Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp
The Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp is a military prison of the United States of America on the southeastern tip of the island of Cuba. In this prison terrorists / enemy combatants can be held indefinitely without charge or trial.[1] The liberal organization Center for Constitutional Rights is organizing attorneys to file habeas corpus petitions in the Washington, D.C., federal court on behalf of the detainees at Guantanamo Bay.[2]
On April 2, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court denied appeals by a group of detainees of this camp stating that it would be inappropriate to rule until the group had exhausted other remedies.[3]
Despite demagoguery and promises to close Guantanamo as a "moral" issue while campaigning in 2008, Barack Obama did not close the camp in his 8 years of the presidency.[4]
Guantanamo Bay
Guantanamo Bay is a coastal area on southeastern Cuba occupied and controlled by the United States government pursuant to a 1903 Lease Agreement with the newly independent Republic of Cuba subsequent to the Spanish–American War. The Agreement established that:[5]
| “ | While the United States recognizes the continuance of the ultimate sovereignty of the Republic of Cuba over the [leased areas], the Republic of Cuba consents that during the period of the occupation by the United States . . . the United States shall exercise complete jurisdiction and control over and within said areas. | ” |
In 1934 the United States and Cuba entered into another treaty that provided that, absent an agreement to modify or abrogate the lease, it would remain in effect "[s]o long as the United States of America shall not abandon the . . . Naval Station of Guantanamo."[5]
See also
References
- ↑ Fox News; Mixed Rulings on Terror Detention Policies, June 28, 2004
- ↑ First post-Supreme Court habeas petitions filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Center for Constitutional Rights, 2004.
- ↑ Enemy Combatant Detainees: Habeas Corpus Challenges in Federal Court, updated April 6, 2007.
- ↑ http://frontpagemag.com/2013/alan-w-dowd/obamas-renewed-war-on-guantanamo/
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004) (quoting lease).