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85-699: Camp Delta is a permanent American detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray . Its first facilities were built between 27 February and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees , Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root . It is composed of detention camps 1 through 6, Camp Platinum, Camp Iguana , the Guantanamo psychiatric ward , Camp Echo and Camp No . The prisoners, referred to as detainees , have uncertain rights due to their location not on American soil. There are allegations of torture and abuse of prisoners ( § Prisoner torture ). Most of

170-540: A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. In 2010, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson , a former aide to Secretary of State Colin Powell , stated in an affidavit that top U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush , Vice President Dick Cheney , and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, had known that the majority of the detainees initially sent to Guantánamo were innocent, but that the detainees had been kept there for reasons of political expedience. Wilkerson's statement

255-562: A Yemeni official said that US authorities had informed the Yemen government that Al Hanashi died of " asphyxiation ". The Associated Press quoted fellow captives Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail and Adnan Latif , who said Al Hanashi's weight had dropped to under 45 kilograms prior to his death, and that he could only get around on crutches. According to documents released via Freedom of Information Act in 2016, Al Hanashi died by tearing off

340-565: A few weeks ago, but that his lawyers hadn't yet had a chance to visit him. On June 3, 2009, Guantanamo spokesman Lieutenant Commander Brook DeWalt asserted that Mohammed Ahmad was no longer hunger striking at the time of his death, that he had abandoned his hunger strike in "mid-May" . According to David McFadden , reporting for the Associated Press wrote: The military has refused to reveal how they believe Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al-Hanashi died in his cell, other than saying it

425-736: A half years internment . Ghezali claimed that he was the victim of repeated torture. Omar Deghayes alleged he was blinded after his right eye was gouged by an officer. Juma Al Dossary claimed he was interrogated hundreds of times, beaten, tortured with broken glass, barbed wire , burning cigarettes, and suffered sexual assaults . David Hicks also made allegations of torture and mistreatment in Guantanamo Bay, including sensory deprivation , stress positions , having his head slammed into concrete, repeated anal penetration, routine sleep deprivation and forced drug injections. An Associated Press report claimed that some detainees were turned over to

510-654: A military judge to order the release of art made in her client, Ammar al-Baluchi 's cell. She complained that painting and drawing was made difficult, and he was not permitted to give artwork to his counsel. It has been reported that prisoners cooperating with interrogations have been rewarded with Happy Meals from the McDonald's on base. By May 2011, there had been at least six reported suicides in Guantánamo. During August 2003, there were 23 suicide attempts. The U.S. officials did not say why they had not previously reported

595-414: A military prison has drawn criticism from human rights organizations and others, who cite reports that detainees have been tortured or otherwise poorly treated. Supporters of the detention argue that trial review of detentions has never been afforded to prisoners of war, and that it is reasonable for enemy combatants to be detained until the cessation of hostilities. Three British Muslim prisoners, known in

680-561: A piece of elastic underwear and strangling himself to death. Attempts by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to understand the timeline of events leading up to the death were complicated by the fact that someone at Guantanamo told staff in the Behavioral Health Unit where Al Hanashi was found to turn off all computer logging of events that were then occurring. NCIS was never able to determine who had ordered

765-478: A prisoner was beaten to the point of brain damage . Saar also told that Camp Delta employees deliberately ignored the Geneva Conventions . In November 2007, WikiLeaks published a leaked document called " Camp Delta Standard Operating Procedures ". The 238-page document includes rules for dealing with hunger strikes , as well as instructions on psychologically manipulating prisoners, intimidating them with

850-465: A report from the ICRC. The ICRC reports of several activities that, it said, were "tantamount to torture": exposure to loud noise or music, prolonged extreme temperatures, or beatings. It also reported that a Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT), also called 'Biscuit,' and military physicians communicated confidential medical information to the interrogation teams (weaknesses, phobias, etc.), resulting in

