Human Rights Watch (HRW) called March 29 for the US and Yemen [2] to agree on a repatriation plan that provides "meaningful legal process" for the nearly 100 Yemeni detainees still at Guantánamo Bay. A new HRW report [3] criticized any proposal involving indefinite suspension at a Yemeni facility and expressed fears of detainee mistreatment after repatriation.
The organization called for genuine rehabilitation efforts, questioning a Yemeni proposal in which detainees could be held for more than a year and face movement restrictions after release. The report called on Yemen to comply with the UN Convention Against Torture [4] and commit to fair trials for any detainees who are charged. HRW's fears of detainee mistreatment are based in part on its follow-up with the 14 Yemeni detainees who have already been repatriated. One said he was beaten by investigators during his two-year detention. The report asked the US to refrain from pressuring Yemen to hold detainees without charges and called for a truth commission to investigate alleged abuse of detainees. Any detainee who cannot return to Yemen due to a credible fear of persecution should be resettled in a safe third country, the report said.
In January, US President Barack Obama [5] issued an executive order [6] directing the closure of the Guántanamo Bay detention facility within one year. In July 2008, Yemeni officials met with a visiting US delegation [7] to discuss the possible transfer of Yemeni detainees held at Guantánamo Bay, with the US voicing concerns that they would be freed upon their return. In October 2007, US officials criticized [8] the Yemeni government over reports that it had released suspected USS Cole bomber Jamal al-Badawi [9] after he turned himself in. In May 2007, a senior Yemeni official said the country had agreed [10] to receive most Yemeni detainees being held at Guantanamo. In June 2006, Yemeni officials called for investigations [11] into the Guantánamo suicides of three detainees [12], including one Yemeni national, saying that the deaths exemplified the "inhumane conditions of detainees" at the US military prison. (Jurist [13], March 29)
The US has also expressed concerns about ex-Guantánamo detainees rejoining the jihad [14] in Yemen, and about Yemeni authorities releasing al-Qaeda suspects [15].
See our last post on the Guantánamo and the torture scandal [5].
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