the detainees initially sent to Guantánamo were innocent, but that the detainees had been kept there for reasons of political expedience. Wilkerson's statement
246-691: A hot semi-arid climate according to the Köppen climate classification , with high temperatures throughout the year. Rainfall is rather low, and it is one of the driest regions in Cuba. The United States first seized Guantánamo Bay and established a naval base there in 1898 during the Spanish–American War in the Battle of Guantánamo Bay . In 1903, the United States and Cuba signed a lease granting
328-619: A prisoner . In late 1760, two Royal Navy frigates , HMS Trent and HMS Boreas cut out the French privateers Vainquer and Mackau , which were hiding in the bay. The French were also forced to burn the Guespe , another privateer, to prevent her capture. During the Spanish–American War of 1898, the U.S. Navy fleet attacking Santiago needed shelter from the summer hurricane season. They chose Guantánamo because of its excellent harbor. U.S. Marines landed with naval support in
410-550: A congressional refusal of funds for its closure. Alfred-Maurice de Zayas has argued that the 1903 lease agreement was imposed on Cuba under duress and was a treaty between unequals, no longer compatible with modern international law, and voidable ex nunc . He makes six suggestions for a peaceful settlement, including following the procedure outlined in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties . However, Article 4 of
492-558: A feast for the local chieftain. When Spanish settlers took control of Cuba, the bay became a vital harbor on the island's south side. The bay was briefly renamed as "Cumberland Bay" when a British expeditionary force captured it in 1741 during the War of Jenkins' Ear . British Admiral, Edward Vernon , arrived with a force of eight warships and 4,000 soldiers with plans to march on Santiago de Cuba . However, local Spanish colonial troops defeated him and forced him to withdraw or face becoming
574-743: A half years internment . Ghezali claimed that he was the victim of repeated torture. Omar Deghayes alleged he was blinded after his right eye was gouged by an officer. Juma Al Dossary claimed he was interrogated hundreds of times, beaten, tortured with broken glass, barbed wire , burning cigarettes, and suffered sexual assaults . David Hicks also made allegations of torture and mistreatment in Guantanamo Bay, including sensory deprivation , stress positions , having his head slammed into concrete, repeated anal penetration, routine sleep deprivation and forced drug injections. An Associated Press report claimed that some detainees were turned over to
656-665: A military judge to order the release of art made in her client, Ammar al-Baluchi 's cell. She complained that painting and drawing was made difficult, and he was not permitted to give artwork to his counsel. It has been reported that prisoners cooperating with interrogations have been rewarded with Happy Meals from the McDonald's on base. By May 2011, there had been at least six reported suicides in Guantánamo. During August 2003, there were 23 suicide attempts. The U.S. officials did not say why they had not previously reported
738-414: A military prison has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and others, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. Three British Muslim prisoners, known in
820-588: A multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda and capture its leader, Osama bin Laden . During the invasion, on November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a military order allowing for the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without charge and preventing them from legally challenging their detention. The following month, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that habeas corpus —a legal recourse against unlawful detention—did not apply to Guantanamo Bay because it
902-469: A report from the ICRC. The ICRC reports of several activities that, it said, were "tantamount to torture": exposure to loud noise or music, prolonged extreme temperatures, or beatings. It also reported that a Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT), also called 'Biscuit,' and military physicians communicated confidential medical information to the interrogation teams (weaknesses, phobias, etc.), resulting in
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#1732790684103984-470: A request to suspend proceedings at Guantanamo military commission for 120 days and to shut down the detention facility that year. On January 29, 2009, a military judge at Guantanamo rejected the White House request in the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , creating an unexpected challenge for the administration as it reviewed how the United States brings Guantanamo detainees to trial. On May 20, 2009,
1066-468: A system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture." The United States government reportedly rejected the Red Cross findings at the time. On 30 November 2004, The New York Times published excerpts from an internal memo leaked from the U.S. administration, referring to
1148-453: A time to the camp, where they were believed to be interrogated. He believes that the three detainees that DoD announced as having committed suicide were questioned under torture the night of their deaths. From 2003 to 2006, the CIA operated a small site, known informally as "Penny Lane," to house prisoners whom the agency attempted to recruit as spies against Al-Qaeda . The housing at Penny Lane
