Detainees at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba are hoping that the practice of review and possible release, implemented during the Obama administration, but halted by President Trump, will begin again under the administration of Joe Biden.

The detention center opened in 2002, under President George W. Bush’s administration, to interrogate and imprison people supposedly ‘suspected of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban’ following 9/11. Forty men continue to be detained at the US base, many without charge. Al Arabiya reports that those pushing for Guantanamo to be closed, after Obama failed to close it, are hoping that Biden’s administration will find a way to ‘prosecute those who can be prosecuted and release the rest’. Biden’s intentions concerning Guantanamo, however, remain unclear. While transition spokesman Ned Price said Biden does support the closure of the prison, discussing his plans before he took office would be inappropriate.

Al Arabiya reports that US authorities insist that the men can be held as “law of war” detainees. This could keep them in custody indefinitely, as the law applies for the duration of hostilities. But, Andrea Prasow, deputy Washington director at Human Rights Watch said, “I think it’s more likely to close if it doesn’t become a huge press issue.”

Commission proceedings, including death penalty cases reportedly related to 9/11, slowed drastically as the defence fought to exclude evidence that resulted from torture.  Trials are not likely to take place soon, and would still be followed by years of appeals. Wells Dixon, a lawyer for two prisoners, said, “It’s either do something about it or they die there without charge.” According to Al Arabiya, nine prisoners have thus far died at Guantanamo: seven supposedly from suicide, one from cancer and one from a heart attack.

Meanwhile, before Trump had taken office, there had been five detainees who had been cleared for release. Those five men are still languishing in Guantanamo Bay prison.

Umm Muhammed Umar