Obama plans closure of Guantanamo Bay
12 November 2008, 03:04PM
Amnesty International welcomes the news reported in yesterday's Washington Post which confirmed that advisers of President-elect Obama are working to close Guantanamo Bay. It is also reported that the US Administration will abandon the trials Amnesty International has frequently stated do not meet international standards for fair trials.
Directly after last weeks election, Amnesty International challenged President-elect Obama in a letter to permanently close Guantanamo Bay and promptly charge detainees for trial in US federal courts.
The plan currently being drafted by his advisers indicates that after the closure of Guantanamo, some detainees would be released and others would be charged in U.S. courts. There they would benefit from constitutional rights and open trials.
This is a welcome move away from the Bush Administration's, establishment of military commissions to prosecute detainees at the Navy base in Cuba, which substantially violates detainees' right to a fair trial.
However, it remains unclear whether all detainees will profit from the protection of US constitutional law. At the moment, the creation of a whole new legal system to deal with the classified information inherent in some cases is under discussion.
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Aaron Beech
14 November 2008, 10:47AM
Wooo! About time! now, about Abu Ghraib…
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