1230-461: A widespread hunger strike; they were subsequently being force fed until the U.S. Government stopped releasing hunger strike information, due to it having "no operational purpose". During the month of Ramadan that year, the US military claimed that the amount of detainees on hunger strike had dropped from 106 to 81. However, according to defense attorney Clive Stafford Smith , "The military are cheating on
1312-582: The Dominican Republic . Eventually, the US admitted 10,747 of the Haitians to refugee status in the United States. Most of the refugees were housed in a tent city on the re-purposed airstrip that would later be used to house the complex used for the Guantanamo military commissions . The refugees who represented discipline or security problems were held on the site that later became Camp XRay ,
1394-552: The George W. Bush administration that "a federal district court could not properly exercise habeas jurisdiction over an alien detained at GBC ( Guantanamo Bay, Cuba )", military guards took the first twenty detainees to Camp X-Ray on January 11, 2002. At the time, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the detention camp was established to detain extraordinarily dangerous people, to interrogate detainees in an optimal setting, and to prosecute detainees for war crimes . In practice,
1476-557: The Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001 . As of August 2024, at least 780 persons from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 740 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody , and 30 remain; only 16 detainees have ever been charged by the U.S. with criminal offenses. Shortly after the September 11 attacks , the U.S. declared its " war on terror " effort and led
1558-664: The Guantánamo Bay Naval Base was established pursuant to a lease agreement with no expiration date. The 1934 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations superseded much of the 1903 treaty but reaffirmed the Guantánamo Bay lease, under which Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty but the U.S. exercises sole jurisdiction. Since coming to power in 1959 , Cuba's communist government considers the U.S. military presence at Guantánamo Bay illegal and has repeatedly called for its return. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, including
1640-516: The Spanish–American War . The newly-formed American protectorate incorporated the Platt Amendment in the 1901 Cuban Constitution . Tomás Estrada Palma , the first President of Cuba, offered a perpetual lease for the area around Guantánamo Bay on February 23, 1903. The 1903 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations held, among other things, that the United States, to operate coaling and naval stations, has "complete jurisdiction and control" of
1722-622: The Third Geneva Convention do not apply to Al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters, claiming that the Convention applies to only military personnel and guerrillas who are part of a chain of command , wear distinctive insignia, bear arms openly, and abide by the rules of war. Jim Phillips of The Heritage Foundation said that "some of these terrorists who are not recognized as soldiers don't deserve to be treated as soldiers." Critics of U.S. policy, such as George Monbiot , claimed
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#17327906841031804-578: The U.S. Congress , on the grounds of national security, prevented its closure. During the Obama Administration , the number of inmates was reduced from about 250 to 41, but controversial policies such as the use of military courts were left in place. In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely, and only one prisoner was repatriated during his administration. Since taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden has vowed to close
1886-468: The United Nations , concluded that detainees have been systematically mistreated in violation of their human rights . Amid multiple legal and political challenges, as well as consistent widespread criticism and condemnation both domestically and internationally, the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has been subject to repeated calls and efforts for closure. President Bush, while maintaining that
1968-603: The United States Senate passed an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (H.R. 2346) by a 90–6 vote to block funds needed for the transfer or release of prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. President Obama issued a presidential memorandum dated 15 December 2009, ordering Thomson Correctional Center , Thomson, Illinois to be prepared to accept transferred Guantanamo prisoners. The Final Report of
2050-632: The invasion of Guantánamo Bay in June 1898. As they moved inland, however, Spanish resistance increased, and the Marines required support from Cuban scouts. Guantanamo Bay is of interest to U.S. military planners due to its geographical location in the Caribbean. It became a strategic location in defending the Panama Canal and the southern US coast. It was also a natural haven for naval vessels in
