by Wen-Ju Chang, Sanae Khoulane, Dany Roumain-Kalim, and Yangjie Zhang
“No Torture” is the fifth article in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is an international law to avoid all sorts of violence against humanity, including all kinds of torture the prisoners face in Guantanamo because they are thought to be part of terrorism organizations who were responsible for the 9/11 event, sometimes without any proof and in an illegal way.
The article “Guantanamo, When America Changed Forever” was written by Andy Worthington. It discusses the foundation of Guantanamo prison after the 9/11 event, where some people who were thought to be terrorists were put in this prison without any legal processing. The author of this passage started talking about the foundation of Guantanamo which was in Cuba after the 9/11 attack. So the Bush administration took many people who may be part of any organization that relates to the 9/11 attack to Guantanamo to have deep questioning illegally and to make them out of the reach of US courts. Because those prisoners were considered as warriors, their situation did not apply to the characteristics of Geneva Convention in the point of view of the Bush administration. Second of all, the author discussed the torture the prisoners face, using the military techniques to interrogate them. Those techniques included sleep deprivation and extreme temperature. Moreover, the author talks about how the Obama administration tried hard to close Guantanamo prison, but without any results.
One significant idea that is important in this passage is that many people who were accused of being responsible for the 9/11 attack were held in Guantanamo prison without any legal processing, especially when the author said, “Its location was chosen specifically because the Bush administration intended those held to be permanently beyond the reach of the US courts.” It is important for the government to respect the law, even when it comes to the enormous event that leaves a very wide trace in American’s memory because respecting the law makes justice spread all over the country. After the 9/11 events, many people beside the ones who were responsible for this attack were arrested and taken to Guantanamo prison for interrogation with very dreadful sorts of torture, and without enough evidence showing that they were responsible for this terrorist attack because the Bush administration didn’t allow them to pass through the American court, which is the suitable place to justify the prisoners’ responsibilities concerning this attack. As a result many innocent people were taken to Guantanamo and face all kinds of military torture, which is against the human right.
Sami El Haj is one of Aljazeera’s journalists. The news channel he works for sent him to Afghanistan to cover the news there, and he was kidnaped and sent to Guantanamo. In this prison he suffered a lot from all kinds of inhuman torture just because he was in Afghanistan. He spent about 10 years, after American government made sure that he was in Afghanistan as part of his job as journalist. Also after his channel fought for him in the international organizations, he went out from Guantanamo but after ten years of torture. This example shows that many people were innocent. Yet, they were held in Guantanamo just because they were thought to be part of terrorist organizations. For that reason it is important for the courts to study their cases and finally judge them, instead of putting them in Guantanamo without enough evidence.
In conclusion, Guantanamo prison is illegal because the prisoners there face very hard kinds of torture without any proof, and without the courts decisions, so it is important to close it. That’s why people need to know and understand deeply the human rights of ‘’ No torture.’’ So that people can use this right as a weapon to protect themselves.
“No Torture” is the fifth article in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is an international law to avoid all sorts of violence against humanity, including all kinds of torture the prisoners face in Guantanamo because they are thought to be part of terrorism organizations who were responsible for the 9/11 event, sometimes without any proof and in an illegal way.
The article “Guantanamo, When America Changed Forever” was written by Andy Worthington. It discusses the foundation of Guantanamo prison after the 9/11 event, where some people who were thought to be terrorists were put in this prison without any legal processing. The author of this passage started talking about the foundation of Guantanamo which was in Cuba after the 9/11 attack. So the Bush administration took many people who may be part of any organization that relates to the 9/11 attack to Guantanamo to have deep questioning illegally and to make them out of the reach of US courts. Because those prisoners were considered as warriors, their situation did not apply to the characteristics of Geneva Convention in the point of view of the Bush administration. Second of all, the author discussed the torture the prisoners face, using the military techniques to interrogate them. Those techniques included sleep deprivation and extreme temperature. Moreover, the author talks about how the Obama administration tried hard to close Guantanamo prison, but without any results.
