In the wake of a prisoner plea from Guantanamo, CAGE renews calls for the prison to be closed and men released
London - CAGE calls for the immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay prison and the release of the remaining 26 as yet uncharged prisoners in the wake of a plea written by “forever prisoner” Khalid Qassim published on Friday. These men have spent an unbelievable 16 years imprisoned without trial and now President Trump has furthered this injustice with the introduction of a new measure that could see these men suffer from organ failure or starve to death.
Moazzam Begg, outreach director for CAGE, said:
"Sixteen years since it was opened the “Gulag of our times” is still open for business under the leadership of Donald Trump. When a prisoner subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment and held without charge or trial for the better part of two decades resorts to hunger striking to the point of death it is more than an act of desperation. It is a plea to the consciousness of the world that has wilfully played a part in his treatment or simply chosen to forget." “Guantanamo is out of most people’s minds for two reasons: firstly, because most people think that there are hardly any prisoners there and the few remaining deserve indefinite imprisonment without trial and, secondly, because the insane behaviour of the US President have kept the world focused on his antics instead of the people’s lives he’s helping to destroy. Both of these need to be challenged. Nothing short of releasing prisoners a fair trial deems innocent will suffice, and that is what must happen now.” CC image courtesy of Flickr - V Pickering
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