935-520: A request to suspend proceedings at Guantanamo military commission for 120 days and to shut down the detention facility that year. On January 29, 2009, a military judge at Guantanamo rejected the White House request in the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri , creating an unexpected challenge for the administration as it reviewed how the United States brings Guantanamo detainees to trial. On May 20, 2009,

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1020-400: A small, secret, ultra high security facility – Camp seven . The Department of Defense reports that Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi committed suicide in camp five on 1 June 2009. Camp Five Echo is a "disciplinary block" for "non-compliant" prisoners. Lawyers claim that the cells are too small to be regarded as humane, that the toilets are inadequate, the lights are too bright and

1105-463: A system, whose stated purpose is the production of intelligence, cannot be considered other than an intentional system of cruel, unusual and degrading treatment and a form of torture." The United States government reportedly rejected the Red Cross findings at the time. On 30 November 2004, The New York Times published excerpts from an internal memo leaked from the U.S. administration, referring to

1190-497: A temporary detention facility dubbed " Camp X-Ray " was created to house suspected Al-Qaeda members and Taliban fighters primarily captured in Afghanistan . By May 2003, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had grown into a larger and more permanent facility that housed over 680 prisoners, the vast majority without formal charges. The Bush Administration maintained that it was not obliged to grant prisoners basic protections under

1275-450: A time to the camp, where they were believed to be interrogated. He believes that the three detainees that DoD announced as having committed suicide were questioned under torture the night of their deaths. From 2003 to 2006, the CIA operated a small site, known informally as "Penny Lane," to house prisoners whom the agency attempted to recruit as spies against Al-Qaeda . The housing at Penny Lane

1360-458: A widespread hunger strike; they were subsequently being force fed until the U.S. Government stopped releasing hunger strike information, due to it having "no operational purpose". During the month of Ramadan that year, the US military claimed that the amount of detainees on hunger strike had dropped from 106 to 81. However, according to defense attorney Clive Stafford Smith , "The military are cheating on

1445-592: Is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay , Cuba . It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and " illegal enemy combatants " during the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001 . As of August 2024, at least 780 persons from 48 countries have been detained at

1530-507: Is one of the camps where the United States held detainees classified as "enemy combatants in extrajudicial detention". Although the camp was reported to have been closed, Human Rights Watch reported in June 2008 that it currently houses non-compliant detainees. At that time they said the camp held 25 detainees in adjacent cells. Camp three is one of the camps that held detainees classified as " enemy combatants in extrajudicial detention ." Although

1615-548: The George W. Bush administration that "a federal district court could not properly exercise habeas jurisdiction over an alien detained at GBC ( Guantanamo Bay, Cuba )", military guards took the first twenty detainees to Camp X-Ray on January 11, 2002. At the time, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said the detention camp was established to detain extraordinarily dangerous people, to interrogate detainees in an optimal setting, and to prosecute detainees for war crimes . In practice,

1700-646: The Guantánamo Bay Naval Base was established pursuant to a lease agreement with no expiration date. The 1934 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations superseded much of the 1903 treaty but reaffirmed the Guantánamo Bay lease, under which Cuba retains ultimate sovereignty but the U.S. exercises sole jurisdiction. Since coming to power in 1959 , Cuba's communist government considers the U.S. military presence at Guantánamo Bay illegal and has repeatedly called for its return. The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, including

1785-606: The Third Geneva Convention do not apply to Al-Qaeda or Taliban fighters, claiming that the Convention applies to only military personnel and guerrillas who are part of a chain of command , wear distinctive insignia, bear arms openly, and abide by the rules of war. Jim Phillips of The Heritage Foundation said that "some of these terrorists who are not recognized as soldiers don't deserve to be treated as soldiers." Critics of U.S. policy, such as George Monbiot , claimed

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1870-569: The U.S. Congress , on the grounds of national security, prevented its closure. During the Obama Administration , the number of inmates was reduced from about 250 to 41, but controversial policies such as the use of military courts were left in place. In January 2018, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely, and only one prisoner was repatriated during his administration. Since taking office in 2021, President Joe Biden has vowed to close

