The U.S. Guatanamo prison was established in 2002 following the attacks of September 11th 2001 in New York, under George Bush’s presidency, with the intention to detain and interrogate the Taliban and members of Al Qaeda originating mostly from Afghanistan, concerning the attacks, possible future attempts and location of other Islamic terrorists.

The prison is based on a Naval Base in Guatanamo Bay, on the island of Cuba. It was chosen as the place for imprisonment, following a U.S. strategy to avoid liability, since the Naval Base is USmilitary owned but designated on non-U.S. soil. On the other hand, Fidel Castro (Cuban President) condemned the U.S. army for the illegal occupation of this territory.

In total approximately 750 “suspects” have been imprisoned from 30 countries, of which 250 presently remain in custody. In mid-2009, during the past 7 years, there was public evidence to demonstrate that more suicides have taken place at Guatanamo, 4, than fair trials, 3. During this same period more than half of detainees were released after several years of injustice for not being able to obtain from them with information they had presupposed. The reason is simple: these were innocent people.

This “quasi-legal” situation of imprisonment, allows the U.S. government to make claims that prisoners held there are not bounded by their legal framework, and basically these people find themselves, as they say more appropriately in this case, “in no one’s land”.

The rights of prisoners of war are governed by the Geneva Convention. To deny the rights of Guatanamo prisoners, George Bush publicly claimed the detainees as not prisoners of war but “unlawful combatants and murderers".

Since its founding in 2002 until today, a numerous collection of substantiated accusations and accounts made by prisoners who have been there and have been subsequently “rescued” by their states and lawyers, photographs, video recordings, etc. have shown acts have taken place in this prison including continuous jail tortures, harassment, abuse and all types of practices which have nothing to do with an interrogation and a violation of Human Rights on grounds that many detainees have been imprisoned for more than 4 or 5 years without trial or option for defense.

Among the usual practice of torture reported, they are:

- Simulated drowning
- Harassment and sexual abuse
- Beatings, kicking, hitting
- Sleep deprivation
- Acoustic disorientation
- Visual disorientation
- Confinement
- Harsh punishments by reciting the Koran
- Using trained dogs to cause panic
- Chains and detention without cause
- Fraudulent trials

George Bush's government has allways stand up for this practices pleading they are valid "interrogation methods" and not torture.

Translated from Spanish thanks to the project: Freetranslation of websites for NGOs and non-profit organisations. A project managed by Mondo Services. Translator: Samuel Sadek.