The White House has said that the Guantanamo Bay detention camp is in the "final stage" of closing. "The administration is ... in the final stages of drafting a plan safely, responsibly, the prison at Guantanamo and to present that plan to Congress," Josh Earnest, the White House spokesman, said in a regular briefing.
During 2008, Barack Obama described Guantanamo as a "sad chapter for American history" in his presidential campaign and after he was elected as a president in 2009, he promised to close the Guantanamo detention camp. The U.S. has slowly been sending detainees back to their home countries or third countries since then.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, 242 detainees were moved out of the detention camp, including 173 who were released without charges, while another 69 prisoners were transferred to the custody of other countries in July 2005. Former U.S. President Bush has announced that 14 "high-value" prisoners were transferred to the Guantanamo camp including Khalid Sheik Mohammed (believed to be al-Qaida's number three), Ramiz Bin al-Shib (allegedly linked with the 9/11 attack) and Abu Zubaydah (a close-link to Osama Bin Laden). According to the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York-based non-profit legal advocacy organization, 600 prisoners were released in May 2011. As of June 2015, 116 prisoners remain in Guantanamo detention camp. The peak population was 684 in the Guantanamo during 2003.
According to a report by the Institution of Medicine as a Profession, a non-profit health care policy think tank in New York, prisoners lived in inhumane and cruel conditions in the detention camp. The report also highlighted degrading treatment and torture. Also, prominent rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) have called the situation a "human rights scandal" in a series of reports, and accuses the Bush administration (OF WHAT?). Red Cross inspectors also released a report on detainees' alleged acts of torture. Tactics such as sleep deprivation, beatings, locking in confined and cold cells were detailed in the report.
In January 2002, camp officials reported 41 unsuccessful suicide attempts. During 2003, there were 23 suicide attempts. One prisoner was found dead, and officials said that the detainee killed himself. In May 2011, at least six prisoners committed suicide. Amnesty International accuses the U.S. for the suicides. "These are tragic results of years of arbitrary and indefinite detention," Amnesty said.
The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is a U.S. military prison located in the Guantanamo Bay naval base. The camp was established in January 2002 by the George W. Bush administration to detain the allegedly most dangerous suspects for interrogation and prosecution of crimes. Most of the prisoners are from Afghanistan, later from Iraq and south Asia. Prisoners who have been in the detention camp reported torture and abuse, which former U.S. President Bush has denied. Also, the U.N. called for the camp to be closed in 2006 - calls that were unanswered by the U.S.
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