With the majority of prisoners held in solitary confinement, Amnesty International has released a report calling for the US military camp in Guantanamo Bay to be closed for its harsh and inhumane conditions which are “pushing people to the edge”. AI also called for the “unfair” practice of military commission trials to be abandoned. Many of the prison’s 385 inmates have been held, unable to challenge their detention, for five or more years.

“Statements by the Bush administration that these men are ‘enemy combatants,’ ‘terrorists’ or ‘very bad people’ do not justify the complete lack of due process rights,” the group said. “While the United States has an obligation to protect its citizens… that does not relieve the United States from its responsibilities to comply with human rights.”

Amnesty International was also critical of the new facility in Guantanamo which now houses about 300 detainees, and creates “even harsher and apparently more permanent conditions of extreme isolation and sensory deprivation” than the original facility. Detainees in the new unit are psychologically tortured by being confined to their windowless cells for 22 hours a day, are only allowed to exercise at night, and may go days without seeing daylight. As reported in February, when leaving their cells, prisoners are often made to wear goggles, masks, and headphones to deprive their senses.

Kate Allen, the organization’s UK director called the entire process “a travesty of justice,” and said that many of the prisoners being held indefinitely were “dangerously close to full-blown mental and physical breakdown.” Allen also stated that “US authorities should immediately stop pushing people to the edge with extreme isolation techniques and allow proper access for independent medical experts and human rights groups.”

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