US Faces Criticism on Guantanamo Anniversary

[Judi Lynn]

7:33am (UK)
US Faces Criticism on Guantanamo Anniversary

"PA"


Two years to the day after the first prisoners began arriving at Guantanamo Bay, families of detainees are asking how much longer they must wait for their loved ones to be tried or released.

As the prison camp marks its second year anniversary today, the United States faced criticism from foreign governments and human rights groups, questioning why hundreds of terror suspects have been held for so long without charges or legal representation.

“It is time to get our children back or for them to be tried in an impartial court,” said Khalid al-Odah, a Kuwaiti whose 26-year-old son Fawzi was one of the first to arrive at the bleak outpost. “But nobody is listening. That is the problem.”

Al-Odah’s hopes are resting on the US Supreme Court, which is to hear the first appeal early this year on whether the prisoners should have access to American courts, something opposed by President George Bush.

Over the past two years, US officials have released 88 people held at the detention camp in eastern Cuba – but new ones have regularly been brought in, bringing the current detainee population to about 660.

While Washington has promised tribunals, it also continues to expand the prison. Eventually it will have 1,100 cells, raising further questions of what the future holds for the mission.
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