UN human rights chief calls for Guantanamo closure

THE United Nations human rights chief has called on the United States to close down the Guantanamo prison camp, saying the indefinite imprisonment of detainees without charge or trial violated international law.

Navi Pillay said the hunger strike being staged by some 40 inmates at the Guantanamo Bay US Naval Base in south-eastern Cuba was a “desperate act” but it was “scarcely surprising”.

The UN high commissioner for human rights said about half of the 166 detainees there have been cleared for transfer
either to home countries or third countries for resettlement.

“As a first step, those who have been cleared for release must be released,” she said.

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