Expert: Try Gitmo Detainees or Free Them

U.N. Human Rights Investigator Calls on U.S. to Fulfill Promise to Close the Military Prison

(AP)  All detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison should be freed or transferred to U.S. federal courts for trial by the Jan. 22 deadline set by President Barack Obama, a U.N. human rights investigator said Monday.

Martin Scheinin, who reports on the protection of human rights in the war on terror, said the U.S. Navy-run prison in Cuba should not be closed by trying to prosecute detainees through military commissions, which he said do not meet international human rights standards despite "small fixes."

The prison was created by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a detention center for suspected al Qaeda, Taliban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But it has since become a lightning rod of anti-U.S. criticism around the globe because of reports of torture during interrogations and lengthy detentions without trial.

Guantanamo now holds about 223 men, and according to a list released in late September at least 75 have been cleared for release.

Obama promised soon after taking office - and many times since - to close the prison, arguing that doing so is crucial to restoring America's image in the world and to creating a more effective anti-terror approach. The White House has said it still hopes to meet the deadline, but senior officials say it may slip because a number of difficult issues remain unresolved.

Scheinin, who reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, said he believes all the hurdles and problems can be overcome by Obama's Jan. 22 deadline.

Administration officials and lawyers have been reviewing the files on each detainee. At issue: which prisoners can be tried, and whether to do so in military or civilian courts; which can be released to other nations; and - the hardest question - which are too dangerous or their cases too compromised by lack of evidence that they must be held indefinitely.

Scheinin said all the remaining detainees should either be sent to trial by U.S. federal courts on the mainland or released - either in the United States or third countries - and no prisoners from Guantanamo should continue to be held indefinitely.

"To be very clear - and I've been blunt - I would say that the assumed very dangerous people who have been subject to interrogation methods that may make the evidence inadmissible in court ... belong to the category of persons who should be tried," he said.

"Then, it should be left to the hands of the judiciary to apply the law," he said. "I know it would be a risk for the prosecution to introduce a trial, but I think between those two options that still is the correct course of action."

The Obama administration is expected to announce a decision on which prisoners will be prosecuted by Nov. 16, but new problems arose this month.

The U.S. Congress decided to forbid the administration from spending any money to send detainees to the United States, other than for prosecution, and requiring a detailed plan in advance of sending them anywhere in the world.

The U.S. Supreme Court, meanwhile, agreed to decide whether Guantanamo detainees who are considered no threat can be ordered released in the United States - over the objections of the Obama administration and Congress - if the prisoners have nowhere else to go.

Scheinin, a Finnish law professor who visited Guantanamo in 2007 to attend military commission proceedings, said he and Manfred Nowak, the U.N.'s top investigator on torture and punishment, have been trying to get unhindered access to the Guantanamo detainees to study practices of secret detention. The Obama administration is saying "let's talk about this," he said.

[mjlewis6]

First: are there any subject to the definition of POW?

In which case there is no trial necessary until the end of hostilities. In the case of Afghanistan, the current government is responsible for any detained Taliban at the Guantanamo prison. Send these POWs to Afghanistan.

In the case of Iraq, the current government likewise, is responsible for any Iraqi or other national fighting in its country as sovereignty was restored to Iraq some years ago. Send these to Iraq where they were captured.

With the exception of members of Al Qaeda who have actively participated in that group, there is no statute of limitations with regard to its stated aims of destruction of innocents as well as Mulims who do not do their bidding. Fair trial law extends when it is recognized by the defendant who is NOT a POW, but as criminal who operated extra-territorial to the United States and is in our custody. Absent any treaty obligations, these can be held indefinitely once identified or admitted Al Qaeda membership.

Any one else which were captured, renditioned, tortured, from some other country in which they are not a national and have NOT been engaged in active combat... Return them to their country.

We are not in the business of finding everyone else's snakes under their rocks or keeping their scorpions for them...let them go.

Our intent is to capture/kill the leadership and end the hostilities that are pulling the US into the regions where we are not wanted as a culturally alien army that can kill citizens by mistake...

[wing64d]

Why don't we just offer these poor innocent people a nice homey place on Long Island or at Martha's Vineyard or in Hollywood or better yet, the D.C metro area. Heck, these guys are harmless and won't hurt anybody. I'd be willing to bet that all these folks out there that are defending them will gladly offer them a room at their house because they are so innocent.
Ladies and Gentlemen - Get your collective heads out of your ass - we are at war!!! The members of the military are keenly aware of this day in and day out while the average schlub goes mindlessly about their business and thinks the crap on TV is real and thinks that folks captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan and Iraq are just lost little puppy dogs and kitens.

[justdatrooth]

Obama has only 65 days to completely resolve and dispose of all legal issues surrounding the GITMOS and close the place down entirely. Otherwise he will once a gain be a liar, plain and simple.

[missme4]

RIGHTO! I thought this was the number 1 thing on his agenda.

[babooph]

Both the guilty & innocent tortured there are not important people to anyone but the fearful cowardly incompetents that recently left the White House.Confident,able leaders do not worry much about some uneducated nut cases & innocent goat herders.After torture they are likely not able to be put on trial -save a wad & send them back FAST!

[rich3910]

Who put the UN in charge? This is the United States.

[kesac4650]

Guantanamo meets all the Geneva convention and US Constitution requirements. Prisoners of a war are held "for the duration", to prevent them from returning to battle aganst their opponent.

[incog-nito]

The duration of what? Of the war on terror? So they will released only when the country of Terror announces their surrender to the U.S., as required by the Geneva Convention? Do you have any clue to what you're talking about?

[justdatrooth]

It doesn't matter, Obama staked his honor on the promise that all legal issues would be resolved and dispatched and that GITMO would be 100% closed on Jan 1, 2010.