One significant idea that is important in this passage is that many people who were accused of being responsible for the 9/11 attack were held in Guantanamo prison without any legal processing, especially when the author said, “Its location was chosen specifically because the Bush administration intended those held to be permanently beyond the reach of the US courts.” It is important for the government to respect the law, even when it comes to the enormous event that leaves a very wide trace in American’s memory because respecting the law makes justice spread all over the country. After the 9/11 events, many people beside the ones who were responsible for this attack were arrested and taken to Guantanamo prison for interrogation with very dreadful sorts of torture, and without enough evidence showing that they were responsible for this terrorist attack because the Bush administration didn’t allow them to pass through the American court, which is the suitable place to justify the prisoners’ responsibilities concerning this attack. As a result many innocent people were taken to Guantanamo and face all kinds of military torture, which is against the human right.
Sami El Haj is one of Aljazeera’s journalists. The news channel he works for sent him to Afghanistan to cover the news there, and he was kidnaped and sent to Guantanamo. In this prison he suffered a lot from all kinds of inhuman torture just because he was in Afghanistan. He spent about 10 years, after American government made sure that he was in Afghanistan as part of his job as journalist. Also after his channel fought for him in the international organizations, he went out from Guantanamo but after ten years of torture. This example shows that many people were innocent. Yet, they were held in Guantanamo just because they were thought to be part of terrorist organizations. For that reason it is important for the courts to study their cases and finally judge them, instead of putting them in Guantanamo without enough evidence.
In conclusion, Guantanamo prison is illegal because the prisoners there face very hard kinds of torture without any proof, and without the courts decisions, so it is important to close it. That’s why people need to know and understand deeply the human rights of ‘’ No torture.’’ So that people can use this right as a weapon to protect themselves.
Works Cited
Barnes, Elvert Xavier. "Writings on the Wall." 7 Jan 2012. Protest Photography 2012. Web. 9 Dec 2013. Sweig, Julia E. “The United States Should Give Guantanamo Bay Back to Cuba.” Cuba 2013. Opposing Viewpoints. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Worthington, Andy. “Guantanamo, When America Changed Forever”. Over land 204. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Nov 2013. Link to article (on campus only) |
Another article that is about how American torture people is “The United States Should Give Guantanamo Bay Back to Cuba” that is written by Julia E. Sweig. There are different important reasons for Americans to give back the military base Guantanamo to Cuba. First, Sweig says that Guantanamo, a place for Cuban American cooperation, is becoming an area for human abuse and torture. Furthermore, tortured detainees in jail put a stain on the US image internationally and increase animosity between both nations. Moreover, Sweig explains Cuba has good reason to complain about the US. Since 1959, Cuba hadn’t received any money for Guantanamo’s rent. Finally, Sweig convinces us that it was a win for the US to give back the bay to Cuba, and it will increase their credibility over the world.
When Sweigs says, “Because of accusation of U.S. torture, and human rights abuse, the base has become an international political liability,” she means the U.S.A.’s behavior towards detainees in Guantanamo’s Bay’s prison put a shame on the U.S.A.’s image of democracy. I agree with the author. Since the Bush administration declares that terror prisoners in Guantanamo are not entitled to any protections of the Geneva Convention, they were abused and tortured by all sort of violence. After 9/11, to obtain information from terror prisoners, doctors, psychologists, and psychiatrists lost their professional ethics. They were working with the U.S. military to perform systematic method of torture. Added to mistreatment like burning, beating, sleep deprivation, they performed waterboarding on terror detainees, some of whom are innocent. Waterboarding is a type of torture where the prisoner suffered from suffocating, drowning, pain, and broken bones, sometimes until death. My important idea relates to the main idea of the passage because it is one reason Cuba’s president and the world has to complain about the US violation of human rights: no torture. Thus, by giving back the bay to Cuba, the US will end the torture in this place and at the same time remove the stain put on their image. In conclusion, torture is a really serious problem which still happens nowadays. Governments should be aware that those events happen. Also, governments should protect those people and let them claim their pain. In addition, we should prevent people from torture by making more rules. |