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January 11, 2012

Former Prisoners, Advocates Mark Decade of Gitmo 
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Former Guantánamo prisoners and legal advocates gathered in London on
Tuesday for an event marking the tenth anniversary of the U.S. military
prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Moazzam Begg, who spent nearly three
years in U.S. custody without charge, was among those to speak.

Moazzam Begg: "What does ten years of Guantánamo mean? It's an
anniversary — and we love celebrating anniversaries in the West don't
we? And this is an anniversary of tragedy, of pain, of torment, of
families being ripped apart, of a dark page in the modern history of
humanity. It's a story of children in custody, it's a story of amputees
in custody — it's a story of old men, it's a story of people held
without charge or trial for a decade by the world's most powerful and
democratic nation, that talks about freedom."

The anniversary comes on the heels of President Obama's recent
endorsement of the National Defense Authorization Act, which mandates
indefinite military custody for al-Qaeda suspects and would make it even
harder to free Guantánamo detainees. Clive Stafford-Smith of the legal
charity Reprieve said dozens of Guantánamo prisoners will remain behind
bars despite being cleared for release.

Clive Stafford-Smith: "The tragedy I suppose right now is that of the
171 prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, at least one of the tragedies, is that
more than half of them — 89 according to the best estimates — have
been cleared for release. I mean this is extraordinary — this is not
me saying it, this is first the [former U.S. President George] Bush
administration in a large number of those cases and then the [U.S.
President Barack] Obama administration, saying that these people are no
threat to the West and should be released."

Guantánamo Bay prisoners also spoke out at public events in a number of
other cities.

In France, Amnesty International said two Algerian prisoners are living
in virtual destitution after being released from Guantánamo. Amnesty is
calling on the French government to hand over payments from the United
States for taking in the prisoners following their release. One of the
prisoners, Lakhdar Boumediene, spoke about his ordeal.

Lakhdar Boumediene: "What I can remember at Guantánamo, is a very very
difficult situation, because the first time I went to jail like
Guantánamo, not like Bosnia, or France, I was very, very sick, I
remember the torture, the cell. I can't forget Guantánamo, never never,
I can't. I try sometimes to forget, but I can't forget."



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