MEDIA CONTACT: Mandy Simon, [email protected]
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) —In response to the transfer of two Guantánamo detainees to Senegal, and reports of multiple upcoming transfers, Amnesty International USA’s Security & Human Rights Program Director Naureen Shah issued the following statement:
“Through these long overdue transfers, President Obama is repudiating the fear-mongering we’ve seen since the Brussels attacks and rejecting the politicization of Guantánamo. Closing Guantánamo remains a human rights imperative, and the Obama administration should charge or release the remaining detainees without delay.
“Guantánamo is at risk of becoming a permanent offshore prison for people held without charge, when it should have been shuttered a long time ago.”
Many of the detainees have suffered serious human rights violations, including enforced disappearance and torture, but access to remedy has systematically been blocked and accountability minimal. Amnesty International calls on the U.S. authorities to ensure independent and impartial investigations into all credible allegations of human rights violations carried out at Guantánamo and against detainees held elsewhere. The findings should be made public, and anyone responsible for crimes under international law brought to justice, regardless of their current or former level of office.