Open Letter to President Biden: End the Decades-Long Imprisonment of Men Held Without Charge at Guantánamo
The Chicago Council of Lawyers joins the International Committee of the Red Cross in calling on President Biden to release forthwith the nineteen men held without charge at Guantánamo for two decades, who already have been cleared by our government for release or transfer.
Over twenty years ago, the United States began detaining Muslim men at the Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay. Of the thirty-eight men who remain imprisoned at Guantánamo today, half (19) have been cleared for release by multi-agency task forces. Seven additional men are awaiting either a decision or a hearing by the current task force (now called the Periodic Review Board). None of the twenty-six (26) men who are cleared for release or awaiting clearance has been charged with terrorism or any other crime.
The prison at Guantánamo was designed to be a legal black hole that would effectively prevent prisoners from having or enforcing their basic civil and human rights.
The Chicago Council of Lawyers stands with the International Committee of the Red Cross, which, on January 18, 2022, issued a rare public statement calling for the United States to transfer “today” the prisoners already cleared for release or transfer. The prison has become an embarrassment to our nation and its allies and a symbol that our enemies use to justify their worst human rights transgressions. We call on the Biden Administration to stop detaining these men without any legal, moral, or national security justification.