Guantanamo inmates showing signs of ‘accelerated ageing’, says ICRC

Inmates who’ve been held for years within the US’s Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba are exhibiting indicators of “accelerated ageing”, a senior official of the International Committee of the Red Cross has stated.

“We’re calling on the US administration and Congress to work together to find adequate and sustainable solutions to address these issues,” Patrick Hamilton, the ICRC’s head of delegation for the United States and Canada, stated on Friday.

“Action should be taken as a matter of priority.”

Hamilton’s feedback got here after a go to to the power in March following a 20-year hiatus. 

He stated he was “struck by how those who are still detained today are experiencing the symptoms of accelerated ageing, worsened by the cumulative effects of their experiences and years spent in detention”.

He referred to as for detainees to obtain ample psychological and bodily well being care and extra frequent household contact.

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The US State Department didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

The Guantanamo camp was established by Republican President George W. Bush in 2002 to accommodate overseas terrorism suspects following the 2001 hijacked aircraft assaults on New York and the Pentagon that killed about 3,000 individuals.

It got here to symbolise the excesses of the US “war on terror” due to harsh interrogation strategies that critics have stated amounted to torture. There have been 40 detainees when President Joe Biden, a Democrat, took workplace in 2021. The Biden administration has stated it desires to shut the power however has not offered a plan for doing so.

The repatriation of two brothers to Pakistan occurred in February, and 30 prisoners stay. Hamilton additionally urged Washington to resolve the destiny of the detainees, urging motion to switch these out who have been eligible.

Source: Reuters