1955-753: The U.S. Constitution or the Geneva Conventions , since the former did not extend to foreign soil and the latter did not apply to " unlawful enemy combatants ". Various humanitarian and legal advocacy groups claimed that these policies were unconstitutional and violated international human rights law ; several landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions found that detainees had rights to due process and habeas corpus but were still subject to military tribunals , which remain controversial for allegedly lacking impartiality , independence, and judicial efficiency. In addition to restrictions on their legal rights, detainees are widely reported to have been housed in unfit conditions and routinely abused and tortured , often in

2040-461: The United Nations , concluded that detainees have been systematically mistreated in violation of their human rights . Amid multiple legal and political challenges, as well as consistent widespread criticism and condemnation both domestically and internationally, the detention camp at Guantanamo Bay has been subject to repeated calls and efforts for closure. President Bush, while maintaining that

2125-581: The United States Senate passed an amendment to the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 (H.R. 2346) by a 90–6 vote to block funds needed for the transfer or release of prisoners held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. President Obama issued a presidential memorandum dated 15 December 2009, ordering Thomson Correctional Center , Thomson, Illinois to be prepared to accept transferred Guantanamo prisoners. The Final Report of

2210-553: The 1898 Spanish–American War , U.S. forces invaded and occupied Cuba amid its war of independence against Spain . In 1901, an American-drafted amendment to the Cuban constitution nominally recognized Cuba's sovereignty while allowing the U.S. to intervene in local affairs and establish naval bases on land leased or purchased from the Cuban government. The Cuban–American Treaty of Relations of 1903 reaffirmed these provisions, and that same year,

2295-461: The 2011 Defense Authorization Bill , which, in part, placed restrictions on the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the mainland or to foreign countries, thus impeding the closure of the facility. In February 2011, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said that Guantanamo Bay was unlikely to be closed, due to opposition in the Congress. Congress particularly opposed moving prisoners to facilities in

2380-490: The Associated Press reported Camp 7 , a separate facility on the naval base that was considered the highest security jail on the base. That facility held detainees previously imprisoned in a global, clandestine network of CIA prisons . An attorney first visited a detainee at Camp 7 in 2013. The precise location of Camp 7 has never been confirmed. In early April 2021, Camp 7 was shut down due to deteriorating conditions of

2465-455: The Department of Defense "extended an invitation to United Nations Special Rapporteurs to visit detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay Naval Station." This was rejected by the U.N. because of DoD restrictions, stating that "[the] three human rights officials invited to Guantánamo Bay wouldn't be allowed to conduct private interviews" with prisoners. Simultaneously, media reports began related to

2550-638: The Department of Justice has disputed certain facts contained in the article about the soldiers' account. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) inspected some of the prison facilities in June 2004. In a confidential report issued in July 2004 and leaked to The New York Times in November 2004, Red Cross inspectors accused the U.S. military of using "humiliating acts, solitary confinement , temperature extremes, and use of forced positions" against prisoners. The inspectors concluded that "the construction of such

2635-519: The Geneva Conventions . Following this, on July 7, 2006, the Department of Defense issued an internal memo stating that detainees would, in the future, be entitled to protection under Common Article 3. Current and former detainees have reported abuse and torture, which the Bush administration denied. In a 2005 Amnesty International report, the facility was called the " Gulag of our times." In 2006,

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2720-545: The Guantanamo Review Task Force , dated January 22, 2010, published the results for the 240 detainees subject to the review: 36 were the subject of active cases or investigations; 30 detainees from Yemen were designated for "conditional detention" due to the poor security environment in Yemen; 126 detainees were approved for transfer; 48 detainees were determined "too dangerous to transfer but not feasible for prosecution". On January 6, 2011, President Obama signed

2805-582: The Military Intelligence unit assigned to guard Camp Delta, including a decorated non-commissioned Army officer who was on duty as sergeant of the guard the night of 9–10 June 2006. Their account contradicts the report published by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). Horton said the deaths had occurred at a black site, known as "Camp No", outside the perimeter of the camp. According to its spokeswoman Laura Sweeney,