2132-561: The 1898 Spanish–American War , U.S. forces invaded and occupied Cuba amid its war of independence against Spain . In 1901, an American-drafted amendment to the Cuban constitution nominally recognized Cuba's sovereignty while allowing the U.S. to intervene in local affairs and establish naval bases on land leased or purchased from the Cuban government. The Cuban–American Treaty of Relations of 1903 reaffirmed these provisions, and that same year,
2214-466: The 2011 Defense Authorization Bill , which, in part, placed restrictions on the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the mainland or to foreign countries, thus impeding the closure of the facility. In February 2011, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that Guantanamo Bay was unlikely to be closed, due to opposition in the Congress. Congress particularly opposed moving prisoners to facilities in
2296-498: The Associated Press reported Camp 7 , a separate facility on the naval base that was considered the highest security jail on the base. That facility held detainees previously imprisoned in a global, clandestine network of CIA prisons . An attorney first visited a detainee at Camp 7 in 2013. The precise location of Camp 7 has never been confirmed. In early April 2021, Camp 7 was shut down due to deteriorating conditions of
2378-637: The Cuban revolution. The remaining uncashed checks, made out to "Treasurer General of the Republic" (a title that ceased to exist after the revolution), were kept in Castro's office, stuffed into a desk drawer. In the 1990s, the United States used Guantanamo Bay as a processing center for asylum-seekers and as a camp for HIV-positive refugees. Over a period of six months, the US interned over 30,000 Haitian refugees in Guantanamo, while another 30,000 fled to
2460-541: The Cuban-operated minefields and enter the base. Excludables were held in Camp X-ray near Post 37 before being sent back to Cuba. Excludables included troublemakers from the regular camps, where the United States was processing Cuban Asylum Seekers (CAS) for emigration to the United States. The US government was at the time allowed access to Cuban records to process these people. Over 100,000 CAS were processed in
2542-461: The Department of Defense "extended an invitation to United Nations Special Rapporteurs to visit detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station." This was rejected by the U.N. because of DoD restrictions, stating that "[the] three human rights officials invited to Guantánamo Bay wouldn't be allowed to conduct private interviews" with prisoners. Simultaneously, media reports began related to
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2624-647: The Department of Justice has disputed certain facts contained in the article about the soldiers' account. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inspected some of the prison facilities in June 2004. In a confidential report issued in July 2004 and leaked to The New York Times in November 2004, Red Cross inspectors accused the U.S. military of using "humiliating acts, solitary confinement , temperature extremes, and use of forced positions" against prisoners. The inspectors concluded that "the construction of such
2706-531: The Geneva Conventions . Following this, on July 7, 2006, the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that detainees would, in the future, be entitled to protection under Common Article 3. Current and former detainees have reported abuse and torture, which the Bush administration denied. In a 2005 Amnesty International report, the facility was called the " Gulag of our times." In 2006,
2788-609: The Guantanamo Review Task Force , dated January 22, 2010, published the results for the 240 detainees subject to the review: 36 were the subject of active cases or investigations; 30 detainees from Yemen were designated for "conditional detention" due to the poor security environment in Yemen; 126 detainees were approved for transfer; 48 detainees were determined "too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution". On January 6, 2011, President Obama signed
2870-446: The Guantánamo Bay, while recognizing that the Republic of Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty. In 1934, a new Cuban-American Treaty of Relations , reaffirming the lease, granted Cuba and its trading partners free access through the bay, modified the lease payment from $ 2,000 in U.S. gold coins per year to the 1934 equivalent value of $ 4,085 in U.S. dollars, and made the lease permanent unless both governments agreed to break it, or until
2952-605: The Military Intelligence unit assigned to guard Camp Delta, including a decorated non-commissioned Army officer who was on duty as sergeant of the guard the night of 9–10 June 2006. Their account contradicts the report published by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Horton said the deaths had occurred at a black site, known as "Camp No", outside the perimeter of the camp. According to its spokeswoman Laura Sweeney,
3034-537: The Mubarak era, it's been alleged that Egyptian State Security officers and agents travelled to Cuba and tortured detainees. They also allegedly trained U.S. soldiers on torture techniques. Guant%C3%A1namo Bay Guantánamo Bay ( Spanish : Bahía de Guantánamo , [baˈia ðe ɣwãnˈtanamo] ) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba . It is the largest harbor on
