Contact: Carol Gregory, [email protected], 202-675-8759, @AIUSAmedia
In response to the Obama administration's announcement that two detainees had been transferred from U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo Bay to Algeria, Zeke Johnson, Director of Amnesty International USA's Security & Human Rights Program issued the following statement:
"The transfer of two Guantanamo detainees will be a step in the right direction only if their rights are respected in Algeria. President Obama must close the detention facility and ensure that all the detentions are resolved in a manner fully compatible with human rights principles. Each detainee still held at Guantanamo should either be charged and fairly tried in civilian court or released to a country that will respect his human rights."
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.