2890-665: The Mubarak era, it's been alleged that Egyptian State Security officers and agents travelled to Cuba and tortured detainees. They also allegedly trained U.S. soldiers on torture techniques. Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi Mohammad Ahmed Abdullah Saleh Al Hanashi (February 1978 - June 1, 2009) was a citizen of Yemen , held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps , in Cuba . Al Hanashi's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number

2975-748: The Quran down the toilet , defacing the Quran , writing comments and remarks on the Quran, tearing pages out of the Quran, and denying detainees a copy of the Quran. One of the justifications offered for the continued detention of Mesut Sen , during his Administrative Review Board hearing, was: Emerging as a leader, the detainee has been leading the detainees around him in prayer. The detainees listen to him speak and follow his actions during prayer. Red Cross inspectors and released detainees have alleged acts of torture, including sleep deprivation , beatings and locking in confined and cold cells. The use of Guantánamo Bay as

3060-577: The Saudi Arabian government. The Saudi government developed a re-integration program including religious education, helping to arrange marriages and jobs, to bring detainees back into society. The Center for Policy and Research published Death in Camp Delta (2009), its analysis of the NCIS report, noting many inconsistencies in the government account and said the conclusion of suicide by hanging in their cells

3145-468: The U.S. Government detains those who are not convicted in military commissions. In January 2010, Scott Horton published an article in Harper's Magazine describing " Camp No ", a black site about 1 mile (1.6 km) outside the main camp perimeter, which included an interrogation center. His description was based on accounts by four guards who had served at Guantanamo. They said prisoners were taken one at

3230-534: The U.S. by Afghan tribesmen in return for cash bounties . The first Denbeaux study , published by Seton Hall University Law School , reproduced copies of several leaflets, flyers, and posters the U.S. government distributed to advertise the bounty program; some of which offered bounties of "millions of dollars." Hunger-striking detainees claimed that guards were force feeding them in the fall of 2005: "Detainees said large feeding tubes were forcibly shoved up their noses and down into their stomachs, with guards using

3315-500: The United Nations unsuccessfully demanded that Guantanamo Bay detention camp be closed. On 13 January 2009, Susan J. Crawford , appointed by Bush to review DoD practices used at Guantanamo Bay and oversee the military trials, became the first Bush administration official to concede that torture occurred at Guantanamo Bay on one detainee ( Mohammed al-Qahtani ), saying "We tortured Qahtani." On January 22, 2009, President Obama issued

3400-548: The United States for detention or trial. In April 2011, WikiLeaks began publishing 779 secret files relating to prisoners in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. On November 4, 2015, President Barack Obama stated that he was preparing to unveil a plan to close the facility and move some of the terrorism suspects held there to U.S. soil. The plan would propose one or more prisons from a working list that includes facilities in Kansas, Colorado and South Carolina. Two others that were on

3485-464: The air in the cells is foul. The cells are only half the size of the cells in Camp Five and have squat toilets in the floor instead of standard prison toilets. David Remes described Camp Five Echo in 2011 as violating the Geneva Conventions, and called it "a throwback to the bad old days at Guantánamo." Camp Six, constructed by Halliburton , was modeled on US Federal medium-security penitentiaries. It

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3570-562: The buildings of Camp 4, which have a shower and lavatory, plus four communal living rooms for 10 detainees each. In Camp 4, each detainee has a bed and a locker. Camp 4 detainees may eat their meals together, instead of alone in their own cells as in the other camps, and Camp 4 detainees are set apart by their white jump suits, in contrast to the orange worn by detainees in other camps. In addition to these benefits, detainees are also allowed special meal supplements to their diets, along with longer shower periods and longer exercise periods. Camp one

3655-503: The camp before his term ends, although his administration has continued with multimillion-dollar expansions to military commissions and other Guantanamo Bay facilities. Following the release of 10 detainees from Guantanamo by April 2023, 30 detainees remain as of June 2024; of these, 16 are awaiting transfer, 11 have been charged or convicted of war crimes, and three are held in indefinite law-of-war detention without facing tribunal charges nor being recommended for release. During

