April 13, - Detainees wielding "improvised weapons" clash with guards. April 22, - US spokesman Lt. Todd Breasseale says that 84 detainees are currently on hunger strikes, more than half of the people being held.
May 16, - Army Lt. Samuel House announces that of the detainees are on hunger strikes, with 30 being fed by tubes. Three have been hospitalized. May 23, - In a speech at the National Defense University, Obama calls on Congress to close the detention center by saying, "Given my administration's relentless pursuit of al Qaeda's leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened.
June 6, - US spokesman Capt. Durand says that detainees remain on hunger strikes. September - The Office of the Director of National Intelligence releases a report, saying that some former detainees are returning to terrorist activity after being released.
The study says that of the detainees who've been released, of them have resumed fighting against the United States. December 31, - The final three ethnic Chinese Uyghur detainess are transferred to Slovakia. February - Detainee Fawzi Odah files a lawsuit relating to the upcoming completion of US combat operations in Afghanistan. His lawyers argue that to hold detainees after the end of active hostilities is a violation of the Geneva Conventions. Kessler rules that he must be forcibly fed because of the "very real probability that Mr.
Dhiab will die. Bowe Bergdahl. Bergdahl without giving Congress the appropriate notice. November 5, - Detainee Odah is released. He will be repatriated to Kuwait where he will remain in custody for a year, in a rehabilitation program. December 7, - Six detainees are transferred to Uruguay, including Dhiab, who has been on a hunger strike. February 18, - A US military appeals court vacates the conviction of David Hicks , an Australian who pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorists.
October 30, - Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at the prison camp, arrives home in the UK after his release. Shamiri is an admitted fighter associated with US-designated terror groups, but it was believed that he was also an al Qaeda facilitator and trainer.
US officials now say that these activities were carried out by another extremist with a similar name. It's the single-largest transfer since Obama took office. Khadr had sued the Canadian government for violating international law by allegedly not protecting its citizens and conspiring with his US captors, who he says abused him. January 30, - US President Donald Trump signs an executive order to keep open the detention facility and opens the door to sending new prisoners there.
Later, Nettleton is convicted of obstructing justice in connection to the death of Tur. June 10, - The Supreme Court rejects a challenge to the indefinite detention of detainees suspected of terror activities who have yet to be charged after being held for nearly two decades at the detention center.
September 7, - The Taliban announces the formation of a hardline interim government for Afghanistan. Photos: Inside Guantanamo Bay. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on January 22, , to close the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay within a year. Eight years later, the prison for terrorism suspects remains open, with 41 detainees as of January President Donald Trump stated during the campaign that he would keep the prison facility open.
Hide Caption. The base at Guantanamo Bay has held terror suspects since January Early in the war on terror, the Bush administration argued these detainees were "enemy combatants" who didn't have the protections accorded to prisoners of war under the Geneva Conventions.
Here, a detainee stands at an interior fence in October A Navy sailor surveys the base in October In December , Congress passed a defense-spending bill that makes it easier to transfer detainees out of the facility. US military guards move a detainee inside the detention center in September At its peak, the detainee population exceeded men.
A military doctor holds a feeding tube used to feed detainees on a hunger strike in June In March , the US military announced that dozens of detainees had begun a hunger strike. By that June, more than detainees were on a hunger strike, and more than 40 were being force-fed, military officials said.
Muslim detainees kneel during early morning prayers in October Cells are marked with an arrow pointing in the direction of Mecca, which is regarded as Islam's holy city. A soldier stands near the fence line in January A Quran sits among a display of items issued to detainees in September He is the only Guantanamo detainee transferred to federal court for prosecution.
At least three of the military commission convictions were thrown out and others partially overturned after a US appellate court found that material support for terrorism and solicitation were not war crimes and, therefore, could not be charged in the military commissions.
Numerous current and former national security policymakers have called for closing Guantanamo. The UN Committee against Torture and other UN rights officials and many government leaders in other countries have called on the US to end detention at Guantanamo and close the facility. Most of the 40 men held in Guantanamo as of June 27, , have been detained by the US for nearly 16 years without charge or trial.
They fit within three broad categories:. There are 26 detainees whom the US asserts it can detain indefinitely for security reasons. The government made these determinations about these men after reviews largely conducted in secret and without adequate process. In , the US Supreme Court ruled that Guantanamo detainees could challenge their detention in federal habeas corpus proceedings.
Human Rights Watch has said that all Guantanamo detainees should either be charged in a court that meets international fair trial standards — such as US federal courts — or released to safe home or third countries. The military commissions at Guantanamo do not meet international fair trial standards and should be disbanded. They are, among other things, mired in excessive secrecy, fail to adequately protect attorney-client privileged communications, and permit the introduction of coerced evidence.
