UN Investigator: Guantánamo Detainees Live With ‘Deep Psychological Harm’
During the first visit by an independent human rights investigator to the Guantánamo Bay prison since it opened in 2002, Irish law professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin found "inhuman" conditions that aren't adequate to address the mental and physical health issues of detainees.
The New York Times:
Conditions at Guantánamo Are Cruel And Inhuman, U.N. Investigation Finds
The last 30 detainees at Guantánamo Bay, including the men accused of plotting the Sept. 11 attacks, are being held by the United States under circumstances that constitute “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment under international law,” a United Nations human rights investigator said on Monday. Fionnuala Ni Aolain, a law professor in Minnesota serving as special rapporteur on counterterrorism and human rights, included the finding in a report drawn from a four-day visit to the prison in February. ... She specifically cited the cumulative effects of inadequate health care, solitary confinement, restraints and use of force to remove prisoners from their cells as contributing to her conclusions. She said the conditions at the prison “may also meet the legal threshold for torture.” (Rosenberg, 6/26)
Politico:
U.N. Investigator At U.S. Detention Center At Guantanamo Says Detainees Face Cruel Treatment
Ní Aoláin said her visit marked the first time a U.S. administration has allowed a U.N. investigator to visit the facility, which opened in 2002. ... Ní Aoláin said the specialist care and facilities at Guantanamo “are not adequate to meet the complex and urgent mental and physical health issues of detainees” ranging from permanent disabilities and traumatic brain injuries to chronic pain, gastrointestinal and urinary issues. (6/27)
In other recent news —
The New York Times:
Guantánamo Case Nearing a Decision on the Lasting Effects of Torture
By the time the prisoner accused of plotting the U.S.S. Cole bombing boasted about his role in the attack during interrogations at Guantánamo Bay, his memories and account were unreliable because of years of isolation and torture by the C.I.A., a former military interrogator testified Friday. Prosecutors say the statements that Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi prisoner, gave during interrogations in 2007 are crucial evidence against him. Defense lawyers consider them tainted by torture. Now the judge, Col. Lanny J. Acosta Jr., is expected to decide whether agents can testify about the confession at Mr. Nashiri’s eventual trial. (Rosenberg, 6/17)