3740-531: The camp since its creation, of whom 740 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody , and 30 remain; only 16 detainees have ever been charged by the U.S. with criminal offenses. Shortly after the September 11 attacks , the U.S. declared its " war on terror " effort and led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda and capture its leader, Osama bin Laden . During

3825-518: The camp was closed in 2006, Human Rights Watch reported in June 2008 that it was then used to house half a dozen non-compliant detainees who had to be housed in isolation. The detainees' cells were sufficiently isolated from one another that they could not see one another. Camp four is the camp that most closely resembles a traditional Prisoner of War camp . Captives held there live in communal dormitories, and have day long access to communal exercise yard, games, and books. Camp authorities only allow

3910-449: The camp's guard force. Mohammed said that Saleh never returned to Camp five, and instead was confined to the camp's Psychiatric wing. Selsky reported that Elizabeth Gilson the attorney for one of the other captives confined to the psychiatric wing, was aware of details of Saleh's death, which she could not disclose because they were classified. On August 1, 2009, Mike Melia, of the Associated Press reported that, Mohammed Albasha ,

3995-505: The captives they considered "compliant" to stay in camp four and they are allowed to wear white or tan uniforms which distinguish them from the orange uniforms "non-compliant" captives wear. According to Commander Jeff Hayhurst , deputy commander of the Guard force, "...the camp opened in 2004, cost $ 17.5 million. It's modeled on a max security facility in Terre Haute , Indiana ." The camp

4080-433: The conditions at the camp fall short of the minimum guarantees of humane treatment under the Geneva Conventions . In a 2005 interview, Erik Saar , an Arabic translator, said that Camp Delta prisoners were subjected to sexual interrogation techniques and physically assaulted by " snatch squads "; in one such case, a prisoner's arm was broken. He said that during an initial reaction force training, one U.S. soldier posing as

4165-478: The crime on the prisoners... it's possible they were tortured," said Mufleh al-Qahtani, the group's deputy director, in a statement to the local Al-Riyadh newspaper. Highly disturbed about the deaths of its citizens under U.S. custody, the Saudi government pressed the United States to release its citizens into its custody. From June 2006 through 2007, the U.S. released 93 detainees (of an original 133 Saudis detained) to

4250-475: The database logs shut down. Al Hanashi had made multiple suicide attempts in the month or so prior to his death, and even been put on suicide watch at least once. The description of his underwear type did not comport with other reported rules about the kinds of clothing allowed for Guantanamo inmates. At least one camp staff member interviewed by NCIS said they were surprised when they saw the deceased Al Hanashi wearing clothing that had not been approved. According to

4335-400: The deaths. Amnesty International said the apparent suicides "are the tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention" and called the prison "an indictment" of the George W. Bush administration 's human rights record. Saudi Arabia's state-sponsored Saudi Human Rights group blamed the U.S. for the deaths. "There are no independent monitors at the detention camp so it is easy to pin

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4420-672: The detention camp, is operated by the Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) of the Southern Command of the Department of Defense (DoD). The main detention compound is Camp Delta , which replaced the temporary Camp X-Ray in April 2002, with other compounds including Camp Echo , Camp Iguana , and the Guantanamo psychiatric ward . After political appointees at the U.S. Office of Legal Counsel , Department of Justice advised

4505-505: The facilities. The remaining prisoners at Camp 7 were transferred to Camp 5. Camp 5, as well as Camp 6, were built in 2003–04. They are modeled after a high security facility in Indiana. In September 2016, Camp 5 was closed and a portion of it dedicated to use as a medical facility for detainees. A portion of Camp 5 was again re-dedicated in early April 2021, when Camp 7 so-called "high value" former CIA detainees were moved there. In Camp 6,

