Back معتقل غوانتانامو Arabic Quantanamo həbs düşərgəsi Azerbaijani Турма ў Гуантанама Byelorussian Гуантанамо Бей (лагер) Bulgarian গুয়ানতানামো কারাগার Bengali/Bangla Centre de detenció de Guantánamo Catalan گوانتانامۆ CKB Gwersyll Bae Guantánamo Welsh Guantanamo-lejren Danish Gefangenenlager der Guantanamo Bay Naval Base German

Guantanamo Bay detention camp

Guantanamo Bay detention camp
Guantanamo Bay detention camp is located in Cuba
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
LocationGuantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba
Coordinates19°54′03″N 75°05′59″W / 19.90083°N 75.09972°W / 19.90083; -75.09972
StatusOperational
Population30 (as of June 2024)
OpenedJanuary 11, 2002 (January 11, 2002)
Managed byUnited States Navy

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[note 1] is a United States military prison within the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Gitmo (/ˈɡɪtmoʊ/ GIT-moh), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the global Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. As of May 2024, at least 780 persons from 48 countries have been detained at the facility, of whom 740 had been transferred elsewhere, nine died in custody, and 30 remain.[1] Only 16 detainees have ever been charged with criminal offenses.[1]

Shortly after the September 11 attacks, the U.S. declared a war on terror and subsequently led a multinational military operation against Taliban-ruled Afghanistan to dismantle Al-Qaeda, which had executed the attacks under the leadership of Osama bin Laden. During the invasion, on November 13, 2001, President Bush issued a military order allowing for the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without charge and preventing them from legally challenging their detention. The following month, the U.S. Department of Justice determined that habeas corpus rights that could challenge unlawful detention did not apply to Guantanamo Bay because it was on foreign soil. Subsequently, in January 2002, a temporary detention facility dubbed "Camp X-Ray" was created to house suspected Al-Qaeda members and Taliban fighters captured during the invasion of Afghanistan.[2]

By May 2003, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had expanded to a complex of facilities housing over 680 detainees, the vast majority without formal charges.[3][4] The Bush Administration maintained that it was neither obliged to grant prisoners basic protections under the U.S. Constitution, since the base was outside U.S. territory, nor required to observe the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war and civilians during wartime, as the conventions did not apply to "unlawful enemy combatants." These policies were subject to several court cases and have been deemed by various human rights organizations and legal advocacy groups as violating constitutional due process rights as well as international law.[5][6] Reports and testimonies of the abuse and torture of prisoners have likewise been met by widespread criticism and opposition both domestically and internationally.[7][8]

Amid ongoing controversies surrounding the camp, Bush's successor, Barack Obama, issued executive orders in 2009 to close the facility within one year and identify lawful alternatives for its detainees. However, strong bipartisan opposition from the U.S. Congress culminated in a law prohibiting detainees from Guantanamo from being transferred to the U.S. for any reason, effectively delaying its closure.[9] During the Obama Administration, the number of inmates was reduced from about 250 to 41.[10][11] Owing to polarized public and political opinion, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp has persisted. In January 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the detention camp open indefinitely,[12] with only one prisoner being repatriated by the end of his term in 2020.[13] In early February 2021, U.S. President Joe Biden declared his intention to close the facility before he leaves office,[14][15] although his administration has continued with multimillion-dollar expansions to military commissions and other Guantanamo Bay facilities, including a second courtroom.[16][17][18] Following the release of 10 detainees from Guantanamo,[19][20][21][22] 30 detainees remain as of June 2024;[23] of these, 16 are awaiting transfer, 11 have been charged or convicted of war crimes in the military commissions system, and three are held in indefinite law-of-war detention and are neither facing tribunal charges nor being recommended for release.[1]


Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ a b c Times, The New York (18 May 2021). "The Guantánamo Docket". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Timeline: 20 years of Guantanamo Bay prison". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Timeline: 20 years of Guantanamo Bay prison". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  4. ^ Haddad, Mohammed. "Guantanamo Bay explained in maps and charts". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  5. ^ Guantanamo and Illegal Detention Archived 15 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Amnesty International. Retrieved 3 November 2016
  6. ^ "Guantanamo". Center for Constitutional Rights. Archived from the original on 1 March 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Guantanamo Bay: "Ugly chapter of unrelenting human rights violations" – UN experts". OHCHR. Archived from the original on 2 July 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  8. ^ Shamsi, Hina (11 January 2022). "20 Years Later, Guantánamo Remains a Disgraceful Stain on Our Nation. It Needs to End. | ACLU". American Civil Liberties Union. Archived from the original on 25 June 2023. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
  9. ^ Herszenhorn, David (5 November 2015). "Senate Passes Military Bill that Bans Transfers of Guantanamo Detainees". The New York Times. New York Times. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  10. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (19 January 2017). "Obama to leave with 41 captives still at Guantánamo, blames politics". The Miami Herald. Archived from the original on 4 May 2019. Retrieved 26 January 2017.
  11. ^ Wittes, Benjamin; Wyne, Zaahira (30 November 2001). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantanamo: An Empirical Study". www.brookings.edu. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference TrumpOrder was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (17 June 2021). "Two More Guantánamo Detainees Are Cleared for Transfer to Other Nations". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 October 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2021.
  14. ^ Kaufman, Ellie (19 September 2021). "Biden administration has made little progress towards goal of closing notorious Guantanamo Bay prison". www.cnn.com. CNN. Archived from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
  15. ^ Ellie Kaufman (12 February 2021). "Biden administration says it intends to close Guantanamo prison". CNN. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  16. ^ "How Many Inmates Are There At Guantanamo Bay?". WorldAtlas. 23 May 2018. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  17. ^ "Biden Promised to Close Gitmo. Instead, He's Upgrading It". news.yahoo.com. 5 January 2022. Archived from the original on 21 September 2022. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  18. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (30 December 2021). "Pentagon Building New Secret Courtroom at Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 5 January 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  19. ^ Rosenberg, Carol; Savage, Charlie (19 July 2021). "Biden Administration Transfers Its First Detainee From Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
  20. ^ Kim, Juliana (29 October 2022). "The U.S. releases the oldest prisoner in Guantanamo Bay". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  21. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (2 February 2023). "Tortured Guantanamo Detainee Is Freed in Belize". The New York Times. New York Times. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 10 February 2023.
  22. ^ Rosenberg, Carol (8 March 2023). "U.S. Military Repatriates Saudi Engineer from Guantánamo Bay". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 11 March 2023. Retrieved 8 March 2023.
  23. ^ Lee, Carol E.; Kube, Courtney (20 April 2023). "Guantanamo population drops to 30; Biden admin wants to cut it more". NBC News. Archived from the original on 29 May 2024. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
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