3116-756: The Quran down the toilet , defacing the Quran , writing comments and remarks on the Quran, tearing pages out of the Quran, and denying detainees a copy of the Quran. One of the justifications offered for the continued detention of Mesut Sen , during his Administrative Review Board hearing, was: Emerging as a leader, the detainee has been leading the detainees around him in prayer. The detainees listen to him speak and follow his actions during prayer. Red Cross inspectors and released detainees have alleged acts of torture, including sleep deprivation , beatings and locking in confined and cold cells. The use of Guantánamo Bay as
3198-594: The Saudi Arabian government. The Saudi government developed a re-integration program including religious education, helping to arrange marriages and jobs, to bring detainees back into society. The Center for Policy and Research published Death in Camp Delta (2009), its analysis of the NCIS report, noting many inconsistencies in the government account and said the conclusion of suicide by hanging in their cells
3280-472: The U.S. Government detains those who are not convicted in military commissions. In January 2010, Scott Horton published an article in Harper's Magazine describing " Camp No ", a black site about 1 mile (1.6 km) outside the main camp perimeter, which included an interrogation center. His description was based on accounts by four guards who had served at Guantanamo. They said prisoners were taken one at
3362-478: The U.S. abandoned the base property. After the Cuban Revolution of 1953–1959, United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower insisted that the status of the base remain unchanged, despite the objections of Fidel Castro . Since then, the Cuban government has cashed only one of the rent checks from the U.S. government, and even then, according to Castro, only because of "confusion" in the early days of
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3444-534: The U.S. by Afghan tribesmen in return for cash bounties . The first Denbeaux study , published by Seton Hall University Law School , reproduced copies of several leaflets, flyers, and posters the U.S. government distributed to advertise the bounty program; some of which offered bounties of "millions of dollars." Hunger-striking detainees claimed that guards were force feeding them in the fall of 2005: "Detainees said large feeding tubes were forcibly shoved up their noses and down into their stomachs, with guards using
3526-507: The United Nations unsuccessfully demanded that Guantanamo Bay detention camp be closed. On 13 January 2009, Susan J. Crawford , appointed by Bush to review DoD practices used at Guantanamo Bay and oversee the military trials, became the first Bush administration official to concede that torture occurred at Guantanamo Bay on one detainee ( Mohammed al-Qahtani ), saying "We tortured Qahtani." On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued
3608-552: The United States for detention or trial. In April 2011, WikiLeaks began publishing 779 secret files relating to prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. On November 4, 2015, President Barack Obama stated that he was preparing to unveil a plan to close the facility and move some of the terrorism suspects held there to U.S. soil. The plan would propose one or more prisons from a working list that includes facilities in Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina. Two others that were on
3690-736: The United States permission to use the land as a coaling and naval station. The lease satisfied the Platt Amendment , passed by the United States Congress , which stated that a naval base at "certain specific points agreed upon by the President of the United States" was needed to "enable the United States to maintain the independence of Cuba." The original inhabitants of the bay, the Taínos , called it Guantánamo . Christopher Columbus landed in 1494, naming it Puerto Grande . On landing, Columbus' crew found Taíno fishermen preparing
3772-503: The camp before his term ends, although his administration has continued with multimillion-dollar expansions to military commissions and other Guantanamo Bay facilities. Following the release of 10 detainees from Guantanamo by April 2023, 30 detainees remain as of June 2024; of these, 16 are awaiting transfer, 11 have been charged or convicted of war crimes, and three are held in indefinite law-of-war detention without facing tribunal charges nor being recommended for release. During
3854-546: The camp, as well as government processes for trying their cases, has been a significant source of controversy; several landmark cases have been determined by the United States Supreme Court . As of 29 April 2002, Camp X-Ray was closed and all prisoners were transferred to Camp Delta . Camp X-Ray was originally built during Operation Sea Signal to house "excludables" in the mid-1990s when Fidel Castro allowed any Cuban wishing to do so, to cross through
3936-482: The crime on the prisoners... it's possible they were tortured," said Mufleh al-Qahtani, the group's deputy director, in a statement to the local Al-Riyadh newspaper. Highly disturbed about the deaths of its citizens under U.S. custody, the Saudi government pressed the United States to release its citizens into its custody. From June 2006 through 2007, the U.S. released 93 detainees (of an original 133 Saudis detained) to
