Media Contact: Amanda Simon, [email protected]
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) —In response to the transfer of a Yemeni Guantánamo detainees to Cape Verde, Amnesty International USA’s Security & Human Rights Program Senior Campaigner Elizabeth Beavers issued the following statement:
“Time is running out for President Obama to fulfill his promise to close Guantánamo. He now has less than 50 days to finish the job and close the door or he risks opening the floodgates for President-elect Trump.
“Trump has clearly indicated that he would like to hold even more people without charge or trial at Guantánamo, and re-instate waterboarding and other forms of torture and ill-treatment. Simply put, President Obama should not leave Guantánamo to Trump.
“Nearly all who remain have been there more than a decade, and nearly half were first held by the CIA in ‘black sites’ where torture occurred. The U.S. government must charge and fairly try each individual at Guantánamo, or else release them. Those are the only two options consistent with U.S. human rights obligations.”
Amnesty International remains concerned that the human rights of detainees transferred from Guantánamo are respected and that they are humanely treated. Detainees who are cleared for transfer must be sent to countries, including Cape Verde, that will respect their human rights.
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Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning global movement of more than 7 million people who campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.