ICRC Chief: Red Cross Visiting Guantanamo Prison
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Peter Maurer said the organization is conducting numerous visits to world prisons, including the US-run Guantanamo Bay prison, adding that Washington officials should provide answers as to why it has not closed down.
“(It is the) American officials who should answer why the (Guantanamo) detention facility has not been shut down (yet),” Maurer said Monday evening when asked by a reporter about the ICRC’s inaction on the issue.
Maurer was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a ceremony held in Tehran to launch the Iranian Red Crescent Society’s peace museum.
“We have made numerous visits to different prisons, including Guantanamo Bay prison, and met with the detainees in the past ten years,” he stated.
He added that the ICRC has assessed the conditions of the prison and given confidential reports to those running the detention center.
More than 150 detainees are still held at Guantanamo, most of them are held without charge or trial. The first detainees were brought there some 12 years ago after being captured during America’s so-called War on Terror.
In 2013 the Obama administration was forced to re-focus its attention on Guantanamo Bay prison after the majority of detainees went on hunger strike. At its peak in July last year, 106 of the then 166 detainees were on hunger strike, with 45 of them being force-fed.
This hunger strike sparked a worldwide debate on the future of Guantanamo, pushing the Obama administration towards finding a solution to the long-lasting judicial entanglement.