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MADRID, January 11. (Notimex).— Amnesty
International (AI) today called for the
government of the United States to close the
prison at the Guantánamo military base in Cuba
and give the location of the 38 prisoners who
are believed to be held in secret detention
centers.
At an event held outside the U.S. embassy in
Spain, Esteban Beltrán –director of AI in Spain
– and former Guantánamo prisoner Ruhal Ahmed,
presented a letter signed by 170 Spanish
parliamentarians supporting the closure of the
military prison.
In a statement to the press, Beltrán commented
that on the sixth anniversary of the arrival of
the first prisoners in Guantánamo, AI will hand
in a petition to the government of the United
States, signed by 1,200 parliamentarians from
different countries around the world protesting
their opposition to the prison.
Beltrán explained that events of this kind are
to take place outside U.S. embassies in
different parts of the world, with the aim that,
aside from the White House, these signatures
will also reach the presidential hopefuls in
that country.
He stated that "this prison in Guantánamo is the
tip of the iceberg that has set back U.S. policy
on human rights 60 years thanks to the Military
Commissions Act, passed last October, which
legalizes torture."
He expressed his regret that despite the fact
that the petition to close the prison at
Guantánamo is international, achieving this
objective would not solve the problem as it is
already known that there are other secret
detention centers.
He confirmed that according to information from
AI, some 38 prisoners from different parts of
the world (including Spanish citizen Mustafá
Setmarián Nazar) are being imprisoned in these
secret centers.
He added that there are still some 300 prisoners
in Guantanámo from a total of 800 who originally
arrived there, and that 19 prisoners have
arrived at the military base in the last 15
months.
The head of the organization in Spain also
mentioned that they are set to stage other
events in order to ensure that this subject is
tackled in the presidential campaigns in the
United States.
Translated by Granma International 11-01-2008 |
