This development at Guantanamo Bay has been virtually ignored in the Western press. Hundreds of detainees have engaged in a hunger strike to protest conditions and the complete lack of legal rights.
John Feffer, Znet, October 7:
"The Bush administration claims that the Guantanamo detainees are "unlawful combatants" from the war in Afghanistan. Since they are presumed to be "terrorists," the detainees are supposed to be getting what they deserve. But the detainees include businessmen seized in The Gambia. A taxi driver from Afghanistan spent a year in Guantanamo where he was repeatedly interrogated, put in solitary confinement, never put on trial, and finally released without explanation, apology, or compensation. Two other men released after a year of captivity were, by their own reports, 99 and 105 years old. In early 2004, three minors aged 13 to 15 were released."
"Among those that remain, it is likely that many were handed over to U.S. authorities in exchange for a bounty offered by the U.S. military. On the television show 60 Minutes, a U.S. military interrogator estimated that 20 percent of the Camp Delta inmates are innocent."
Meanwhile, Australian citizen David Hicks awaits his military trial and an almost obligatory guilty sentence. The man deserves fair process.
John Feffer, Znet, October 7:
"The Bush administration claims that the Guantanamo detainees are "unlawful combatants" from the war in Afghanistan. Since they are presumed to be "terrorists," the detainees are supposed to be getting what they deserve. But the detainees include businessmen seized in The Gambia. A taxi driver from Afghanistan spent a year in Guantanamo where he was repeatedly interrogated, put in solitary confinement, never put on trial, and finally released without explanation, apology, or compensation. Two other men released after a year of captivity were, by their own reports, 99 and 105 years old. In early 2004, three minors aged 13 to 15 were released."
"Among those that remain, it is likely that many were handed over to U.S. authorities in exchange for a bounty offered by the U.S. military. On the television show 60 Minutes, a U.S. military interrogator estimated that 20 percent of the Camp Delta inmates are innocent."
Meanwhile, Australian citizen David Hicks awaits his military trial and an almost obligatory guilty sentence. The man deserves fair process.
1 Comments:
The hypocrisy of such behaviour isn't lost on many in the world, though many in the West seem to justify it somehow...
Blow-back, indeed.
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