WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A group of 25 activists will walk 80 miles across Cuba to the gates of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, where over 500 prisoners are being held.
The self-proclaimed anti-torture activists, members of the War Resisters League and Catholic Workers, will arrive at Guantanamo Bay on Dec. 10, International Human Rights Day.
Guantanamo is home to a detainee facility for more than 500 prisoners captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. The White House decided in 2001 that the jail would be free from Geneva Convention restrictions, and that the prisoners -- not being held on U.S. territory -- would not have the constitutional right to habeas corpus. That is, they could not challenge their right to be held by the government. A writ of habeas corpus requires the government to justify the detention in a U.S. court and it is the primary means of protecting people from false imprisonment.
The Supreme Court held in 2004 that the prisoners at Guantanamo have a right to challenge their detention in federal court.
In the meantime, there have been allegations by former prisoners and a former U.S. guard that prisoners were treated inhumanely or cruelly, behavior that in some cases might amount to torture.
Official government documents and e-mails released have shown a division in the government over the standards of treatment afforded to the prisoners.
"Witness Against Torture seeks to 'defend human dignity' by visiting with the hundreds of detainees who have been held for more than three years under horrific conditions by the American government," according to the group's press release issued Tuesday. The group is highly unlikely to get to see the prisoners, who are not even allowed visits with lawyers or family.