4590-554: The facility to a high-security facility. In April 2010 The Guardian published a photo essay that showed that a TV had been installed in the common areas. Detainees were shackled to the floor during their TV privileges. Camp Seven, also known as Camp Platinum, is an isolated outpost, strictly off-limits from the Pentagon's media tour. A group of six mostly military lawyers representing prisoners at Camp seven concluded in February 2012 that

4675-472: The facility was necessary and that prisoners were treated well, nonetheless expressed his desire to have it closed in the beginning of 2005. His administration began winding down the detainee population in large numbers, ultimately releasing or transferring around 540. In 2009, Bush's successor, Barack Obama , issued executive orders to close the facility within one year and identify lawful alternatives for its detainees; however, strong bipartisan opposition from

4760-544: The form of " enhanced interrogation techniques ". As early as October 2003, the International Committee of the Red Cross warned of "deterioration in the psychological health of a large number of detainees". Subsequent reports by international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch , as well as intergovernmental institutions such as the Organization of American States and

4845-483: The government had violated the Conventions in attempting to create a distinction between " prisoners of war " and "illegal combatants." Amnesty International called the situation "a human rights scandal" in a series of reports. One of the allegations of abuse at the camp is the abuse of the religion of the detainees. Prisoners released from the camp have alleged incidents of abuse of religion including flushing

4930-528: The incident. After this event, the Pentagon reclassified alleged suicide attempts as "manipulative self-injurious behaviors". Camp physicians alleged that detainees do not genuinely wish to end their lives, rather, the prisoners supposedly feel that they may be able to get better treatment or release with suicide attempts. Daryl Matthews , a professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Hawaii who examined

5015-452: The invasion, on November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a military order allowing for the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without charge and preventing them from legally challenging their detention. The following month, the U.S. Department of Justice claimed that habeas corpus —a legal recourse against unlawful detention—did not apply to Guantanamo Bay because it was outside of U.S. territory. Subsequently, in January 2002,

5100-524: The list, in California and Washington state, do not appear to have made the preliminary cut, according to a senior administration official familiar with the proposal. By the end of the Obama Administration on January 19, 2017, however, the detention center remained open, with 41 detainees remaining. In June 2022, The New York Times publicly released photographs of the first camp detainees following

5185-521: The media at the time as the " Tipton Three ", were repatriated to the United Kingdom in March 2004, where officials immediately released them without charge. The three alleged ongoing torture, sexual degradation , forced drugging, and religious persecution being committed by U.S. forces at Guantánamo Bay. The former Guantanamo detainee Mehdi Ghezali was freed without charge on 9 July 2004, after two and

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5270-548: The number of suicide attempts is higher. On 10 June 2006 three detainees were found dead, who, according to the DoD, "killed themselves in an apparent suicide pact." Prison commander Rear Admiral Harry Harris claimed this was not an act of desperation, despite prisoners' pleas to the contrary, but rather "an act of asymmetric warfare committed against us." The three detainees were said to have hanged themselves with nooses made of sheets and clothes. According to military officials,

5355-501: The numbers as usual. Some detainees are taking a token amount of food as part of the traditional breaking of the fast at the end of each day in Ramadan, so that is now conveniently allowing them to be counted as not striking." In 2014, the Obama administration undertook a "rebranding effort" by referring to the hunger strikes as "long term non-religious fasting." Attorney Alka Pradhan petitioned

5440-447: The prisoners losing confidence in their medical care. The ICRC's access to the base was conditioned, as is normal for ICRC humanitarian operations, on the confidentiality of their report. Following leaking of the U.S. memo, some in the ICRC wanted to make their report public or confront the U.S. administration. The newspaper said the administration and the Pentagon had seen the ICRC report in July 2004 but rejected its findings. The story

5525-442: The prisoners, stated that given the cultural differences between interrogators and prisoners, "intent" was difficult, if not impossible to ascertain. Clinical depression is common in Guantánamo, with 1/5 of all prisoners being prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac . Guantanamo Bay officials have reported 41 suicide attempts by 25 detainees since the U.S. began taking prisoners to the base in January 2002. Defense lawyers contend