4018-400: The deaths. Amnesty International said the apparent suicides "are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention" and called the prison "an indictment" of the George W. Bush administration 's human rights record. Saudi Arabia's state-sponsored Saudi Human Rights group blamed the U.S. for the deaths. "There are no independent monitors at the detention camp so it is easy to pin
4100-435: The detainees were housed in tents with living conditions "not markedly different" from that of the prisoners while the permanent facilities at Camp Delta were under construction. This camp was one of several locations managed by the United States where prisoners had suffered torture by US soldiers and agents in relation to interrogation. Dick Cheney , as the then Vice President in 2002, said: Prisoners could be detained until
4182-701: The detention camp, is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) of the Southern Command of the Department of Defense (DoD). The main detention compound is Camp Delta , which replaced the temporary Camp X-Ray in April 2002, with other compounds including Camp Echo , Camp Iguana , and the Guantanamo psychiatric ward . After political appointees at the U.S. Office of Legal Counsel , Department of Justice advised
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#17327906841034264-637: The end of the natural conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to Carol Rosenberg , writing for the Miami Herald , Camp X-Ray was visited by a court-ordered forensic FBI team in November 2009. The team spent a week photographing the camp and searching for evidence of abuse of prisoners. Camp X-Ray guard Brandon Neely later admitted throwing prisoners to the ground. In 2009, he tracked two inmates down and apologized for his treatment of them, saying that he still felt guilty. Neely also became involved with
4346-510: The facilities. The remaining prisoners at Camp 7 were transferred to Camp 5. Camp 5, as well as Camp 6, were built in 2003–04. They are modeled after a high security facility in Indiana. In September 2016, Camp 5 was closed and a portion of it dedicated to use as a medical facility for detainees. A portion of Camp 5 was again re-dedicated in early April 2021, when Camp 7 so-called "high value" former CIA detainees were moved there. In Camp 6,
4428-472: The facility was necessary and that prisoners were treated well, nonetheless expressed his desire to have it closed in the beginning of 2005. His administration began winding down the detainee population in large numbers, ultimately releasing or transferring around 540. In 2009, Bush's successor, Barack Obama , issued executive orders to close the facility within one year and identify lawful alternatives for its detainees; however, strong bipartisan opposition from
4510-560: The form of " enhanced interrogation techniques ". As early as October 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned of "deterioration in the psychological health of a large number of detainees". Subsequent reports by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch , as well as intergovernmental institutions such as the Organization of American States and
4592-489: The government had violated the Conventions in attempting to create a distinction between " prisoners of war " and "illegal combatants." Amnesty International called the situation "a human rights scandal" in a series of reports. One of the allegations of abuse at the camp is the abuse of the religion of the detainees. Prisoners released from the camp have alleged incidents of abuse of religion including flushing
4674-539: The incident. After this event, the Pentagon reclassified alleged suicide attempts as "manipulative self-injurious behaviors". Camp physicians alleged that detainees do not genuinely wish to end their lives, rather, the prisoners supposedly feel that they may be able to get better treatment or release with suicide attempts. Daryl Matthews , a professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Hawaii who examined
4756-444: The initial site of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp . In August 1994, rioting broke out in the detention camps and 20 U.S. military police and 45 Haitians were injured. Since 2002, the base has included the detainment camp for individuals deemed of risk to United States national security. In 2009, the U.S. President, Barack Obama , gave orders for the detention camp to close by January 22, 2010. As of 2021 , it remains open due to
4838-539: The list, in California and Washington state, do not appear to have made the preliminary cut, according to a senior administration official familiar with the proposal. By the end of the Obama Administration on January 19, 2017, however, the detention center remained open, with 41 detainees remaining. In June 2022, The New York Times publicly released photographs of the first camp detainees following
4920-532: The media at the time as the " Tipton Three ", were repatriated to the United Kingdom in March 2004, where officials immediately released them without charge. The three alleged ongoing torture, sexual degradation , forced drugging, and religious persecution being committed by U.S. forces at Guantánamo Bay. The former Guantanamo detainee Mehdi Ghezali was freed without charge on 9 July 2004, after two and
5002-414: The mid-1990s and allowed to enter the United States. During the War on terror , beginning in the fall of 2001 after the 9/11 attacks , the US reestablished the camp for housing captured combatants. To get the camp up and operational Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 133 sent a detachment that had been working at Roosevelt Roads Naval Station . The supervision and care of these detainees at Camp X-Ray
