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Security Detainees
Arrests and Trials of Non-Citizens within the United States: The Guantanamo Detainees
The first prisoners from Afghanistan arrived at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on January 11, 2002. Today there are some 650 detainees being held at Guantanamo, from at least 43 countries. Most were captured in or near battlefields in Afghanistan. Some have come from other places, including six Algerians who were transferred from Bosnia in January 2002, after a local court there ordered their release for lack of evidence.
In late October 2002, the United States released four of the Guantanamo detainees, three Afghans and a Pakistani, explaining that the four no longer posed a threat to U.S. security. Though one of the men was 60 years old and two others upwards of 70 years old, the Defense Department insisted that "at the time of their detention, these enemy combatants posed a threat to U.S. security."1
Within days of the October releases, 30 new detainees were shipped to Guantanamo, bringing the total at that time to 625. On February 7, 2003, approximately 25 additional men were brought to Guantanamo, raising the total to about 650.2 Defense Department officials continue to say that many of the detainees held in Guantanamo can expect to be held there until the end of the war against terrorism, a war that shows no signs of ending. To date, there have been 20 suicide attempts by 16 detainees, mostly attempts to hang themselves with cloth. According to one prison mental health expert, these cases represent "an extraordinarily high number compared to other prison populations."3 The names of the detainees continue to be withheld, although the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has been allowed to visit detainees at Guantanamo and to communicate with families. Lawyers representing some of the detainees held at Guantanamo have filed habeas corpus petitions, asking U.S. courts to assert jurisdiction over their cases. At least two federal courts have ruled that they lack such jurisdiction.4
2 Paisley Dodds, "New Suspects Arrive at Guantanamo Bay," Associated Press, February 7, 2003; "U.S. Adds 30 Detainees to GITMO," Reuters, October 28, 2002.
3 Don van Natta Jr., "Questioning Terror Suspects in a Dark and Surreal World," New York Times, March 9, 2003. Authorities will be opening a special ward for detainees with mental problems. "U.S. Plans Mental Wad for Detainees," Associated Press, March 7, 2003.
4 Neil A. Lewis, "Judge Rebuffs Detainees at Guantanamo," New York Times, August 1, 2002.