Current cases in the commissions are plagued by procedural problems and questions over the applicable law. The case against the five suspects in the September 11, attacks is headed into its sixtth year of pretrial hearings, with a trial date still years away.
That is bad for the defendants, for the families of the victims, and for justice generally. During the a March hearing, the military judge in the case, Col. James Pohl, refused to set a trial date because the prosecution remained behind in turning over classified evidence to the defense, and court facilities were inadequate. Only eight verdicts have been obtained in the military commissions.
Three of them have been completely overturned by US court decisions, and others partially. They were overturned on the grounds that the charges did not amount to recognized laws of war violations that Congress authorized to be tried in the Guantanamo Bay military commissions.
US government reporting on alleged terrorism by former Guantanamo detainees has been controversial. While some former detainees are reported to have engaged in, or been associated with, violent acts, the vast majority of the more than detainees released from Guantanamo are not reported to have been involved in any such activity. The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence DNI reported that as of January 15, about , or 17 percent, of former detainees had become involved in terrorism since their release.
The overwhelming majority of these reported cases of violence predate , when many detainees were released without very effective post-release monitoring and reporting mechanisms in place.
The credibility of the DNI figures has been contested based on publicly available information about terrorist attacks. The DNI has released inadequate information about former detainees allegedly involved in attacks, and about the attacks themselves. The government has used its claims of connections to violence by former Guantanamo detainees to deny release to current detainees, particularly those from the same country. But decisions to release detainees should be based on individualized assessments about whether they can be prosecuted for a criminal offense, not on the actions of former detainees released years before.
Detaining someone because of the actions of others amounts to collective punishment and denies detainees due process. Such armed groups have routinely use d the situation at Guantanamo in their propaganda materials to recruit fighters globally. Sending future detainees to Guantanamo is also unnecessary — the US has other options for holding those apprehended and accused of alleged crimes committed abroad.
US forces abroad that apprehend people suspected of war crimes and other crimes under US law should promptly transfer the suspects to the United States for prosecution in US federal courts.
Otherwise, the US should, wherever possible, transfer captured combatants and civilians posing a serious security threat to national authorities in the country of capture for possible prosecution. In circumstances in which such transfers cannot lawfully be made, such as if the detainee would face likely torture or if the US is acting without the permission of the national authorities, such as in Syria, continued detention must meet basic due process standards.
This would not be required during a so-called international armed conflict between governments, such as between the US government and the Syrian government. Every detainee must be treated humanely at all times. Visits from family members must be allowed if practicable. Children being detained must be held separately from adults, unless they are detained with their family. People taken into custody during an armed conflict are entitled to basic protections. These include being promptly brought before an independent authority, such as a judge.
The detainee must be provided specific reasons for their detention and have the ability to contest the detention. Where feasible the detainee should have access to a lawyer or other counsel.
Individuals who are not being prosecuted for a criminal offense may only be held for exceptional reasons of security and must be released as soon as the reasons for their deprivation of their liberty cease to exist. Detention under such circumstances should be reviewed at least every six months. Regular soldiers and civilians captured in fighting between two government forces would be protected under the rules for prisoners-of-war and security detainees under the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions.
Human Rights Watch supports closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but not by detaining individuals currently held there in US prisons without charge or trial.
Moving them to the US would not end the rights violation of detention without trial, just transfer people whose rights are being violated to a new location. However, those who can be charged with a criminal offense should be, and should be brought to the US and prosecuted in US federal courts.
Those who cannot be charged should be released to a safe home country or third country. Currently, US law bars the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo to the US for continued detention or trial. The use of extremely harsh supermax prisons raises grave human rights concerns generally. They should not be used to hold people who have not been convicted of an offense, such as those being held without trial at Guantanamo. On January 30, , President Trump signed an executive order to keep the Guantanamo Bay detention facility open.
The order directs the defense secretary to re-examine US detention policy and provide recommendations for handling detainees captured by the US in connection with an armed conflict, including an option of sending them to Guantanamo. The order also states that newly captured suspects can be prosecuted in federal court. Interagency review boards will continue to examine the cases of Guantanamo detainees, and they could be released if cleared by a review board or a court. Though the executive order largely reaffirms existing US government policies, the Trump administration has thus far not shown a strong commitment to enforcing them.
The order preserves the option to transfer detainees out of Guantanamo, but Trump has not transferred out any detainees since taking office in January Some Justice Department attorneys do not want terrorism suspects apprehended abroad sent to Guantanamo because the federal courts have been much more effective at prosecuting terrorism cases than the military commissions at Guantanamo. Moreover, many countries that would normally work with the US on counterterrorism efforts will not extradite suspects to the US if they could be sent to Guantanamo.
While Trump himself has recognized that the military commissions have been ineffectual in prosecuting terrorism cases, the executive order raises concerns that under certain circumstances he intends to send future detainees there.
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