The 16 signatories condemn Trump’s order to detain undocumented individuals within the army jail.
We, the undersigned former Guantanamo prisoners, strongly condemn US President Donald Trump’s government order to broaden detention services for undocumented individuals at Guantanamo Bay.
Guantanamo isn’t just a jail – it’s a place the place regulation is warped, dignity is stripped, and struggling is hidden behind barbed wire. We lived it. We all know the clang of steel doorways, the burden of shackles, and the silence of a world that seemed away. We all know what it means to be caged with out cost, with out trial, with out hope.
Now, the identical system that stole years from our lives is increasing to imprison migrants, individuals looking for security solely to be despatched to a spot that exists exterior the regulation designed to strip them of their rights. Guantanamo doesn’t simply enable abuse; it ensures cruelty. This government order doesn’t simply allow injustice; it ensures it.
Detaining migrants at Guantanamo denies them constitutional protections, trapping them in the identical authorized limbo we endured. This deliberate ambiguity permits abuse, simply because it did with us. We all know firsthand what occurs when a system is designed to interrupt individuals. This isn’t about safety; it’s about energy, management, and utilizing Guantanamo’s darkness to hide yet one more injustice.
This resolution is a direct results of the impunity the US has loved for the crimes dedicated at Guantanamo. The failure to shut the jail and reckon with its legacy has not solely allowed these injustices to proceed however has now enabled their growth. Guantanamo ought to have been shut down way back; as an alternative, it’s being revived for brand new victims.
We refuse to remain silent. We refuse to let others be swallowed by the identical nightmare we endured. Nobody deserves to be thrown right into a system constructed to erase them. We won’t cease talking. We won’t cease combating. We won’t let Guantanamo’s horrors be repeated.
Shut Guantanamo. Finish indefinite detention. Cease this order.
We’re not simply survivors of Guantanamo. We’re witnesses. And we won’t let the world neglect.
In solidarity,
Mansoor Adayfi (GTMO441)
Moazzam Begg
Ahemed Errachidi
Lakhdar Boumediene
Ghaleb Al Bihani
Hisham Sliti
Abdul Latif Nasr
Sufyian Barhoumi
Hussein Yafai
Abdul-Almalik Abud
Ayoob Mohammed
Tarek Dergoul
Mohsin Alaskari
Djamel Ameziane
Hammami Hedi
Omar Deghayes
The views expressed on this article are the authors’ personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.
