From Amnesty International USA (http://www.amnestyusa.org):
The military prison at Guantánamo Bay is a glaring, longstanding stain on the human rights record of our country. It’s time for President Biden to take a powerful stand against this symbol of Islamophobia, and the rampant discrimination that has defined the previous presidency.
Act Now at https://act.amnestyusa.org/page/73907/petition/1: Tell the new administration to close the prison and transfer all detainees not charged with crimes to countries that will respect their human rights.
While President Biden has already made new commitments toward upholding human rights, we have a moral duty to ensure that ending this 19-year stretch of injustice is a part of that platform. If we fail to close Guantánamo, this era of human rights violations at the hands of the United States government will continue to drag on.
We have the power to fight for change, and a junction in that fight is right here, right now: President Joe Biden has reportedly launched a review of the Guantánamo military prison, now in its 19th year of detaining Muslims indefinitely without charge or trial. Let’s build a groundswell of support from human rights advocates nationwide so that we can make sure Guantánamo never sees its 20th anniversary. Add your voice now: Urge President Biden to close Guantánamo once and for all.
Dozens of Muslim men remain imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay detention center, a U.S. military prison in Cuba. Many of them have been tortured by U.S. officials, and most have never been charged or granted a trial. Six are still imprisoned despite having been cleared for transfer out of custody. All of these actions are grave human rights violations under international law.
Toffiq al-Bihani is one of these men. He is a Yemeni citizen who was tortured by the CIA before he was sent to Guantánamo in 2003, where he has been held without charge or trial ever since. He was authorized for transfer out of the prison in 2010. It still hasn’t happened.
Guantánamo detainees should be brought to trial in civilian federal courts, if this can be achieved in accordance with international law, and without recourse to the death penalty. Detainees like Toffiq al-Bihani who are already cleared for transfer should be transferred immediately to countries that will respect their human rights.
Those who were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment must receive genuine access to rehabilitation and redress. The individuals responsible for torture and enforced disappearance must be brought to justice in a fair trial, so that we can send a powerful message that no one is above international law.
One of previous president’s first actions in office was to order that Guantánamo stay open. But leaving Guantánamo open doesn’t just embolden that legacy of fear-mongering and human rights violations — it allows these abuses to continue indefinitely. Let’s do everything in our power to end the human rights outrages at Guantánamo.
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