"For the first time in the checkered 21-year history of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, the United States recently allowed a United Nations special rapporteur to visit the detention center and meet with detainees," notes Senator Dick Durbin. "In [Fionnuala Ní Aoláin's] report, released in late June, she emphasized the significance of this decision by the Biden administration.
"Following her visit to Guantanamo, the special rapporteur found that the legacy of torture and arbitrary detention combined with the current structural conditions at Guantanamo constitute 'cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment' and 'may also meet the legal threshold for torture.'
"These findings should be a wakeup call for the Biden administration," posits Durbin. Failure to release men who have been cleared and securing due process for those charged would perpetuate inherited injustices and make them Biden's own.