5610-706: The probe into FBI accounts of abuse of Guantánamo prisoners by Defense Department personnel, concluded the man (Mohammed al-Qahtani, a Saudi, described as the " 20th hijacker ") was subjected to "abusive and degrading treatment" by "the cumulative effect of creative, persistent and lengthy interrogations." The techniques used were authorized by the Pentagon, he said. Many of the released prisoners have complained of enduring beatings, sleep deprivation, prolonged constraint in uncomfortable positions, prolonged hooding , cultural and sexual humiliation, enemas as well as other forced injections, and other physical and psychological mistreatment during their detention in Camp Delta. During

5695-525: The protections of the Geneva Conventions , while also claiming it was treating "all detainees consistently with the principles of the Geneva Convention." Ensuing U.S. Supreme Court decisions since 2004 have determined otherwise and that U.S. courts do have jurisdiction: it ruled in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on June 29, 2006, that detainees were entitled to the minimal protections listed under Common Article 3 of

5780-567: The question of prisoner treatment. District Court Judge Gladys Kessler also ordered the U.S. government to release medical records going back a week before such feedings took place. In early November 2005, the U.S. suddenly accelerated, for unknown reasons, the rate of prisoner release, but this was not sustained. Detainee Mansur Ahmad Saad al-Dayfi has alleged that during his time as a JAG officer in Guantanamo, Ron DeSantis oversaw force-feedings of detainees. In May 2013, detainees undertook

5865-399: The same tubes from one patient to another. The detainees say no sedatives were provided during these procedures, which they allege took place in front of U.S. physicians, including the head of the prison hospital. "A hunger striking detainee at Guantánamo Bay wants a judge to order the removal of his feeding tube so he can be allowed to die", one of his lawyers has said. Within a few weeks,

5950-596: The security forces are U.S. Army military police and U.S. Navy Masters-at-Arms . The camps have different amenities and levels of comfort. Detainees are quartered in different parts of Camp Delta according to their level of cooperation with guards and interrogators, with the exception of newly arriving detainees who always go to maximum security in Camp 3. Thereafter, cooperative detainees are moved to Camp 2 and then Camp 1 as rewards for cooperation. When detainees cooperate and are thought to show no security risk they can be moved to

6035-460: The site has long been used for alleged " enemy combatants ". The DoD at first kept secret the identity of the individuals held in Guantanamo, but after losing attempts to defy a Freedom of Information Act request from the Associated Press , the U.S. military officially acknowledged holding 779 prisoners in the camp. The Bush administration asserted that detainees were not entitled to any of

6120-495: The suicides were coordinated acts of protests. Human rights activists and defense attorneys said the deaths signaled the desperation of many of the detainees. Barbara Olshansky of the Center for Constitutional Rights , which represented about 300 Guantánamo detainees, said that detainees "have this incredible level of despair that they will never get justice." At the time, human rights groups called for an independent public inquiry into

6205-408: The use of military dogs, and burying dead Muslim detainees. American Civil Liberties Union lawyer Jamil Dakwar raised concerns over the fact that some detainees were hidden from representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross . Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp , also known as GTMO or GITMO ( / ˈ ɡ ɪ t m oʊ / GIT -moh ),

6290-505: Was 78. The Department of Defense reports that Al Hanashi was born in February 1978, in Abyan , Yemen. On June 2, 2009, the Department of Defense reported that a 31-year-old Yemeni captive named "Muhammed Ahmad Abdallah Salih" committed suicide late on June 1, 2009. Camp officials did not allow journalists who were at the camp for Omar Khadr 's Guantanamo military commission to report news of his death until they left Guantanamo. Ahmed

6375-475: Was an al-Qaeda member who recruited for, and provided money for, al-Qaeda training camps and himself trained there to fight US or allied troops. Camp Delta was a 612-unit detention center finished in April 2002. It included detention camps 1 through 4, as well as Camp Echo, where detainees not facing military commissions are held. Camp X-Ray was a temporary detention facility, which was closed in April 2002. Its prisoners were transferred to Camp Delta. In 2008,

