Over 600 detainees are being held in Guantanamo Bay. The exact number is not known - the US claims it is classified information. Most prisoners have been there for over two years, without access to relatives or legal counsel. They are in a state of limbo, held by a state that prides itself on freedoms and the rule of law. Yet these are denied to the inmates and there is no prospect of improvement in their situation.

A human rights conference in Yemen has called for the US to either release the prisoners or put them on trial. Recently, those British prisoners released and returned to the UK were freed by the British police within 24 hours of their arrival in the country - so much for them being a security risk, as claimed by the US. The continued retention of these people is a blight upon America, its judicial system and the American people.