UN expert to visit US and Guantanamo detention facility

By Peter Kenny

GENEVA (AA) – Fionnuala Ni Aolain, the UN special rapporteur on promoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, is set to begin her US visit from Feb. 6, the global body said Wednesday.

Between Feb. 6 and 14, the official will visit Washington DC and the detention facility at the US Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay on the island of Cuba, the UN Human Rights Special Procedures Office said.

Over the subsequent three-month period, Ni Aolain will also carry out a series of interviews with individuals in the US and abroad voluntarily.

These will include victims and families of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and former detainees in countries of resettlement/repatriation.

She will release a statement on her conclusions and suggestions once the visit is concluded.

The US withdrew its military forces from Afghanistan in August 2021, but the military prison created to hold terrorist suspects captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and elsewhere, remains open.

The notorious prison was established 21 years ago in Guantanamo Bay, which the US leased from Cuba for the navy in 1903.

Since then, the detention camp, also known as "Gitmo," has held roughly 780 detainees, most of them without charge or trial, with many said to have gone through unspeakable horrors. Currently, 35 detainees remain.