RE: Is this seriously worth it? Guantanmo inmate never charged with a crime, dies after 11 years in US custody
September 23, 2012 at 7:29 pm
(September 23, 2012 at 7:25 pm)Tino Wrote:(September 23, 2012 at 7:14 pm)Hovik Wrote: The al-jazeera article can be found here. This man was never tried for a crime, was never convicted of a crime, and died never having committed terrorism. Nonetheless, he was kept in detainment in Gitmo for 11 years before being found dead in his cell. He tried to kill himself because "death was more desirable than living there." His release was even demanded by the Supreme Court, yet that was rescinded.
How is this justifiable? Are we really okay with locking people up with no evidence or trial of any kind based on an (often mistaken) assumption?
It concerns me. It would also concern me if we treated non-uniformed armed combatants as US citizens who were simply accused of committing crimes. The asymmetric nature of the terrorist threat has created many situations that various governmental processes and systems were not designed to handle, and as a result, don't handle well. This is one of them. However given what we know about Guantanamo detainees, this man's death is very likely to be attributable to his actions against the United States. He was essentially a prisoner of war in a war that continues. Therefore his incarceration was justified and moral, and his death, while saddening, is due to his actions and those of his people.
What actions against the United States? He was picked up by bounty hunters for no reason, and was considered a terrorist without evidence.