Gulf | Bahrain
Kin of Guantanamo detainees urged to meet rights lawyers
A human rights activist has urged relatives and friends of Guantanamo Bay detainees to come forward and meet lawyers from the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 00:00 January 17, 2006
Manama: A human rights activist has urged relatives and friends of Guantanamo Bay detainees to come forward and meet lawyers from the US-based Centre for Constitutional Rights.
"More than 10 lawyers from the centre will be in Bahrain on January 19 and 20 and will be holding meetings with relatives and friends of the prisoners still detained by the US authorities at their detention centre in Cuba.
"We urge all people interested in the cases of the prisoners at the US's most notorious internment camp to step forward and take part in the meetings," the former head of the dissolved Bahrain Centre for Human Rights Nabeel Rajab said yesterday in a statement to Gulf News.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is a non-profit organisation, dedicated to fighting for Muslims' rights.
According to Rajab, the lawyers working for the detainees are facing obstacles, and need help from their relatives.
"We have arranged a visit to Bahrain by more than 10 human rights lawyers from the centre on Thursday and Friday to discuss important issues with family members and friends of the detainees. This is highly significant, particularly in the light of the latest developments that have affected the conditions of the prisoners," said Rajab whose contribution to the release of three Bahraini detainees in November has been publicly acknowledged.
Fight to seek justice
According to activists from the CCR, "the centre is currently spearheading the fight to seek justice for the hundreds of men and minors who have languished at Guantanamo for more than three years and to seek redress for the abuse and torture many have suffered at the hands of military interrogators and private contractors there, at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, in Afghanistan and at secret detention facilities around the world."
The CCR says it is "fighting to put an end to the Bush Administration's abuse of executive power and unlawful practices like extraordinary rendition where torture and interrogation are literally outsourced to other countries."
Of the approximately 760 prisoners brought to Guantanamo since January 11, 2002, the military has released 180. It has transferred 76 to the custody of other countries.
"The Bush administration's actions in the war on terror have rejected 200 years of constitutional rights. The idea that you can simply imprison someone indefinitely without a trial, without any access to attorneys, incommunicado in a place outside the law, Guantanamo, should be anathema to all of us. That's the beginning of the end of rule of law in the United States," Michael Ratner, human rights lawyer and president of the CCR said.
News Editor's choice
-
UAE upholds values of free trade
Recently released statistics confirm an established fact, namely that of the UAE embracing the free trade principle in general and imports in particular
-
Parents should be more vigilant
Reader's picture highlights risk of negligence by caretakers
-
Children killed in Syria attack
World condemns latest Syrian horror as monitors find bodies of 32 children among 92 killed
