After 20 Years, Guantanamo Must Be Closed
Human Rights FirstJan 09, 2023
US officials returned two Pakistani brothers to Pakistan on Thursday after detaining them at the Guantanamo Bay military prison for two decades without charging them.
Abdul and Mohammed Rabbani were arrested by Pakistani authorities in Karachi on suspicion of providing housing and logistical support to al-Qaeda members in 2002, before being transferred into American custody.
Guantanamo Bay has tarnished the United States' reputation as a global leader in human rights. Indefinite detention harms national security by undermining global counterterrorism campaigns and feeding into the propaganda of terrorist organizations. Guantanamo Bay is a moral and military failure, must be shut down immediately, and all prisoners must finally be given their freedom back.
After the 9/11 attacks stole the lives of an unprecedented number of Americans, the US justifiably took extreme measures in the new fight against terrorism — a far different war than conflicts of the past. The complex war on terror called for complex solutions — the US has atoned for its handful of sins and has taken steps to prevent further rights violations.