The Guantanamo Bay detention center is located on the southern tip of Cuba and has long been a thorn in the side of many human rights activists who have called out the US military camp for employing torture tactics to interrogate detainees, many of whom have been indefinitely imprisoned without being charged with or convicted of any crime.
Days ahead of US President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration, a panel of experts from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a statement on Monday calling for the incoming US administration to close the infamous detention facility.
Officials further indicated that prisoners' health will continue to rapidly decline as a result of the center's ever-present inhumane conditions, and that the COVID-19 pandemic will only worsen health vulnerabilities among individuals there.
“We must not forget these detainees, who have been subjected to torture or victims of comparable trauma, and still languish in Guantánamo, in a virtual legal limbo, outside the reach of the constitutional judicial system of the United States,” the experts said.
At present, an estimated 40 detainees remain at the facility, with only nine individuals having been either charged with or convicted of a crime, according to the UN panel. At the height of its use, the military camp had several hundred prisoners detained on the grounds.
The panel of experts also called on the incoming Biden administration to quickly launch…
