Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
Guantanamo Bay is a prison known for terrorist prisoners, brutal torture, and human rights scandals. The Guantanamo Bay prison complex is located by the bay of the same name, on the southeastern coast of Cuba. It is technically Cuban territory, indefinitely leased by the United States since 1903 and used as a military base. As a prison camp, Guantanamo Bay began operating in January 2002. The reason for this was the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Thus, prisoners involved in terrorism or popular militias resisting the U.S. army in the regions of anti-terrorist operations are taken to this specially protected prison.
History of Guantanamo
The first prisoners were brought to Guantanamo Bay prison on January 11, 2002. They were natives of Afghanistan. People were placed in grated cages that had been left there since Operation Sea Signal in 1994. The camp was called X-Ray and lasted only until April 2002, when base management announced the creation of new and improved camps. Turning the base into a state-of-the-art prison complex cost the U.S. Department of Defense hundreds of millions of dollars.
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Thus came the camp, called Delta. It consisted of 5 separate prison blocks. Prisoners from 44 countries, mostly citizens of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen, were brought here. The life of the prisoners, who complied with all the rules, did not differ much from the usual prison regime. They were kept in 1-story buildings, in air-conditioned cells. Each building, in turn, consisted of 48 cells, was surrounded by 2 rows of barbed wire and guard towers, where sentries were on duty 24 hours a day.
.However, the existence of the Guantanamo Bay prison was officially recognized by President George W. Bush several years later – on September 6, 2006. Previously, the U.S. authorities refused to confirm the existence of secret CIA prisons in other countries, despite the information that was periodically leaked to the media. And there were enough reasons for newspaper headlines – the prison was constantly criticized because of numerous facts of human rights violations, torture and ill-treatment of prisoners and, most importantly, the detention of a huge number of people without charges. For example, in April 2006, there were 490 prisoners remaining at Guantanamo, of which only 10 had been formally charged!
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In January 2009, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison within a year and also banned brutal interrogation techniques. However, it was not implemented. In December 2010, the US Congress voted against closing the prison. In addition, it approved a law prohibiting the transfer of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo to other prisons located in the US. Then in January 2011, Barack Obama signed a similar law prohibiting the transfer of Guantanamo prisoners to the U.S. at the expense of the Pentagon, as well as moving them to other countries (with very few exceptions). This made it impossible to close the prison..As of September 2012, the prison held about 167 prisoners. A total of 779 people passed through Guantanamo between 2002 and 2012, 8 of whom died in prison. By September 2013, 603 prisoners had been released, 100 of whom have returned to terrorist activity and another 74 are suspected.
.Prison complex
Organizationally, the prison complex consists of 3 parts:
.1) Camp Delta, which has a capacity of 612 inmates;2) “Echo”, a pre-trial detention facility;3) an additional camp “Iguana” located 1 km from the main prison.
The prison is maintained by Joint Task Force Guantanamo Bay, which includes members of the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy military police, as well as operatives and specialists from the United States Department of Homeland Security. Special attention is paid to the nutrition of the prisoners. They have a choice of what to eat for lunch, and different meals are provided. But in case they refuse to eat, they are brutally force-fed special food on a special frightening chair. There are also painting workshops.
.Guantanamo in movies and music
The Guantanamo Bay prison is a popular subject for movie plots and songs. It is the main theme or is mentioned in some songs by African artists. The band Die Lunikoff Verschwörung has a song of the same name. The song “Guantanamo” by DJ Zidane from Côte d’Ivoire is dedicated to the prison, and a music video was made for the song – as if about African prisoners in Guantanamo. Also prison is mentioned in the songs “Zanga zanga” by DJ Zidane, “Immooo” by Konty DJ, “Guantanamo” by Venerea, “Same Thing” by Flobots, “Guantanamo” by Italian techno musician Rexanthony. Also the band OUTLANDISH has a song with the same title.
.The detention of 3 Muslims from the UK who went to Afghanistan to visit relatives after September 11, 2001 and were arrested on charges of links to Al Qaeda is the subject of Mat Whitecross’s film “Road to Guantanamo.”
.In 2013, a movie about Guantanamo Bay detainees, “Camp X-Ray” (“X-Ray Camp”), was made. It was written by writer-director Peter Sattler and starred Kristen Stewart in the title role. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.
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