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#17327906841035084-551: The number of suicide attempts is higher. On 10 June 2006 three detainees were found dead, who, according to the DoD, "killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact." Prison commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris claimed this was not an act of desperation, despite prisoners' pleas to the contrary, but rather "an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us." The three detainees were said to have hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes. According to military officials,
5166-510: The numbers as usual. Some detainees are taking a token amount of food as part of the traditional breaking of the fast at the end of each day in Ramadan, so that is now conveniently allowing them to be counted as not striking." In 2014, the Obama administration undertook a "rebranding effort" by referring to the hunger strikes as "long term non-religious fasting." Attorney Alka Pradhan petitioned
5248-657: The organization Iraq Veterans Against the War . Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp , also known as GTMO or GITMO ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ t m oʊ / GIT -moh ), is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay , Cuba . It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and " illegal enemy combatants " during
5330-503: The prisoners losing confidence in their medical care. The ICRC's access to the base was conditioned, as is normal for ICRC humanitarian operations, on the confidentiality of their report. Following leaking of the U.S. memo, some in the ICRC wanted to make their report public or confront the U.S. administration. The newspaper said the administration and the Pentagon had seen the ICRC report in July 2004 but rejected its findings. The story
5412-442: The prisoners, stated that given the cultural differences between interrogators and prisoners, "intent" was difficult, if not impossible to ascertain. Clinical depression is common in Guantánamo, with 1/5 of all prisoners being prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac . Guantanamo Bay officials have reported 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend
5494-706: The probe into FBI accounts of abuse of Guantánamo prisoners by Defense Department personnel, concluded the man (Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi, described as the " 20th hijacker ") was subjected to "abusive and degrading treatment" by "the cumulative effect of creative, persistent and lengthy interrogations." The techniques used were authorized by the Pentagon, he said. Many of the released prisoners have complained of enduring beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, prolonged hooding , cultural and sexual humiliation, enemas as well as other forced injections, and other physical and psychological mistreatment during their detention in Camp Delta. During
5576-605: The protections of the Geneva Conventions , while also claiming it was treating "all detainees consistently with the principles of the Geneva Convention." Ensuing U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 2004 have determined otherwise and that U.S. courts do have jurisdiction: it ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on June 29, 2006, that detainees were entitled to the minimal protections listed under Common Article 3 of
5658-514: The question of prisoner treatment. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler also ordered the U.S. government to release medical records going back a week before such feedings took place. In early November 2005, the U.S. suddenly accelerated, for unknown reasons, the rate of prisoner release, but this was not sustained. Detainee Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi has alleged that during his time as a JAG officer in Guantanamo, Ron DeSantis oversaw force-feedings of detainees. In May 2013, detainees undertook
5740-428: The region. Due to other factors, it pushed the US to consider the area as a suitable location for a Naval Base. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base surrounds the southern portion of the bay. The naval base, nicknamed "GTMO" or "Gitmo", covers 116 square kilometres (45 sq mi) on the western and eastern banks of the bay. It was established in 1898, when the United States took control of Cuba from Spain following
5822-399: The same tubes from one patient to another. The detainees say no sedatives were provided during these procedures, which they allege took place in front of U.S. physicians, including the head of the prison hospital. "A hunger striking detainee at Guantánamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die", one of his lawyers has said. Within a few weeks,
5904-468: The site has long been used for alleged " enemy combatants ". The DoD at first kept secret the identity of the individuals held in Guantanamo, but after losing attempts to defy a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press , the U.S. military officially acknowledged holding 779 prisoners in the camp. The Bush administration asserted that detainees were not entitled to any of
