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U.N. Report Calls for the Closing of Guantanamo, Former Prison Chaplain Yee Details Abuses
The United Nations has called on the Bush administration to immediately close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba. In a report on conditions at the prison recently released, the U.N. says the United States should try all detainees or release them "without further delay." We speak with former military Chaplain Yee, who was falsely accused of espionage by the U.S military and faced death penalty charges that were eventually dropped.
The report, summarizing an investigation by five U.N. experts, urges the U.S. government to "refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment", including the force-feeding of hunger strikers through nasal tubes.
The report goes on to state, "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal.”
About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them.
The U.S. has rejected most of the allegations, saying that the five investigators never actually visited Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. invited the U.N. to the camp, but refused to grant the investigators the right to speak to detainees in private. The U.N. said that private interviews were a "totally non-negotiable pre-condition" for conducting the visit and refused to send investigators.
The report’s findings were based on interviews with former detainees, public documents, media reports, lawyers and a questionnaire filled out by the U.S. government.
Last October, Democracy Now! co-hosts Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman interviewed attorney Julia Tarver, who represents ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Three of her clients were taking part in a hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison.
* Julia Tarver
We speak with someone who has spent time in Guantanamo Bay both as a member of the U.S. army and as a prisoner: Chaplain James Yee. He was one of the first Muslim Chaplains commissioned by the U.S Army. Yee was posted in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002, but less than a year after serving there, he was accused of espionage by the military and faced charges so severe, that he was threatened with the death penalty. The charges were eventually reduced and eight months later, dropped altogether.
* Chaplain Yee, Former military Chaplain who was falsely accused of espionage by the U.S military, wrote a book about his experiences called "For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire."
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/16/1525231
The report goes on to state, "In the case of the Guantanamo Bay detainees, the U.S. executive operates as judge, as prosecutor, and as defense council: this constitutes serious violations of various guarantees of the right to a fair trial before an independent tribunal.”
About 500 men are being held at the site. Charges have never been filed against most of them.
The U.S. has rejected most of the allegations, saying that the five investigators never actually visited Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. invited the U.N. to the camp, but refused to grant the investigators the right to speak to detainees in private. The U.N. said that private interviews were a "totally non-negotiable pre-condition" for conducting the visit and refused to send investigators.
The report’s findings were based on interviews with former detainees, public documents, media reports, lawyers and a questionnaire filled out by the U.S. government.
Last October, Democracy Now! co-hosts Juan Gonzalez and Amy Goodman interviewed attorney Julia Tarver, who represents ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Three of her clients were taking part in a hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison.
* Julia Tarver
We speak with someone who has spent time in Guantanamo Bay both as a member of the U.S. army and as a prisoner: Chaplain James Yee. He was one of the first Muslim Chaplains commissioned by the U.S Army. Yee was posted in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in 2002, but less than a year after serving there, he was accused of espionage by the military and faced charges so severe, that he was threatened with the death penalty. The charges were eventually reduced and eight months later, dropped altogether.
* Chaplain Yee, Former military Chaplain who was falsely accused of espionage by the U.S military, wrote a book about his experiences called "For God and Country: Faith and Patriotism Under Fire."
LISTEN ONLINE
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/02/16/1525231
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