The first foreign testimony of the atrocities of Guantanamo

“I noticed that after two decades of detention, the prisoners’ suffering has become deep and continuous,” he said in a press conference. “Every one of the detainees I met lives with unhealed damages as a result of the systematic practices of kidnapping, torture and arbitrary detention.”

From about 800 at their peak, the number of Guantanamo detainees now stands at 30, many of whom, Nei Olin said, show signs of “psychological damage and profound breakdown, including extreme nervousness, helplessness, hopelessness, anxiety, depression, and dependence.” All of this is the result of constant surveillance, isolation, forced removal from cells, unjust imposition of restrictions, and inability to reach and communicate with their families.

It’s the first outside testimony by an independent expert about the bleak condition of detainees, and it’s truly appalling to consider that these people “have been living in a detention environment without trial for some and without charge for others, for 21 years, hunger strikes, force-feeding, self-harm, Suicidal ideation, accelerated aging.

He met “high value” prisoners, as the US describes them, and “non-high value” prisoners. When she met them face-to-face, many reacted “honestly,” Nei Olin noted, as they were more likely to see someone in their twenties who was neither a lawyer nor a prison associate.

He expressed his “deep concern” that 19 of the 30 men had never been charged. The continued detention of some “resulted from reluctance [αμερικανικών] authorities to deal with the consequences of torture and other ill-treatment to which prisoners have been subjected, rather than with any continuing threat they are believed to pose.

He stressed that the care and facilities at Guantanamo are “inadequate to address the complex and urgent issues of the detainees’ mental and physical health,” which range from permanent disabilities and brain injuries to chronic pain and gastrointestinal and urological problems.

The sum of all these practices and omissions […] It amounts, in my estimation, to continued cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law.”

He has even criticized the US for failing to ensure fair trial guarantees for detainees, repeatedly asserting that it prohibits the use of information obtained through torture in court – something US authorities have vowed not to do, but without proceeding with trials of the people who have been crushed. from every side.

Nei Olin then accused them of “betraying” the right to justice for the victims of the 9/11 attacks and their families. “Systematic kidnappings and torture in multiple locations, including blacks [σ.σ. black sites – μυστικές φυλακές των ΗΠΑ σε διάφορες χώρες] Then at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba,” he asserted, “they constitute the most significant obstacle to realizing victims’ rights to justice and accountability.”

She concluded that closing Hell “remains a priority,” praising the Biden administration for letting her go there, and giving her access to everything she asked for. In her message, the US ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council, michelle taylor, He stressed that the United States does not accept all the conclusions of the New Orleans report. Like Barack Obama, Joe Biden has said he wants to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, but without actually doing so.