5986-538: The south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off from its immediate hinterland . The United States assumed territorial control over the southern portion of Guantánamo Bay under the 1903 Lease . The United States exercises jurisdiction and control over this territory as the home of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base , while recognizing that Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty . Guantánamo Bay has
6068-499: The suicides were coordinated acts of protests. Human rights activists and defense attorneys said the deaths signaled the desperation of many of the detainees. Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights , which represented about 300 Guantánamo detainees, said that detainees "have this incredible level of despair that they will never get justice." At the time, human rights groups called for an independent public inquiry into
6150-475: Was an al-Qaeda member who recruited for, and provided money for, al-Qaeda training camps and himself trained there to fight US or allied troops. Camp Delta was a 612-unit detention center finished in April 2002. It included detention camps 1 through 4, as well as Camp Echo, where detainees not facing military commissions are held. Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility, which was closed in April 2002. Its prisoners were transferred to Camp Delta. In 2008,
6232-539: Was handled by Joint Task Force 160 (JTF-160), while interrogations were conducted by Joint Task Force 170 (JTF-170). JTF-160 was under the command of Marine Brigadier General Michael R. Lehnert until March 2002, when he was replaced by Brigadier General Rick Baccus . Since Camp X-Ray's closure and the subsequent opening of Camp Delta , JTF-160 and 170 have been combined into Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO). In accordance with U.S. military and Geneva Convention doctrine on prisoner treatment, soldiers guarding
6314-940: Was less sparse by the standards of Guantanamo Bay, with private kitchens, showers, televisions, and beds with mattresses. The camp was divided into eight units. Its existence was revealed to the Associated Press in 2013. A 2013 Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) report concluded that health professionals working with the military and intelligence services "designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture of detainees." Medical professionals were ordered to ignore ethical standards during involvement in abusive interrogation, including monitoring of vital signs under stress-inducing procedures. They used medical information for interrogation purposes and participated in force-feeding of hunger strikers , in violation of World Medical Association and American Medical Association prohibitions. Supporters of controversial techniques have declared that certain protections of
6396-812: Was not obliged to grant prisoners basic protections under the U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions , since the former did not extend to foreign soil and the latter did not apply to " unlawful enemy combatants ". Various humanitarian and legal advocacy groups claimed that these policies were unconstitutional and violated international human rights law ; several landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions found that detainees had rights to due process and habeas corpus but were still subject to military tribunals , which remain controversial for allegedly lacking impartiality , independence, and judicial efficiency. In addition to restrictions on their legal rights, detainees are widely reported to have been housed in unfit conditions and routinely abused and tortured , often in
6478-401: Was not supported. It suggested that camp administration officials had either been grossly negligent or were participating in a cover-up of the deaths. In January 2010 Scott Horton published an article in Harper's Magazine disputing the government's findings and suggesting the three died of accidental manslaughter following torture. His account was based on the testimony of four members of
6560-634: Was originally reported in several newspapers, including The Guardian , and the ICRC reacted to the article when the report was leaked in May. According to a 21 June 2005 New York Times opinion article, on 29 July 2004, an FBI agent was quoted as saying, "On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times, they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 18, 24 hours or more." Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt , who headed
6642-506: Was outside of U.S. territory. Subsequently, in January 2002, a temporary detention facility dubbed " Camp X-Ray " was created to house suspected Al-Qaeda members and Taliban fighters primarily captured in Afghanistan . By May 2003, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had grown into a larger and more permanent facility that housed over 680 prisoners, the vast majority without formal charges. The Bush Administration maintained that it
6724-410: Was submitted in connection with a lawsuit filed in federal district court by former detainee Adel Hassan Hamad against the United States government and several individual officials. This supported numerous claims made by former detainees like Moazzam Begg , a British citizen who had been held for three years in detention camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo as an enemy combatant, under the claim that he
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