Guantanamo Bay Naval Base's notorious detention facility for terror suspects will continue to prohibit detainees from receiving medical care or prosecution within the US, according to a recently-passed law.
Provisions outlined in the new National Defense Authorization Act signed into law on December 20 by US President Donald Trump bar the use of government funds to conduct a shutdown of the US' detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, according to a Thursday report by Military.com.
The defense spending bill's prohibition, which runs through December 31, 2020, also blocks the transfer of detainees to the US for medical treatment and/or prosecution.
This move by Washington comes over a decade after then-US President Barack Obama issued an executive order in January 2009 which called for the shuttering of Guantanamo Bay within a year. The 44th president's attempt was ultimately blocked by Congress. However, Obama was successful in 197 international transfers of detainees from Guantanamo Bay during his tenure, according to US-based international human rights organization Human Rights First. Trump has transferred one detainee to their home country since entering office in 2016.
A total of 40 of the approximately 780 prisoners detained in the facility since its January 2002 opening remain there.
Gitmo has been at the center of media scrutiny and continued to raise eyebrows earlier this year after Rear Adm. John C. Ring was fired just one day after openly…