6460-489: Was an apparent suicide. DeWalt declined to confirm or refute whether Mohammad Ahmed had been in Guantanamo's Psychiatric unit, and said he didn't know whether he had made previous suicide attempts. Khalid al-Kathiri , a Yemeni diplomat, traveled to Guantanamo to oversee how the remains were treated. The Miami Herald reported that the Miami Coroner's office had also dispatched an observer. On June 5, 2009, Saleh's body

6545-413: Was built by Kellogg, Brown and Root . Hayhurst said that the camp was used to hold the most non-compliant detainees. In September 2006, National Public Radio reported that the camp could hold 100 detainees, and was about half full. Initially the press was told the fourteen " high value detainees " transferred from CIA custody on 5 September 2006 were held in Camp five. But they were in fact held in

6630-441: Was constructed to have individual cells that surrounded and looked in on a communal mess area, where it was planned compliant detainees could interact for part of the day. However, while the building was still under construction, the decision was made to confine all detainees to their cells, except when they were taken to shower, taken for solitary exercise, or for official business. The communal areas were left unused. This transformed

6715-940: Was less sparse by the standards of Guantanamo Bay, with private kitchens, showers, televisions, and beds with mattresses. The camp was divided into eight units. Its existence was revealed to the Associated Press in 2013. A 2013 Institute on Medicine as a Profession (IMAP) report concluded that health professionals working with the military and intelligence services "designed and participated in cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment and torture of detainees." Medical professionals were ordered to ignore ethical standards during involvement in abusive interrogation, including monitoring of vital signs under stress-inducing procedures. They used medical information for interrogation purposes and participated in force-feeding of hunger strikers , in violation of World Medical Association and American Medical Association prohibitions. Supporters of controversial techniques have declared that certain protections of

6800-401: Was not supported. It suggested that camp administration officials had either been grossly negligent or were participating in a cover-up of the deaths. In January 2010 Scott Horton published an article in Harper's Magazine disputing the government's findings and suggesting the three died of accidental manslaughter following torture. His account was based on the testimony of four members of

6885-631: Was originally reported in several newspapers, including The Guardian , and the ICRC reacted to the article when the report was leaked in May. According to a 21 June 2005 New York Times opinion article, on 29 July 2004, an FBI agent was quoted as saying, "On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times, they had urinated or defecated on themselves and had been left there for 18, 24 hours or more." Air Force Lt. Gen. Randall Schmidt , who headed

6970-635: Was reported to have been found "unresponsive" in his cell late on the night of June 1, 2009. He is reported to have been held in Camp 5 , and to have been held in the Guantanamo psychiatric ward . Like all the other men camp authorities claimed were suicides he was on a long term hunger strike , and, consequently, where he was being strapped twice a day into a restraint chair, for force-feeding. The Associated Press reports that his weight had, at one time, dropped to just 86 pounds. David Remes said that he believed Ahmed had gone without legal representation until

7055-637: Was returned to Yemen. According to the Associated Press Jose Ruiz, a Guantanamo spokesman, said that the Navy will not make the results of his autopsy public until the Navy Criminal Investigative Service completes its investigation. On June 11, 2009, Andrew O. Selsky, of the Associated Press , published an article based on interviews with former captives who knew Saleh. Recently released Binyam Mohammed asserted that suicide

7140-410: Was submitted in connection with a lawsuit filed in federal district court by former detainee Adel Hassan Hamad against the United States government and several individual officials. This supported numerous claims made by former detainees like Moazzam Begg , a British citizen who had been held for three years in detention camps in Afghanistan and Guantanamo as an enemy combatant, under the claim that he

7225-437: Was totally out of character for Saleh: "He was patient and encouraged others to be the same. He never viewed suicide as a means to end his despair." Mohammed said that Saleh had been chosen as a prisoner's representative. Mohammed said that Saleh had been escorted from Camp five on January 17, 2009, for a meeting with Admiral David Thomas , commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo , and Colonel Bruce Vargo , Commander of

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