Guantanamo Bay prisoners show signs of ‘accelerated ageing’: ICRC
The Guantanamo detention camp has become a symbol of the brutality of the US’ so-called ‘war on terror’.
Prisoners held by the United States for years at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility are showing signs of “accelerated aging,” a senior International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) official said.
Patrick Hamilton, head of the ICRC delegation to the US and Canada, said Friday that the “physical and mental health needs are growing and increasingly challenging” for those still imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay.
“We call on the U.S. government and Congress to work together to find adequate and lasting solutions to address these issues,” Hamilton said in a statement. rack.
“Action must be taken as a matter of priority.”
The Guantanamo detention camp in Cuba was established in 2002 by US Republican Party President George W. Bush to house foreign suspects following the 2001 air raids on New York and the Pentagon that killed some 3,000 people came.
The camp symbolized the brutality of the US’s so-called “war on terror” because of harsh interrogation methods that critics said amounted to torture.
Hamilton’s comments on the inmates’ health came after a visit to the facility in March after a 20-year hiatus. He said he was “struck by how those still incarcerated today experience the symptoms of accelerated aging, compounded by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention”.
I recently returned from Guantanamo for the first time since 2003. It is clear to me that the population is aging rapidly over time and their needs have evolved. See the full statement here: https://t.co/NQdIqiycDc
— Patrick Hamilton (@PHamiltonICRC) April 21, 2023
He called for detainees to be given adequate mental and physical health care, as well as more frequent family contact.
The US Department of Defense “is currently reviewing the report,” a Pentagon spokesman told Reuters news agency.
There were 40 detainees at Guantanamo when US President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took office in 2021. The Biden administration has said it wants to close the facility, but has not presented a plan to do so. About 30 detainees remain in prison.
Two Pakistani brothers who had been held without trial in Guantanamo Bay for more than 20 years were released by the US in February and returned home. Abdul, 55, and Mohammed Rabbani, 53, were reunited with their families after a formal questioning by Pakistani authorities.
Hamilton called on Washington to resolve the fate of the detainees and urged action to turn over those eligible.