An Introduction Guantanamo, a US prison on Cuban territory
Guantanamo is a prison in southeastern Cuba leased by the US military. In the aftermath of 9/11, the then-US government set up a detention center at the base in 2001 to detain those suspected of terrorist activities. The Cuban government has repeatedly asked the United States to terminate the lease, but US forces have ignored the request.
Prisoners trapped behind bars of Guantanamo are not considered America’s enemy martial force and do not have a war-captive’s rights. On the other hand, they do not have American citizenship or have not been arrested on American territory, so they do not fall within the jurisdiction of the United States and are never subject to laws such as Official statement of charges, having a lawyer, and a fast trial. They are just Guantanamo detainees and may one day be Guantanamo released! It is noteworthy that the Americans themselves acknowledge that there is no law in this prison governing the morality on, or human rights of prisoners and detainees.
American politicians make money from this place, too. From time to time, a prisoner may be secretly extradited to a country or group for a large fee. George W. Bush has repeatedly said that this prison is temporary and its doors will be closed soon; But it seems he did not really mean it, and there seemed to be no end to this torture. On January 22, 2009, two days after Barack Obama entered the White House, the order to close Guantanamo was issued; But two years later, in 2011, the doors were still open “We shouldn’t pay too much attention to this,” said Joe Biden, Obama’s vice president, in response to a question from an American reporter.
The main reason for Guantanamo’s reputation is the torture used to obtain confessions from detainees; Physical abuse, sexual violence, waterboarding, fake executions, sleep deprivation, electric shock, etc. Of course, the guards are open here as well, and with the replacement of the officers, the variety of tortures also changes. According to many inmates at the prison, one of the routine tortures is playing hit music with fast rhythms for a long while. Prisoners sometimes go on hunger strike to protest; But they are given water and food by force through intubation.
The purpose of all this torture is to make detainees confess to what the American officers want; From Collaboration with al-Qaeda to attending Osama bin Laden’s speech. For example, by showing a film to a detainee, they ask him to confess to Collaborate with people shown in it, while the person was not there at all at the time and was working or studying elsewhere.
According to RT, the situation of Guantanamo detainees is so bad that sometimes American citizens protest and demand its closure. Nevertheless, the media show a different picture of the prison; Where his prisoners are calm and respected! Even Donald Trump ignores these demands, still obeys the order, saying, “we’re gonna load it up with some bad dudes.“
The officers to Guantanamo are told that the detainees are so dangerous that if they are left alone for a moment, they will do very dangerous things and may even kill the guards. During their training, they are taken to the scene of 9/11 and asked not to feel sorry for the prisoners at all.
Prisoners and occasionally, the guards and officers present in this prison reveal some of its dark secrets and mysteries. “Untold Facts About Guantanamo: The Story of a Prisoner and a Doctor” is the title of a book written by Sayed Mohammad Ali-Shah Mousavi, an Afghan physician, from his five years in captivity without any specific crime or trial. Brandon Neely is also a guard who exited the US military service, and told the story of prisoners and the oppression of American forces against them, in his interviews: that they were told from the beginning that this was camp for war captives, that the Geneva Convention was not being implemented here, and that they could treat prisoners as they saw fit.
Guantanamo or Abu Ghraib are not much different. They are both prisons and are both for the United States. In the darkness of these caves, the true face of Human Rights can be clearly seen; The human rights that the American dream promises the world.
Resources:
- In the Name of Terrorism, Kenneth Roth, Amir Shahriyar Aminian, Tehran: Ravayat-e Fath, (2009)
- Documentary series of Eternal Disgrace in the Realm of the Great Devil, Sohrab Fazelian
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