Nov 10, 2015
To the Editor:
Senator Dianne Feinstein’s Nov. 5 Op-Ed essay, “Let’s Finally Close Guantánamo,”
misses the mark. While she is certainly right to call for the closing
of the detention facility, her suggestion that a group of detainees
should be moved into the United States for continued detention without
charge is appalling.
A
detainee named Obaidullah is likely to be included in that group. Like
48 others in Guantánamo, he is not facing charges but has not yet been
cleared for transfer. So he waits in limbo, for 13 years and counting.
If
Senator Feinstein is suggesting that the United States detain
Obaidullah “until the end of hostilities,” then under the government’s
forever-war paradigm, Obaidullah could very well die in American custody
without ever being tried and convicted.
The
senator’s plan is not good enough. The purpose of closing Guantánamo
should be to end the human rights violation of indefinite detention
without charge — not merely move it to a new location and change
Guantanámo’s ZIP code. If the United States does not intend to prosecute
a detainee in a fair trial, it should release him. No exceptions.
STEVEN W. HAWKINS
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA
Washington
Click here for the Letter to the Editor.
