Amid mounting international pressure, the Pentagon revealed the identities of hundreds of detainees in Guantanamo Bay, but calls for closing the controversial camp continue, reports Tamam Ahmed Jama Two weeks after a damning United Nations report called for the immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay and amid growing international criticism, United States authorities have lifted the veil of secrecy by disclosing the identities of hundreds of detainees held at the American naval base in Cuba. The disclosure of the detainees' identities came after a court decision ordering the US Department of Defense to release uncensored transcripts of detainee hearings to the Associated Press news agency, which had previously filed a lawsuit against the Pentagon under the Freedom of Information Act. It is the most comprehensive list so far of the men held in Guantanamo Bay. Only a handful had previously been officially identified. Documents released in the past had the names and other details blacked out. The names of the detainees who were previously known emerged from civil suits filed by lawyers and from media reports. Legal experts say the disclosure of the identities of the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay is a step in the right direction in terms of transparency on the part of the US administration. But it is unlikely that this will quell growing condemnations of the camp. "It is a tantalising piece of information, but it does not address the fundamental issue of why the United States is holding these people illegally," Katherine Newell Bierman, counter- terrorism counsel for the US programme of Human Rights Watch, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The real goal should be ensuring that these detainees are treated in accordance with international standards. US authorities should state the legal basis for the detention of these people, prosecute those suspected of crimes and release the rest." The released documents are transcripts of the Combatant Status Review Tribunals at Guantanamo Bay. This means that information about detainees at the base who have not been through these tribunals is not included. Only 320 detainees, including some who have already been released, feature in the disclosed documents. About 500 people are currently imprisoned at the detention facility. Meanwhile allegations of ill-treatment of detainees in Guantanamo Bay continue. In protest of prison conditions, many of the detainees have gone on a prolonged hunger strike. In recent weeks, military authorities at the base have reportedly adopted harsh methods of force-feeding detainees and other punitive measures aimed at breaking the hunger strike. There have been reports of prison guards strapping down detainees to "restraint chairs" for hours to prevent them from vomiting fluids after being force-fed through tubes. Other measures taken to dissuade the hunger strikers reportedly include confinement in cold cells, being kept in isolation and, sometimes, the use of riot-control soldiers to force detainees to sit still while long plastic tubes are threaded down their nasal passages and into their stomachs. The procedure is said to cause sharp pain and frequent bleeding. The UN report on Guantanamo Bay published last month says that the manner in which detainees at the base are force-fed is coercive and amounts to torture. The report adds that health professionals who participate in the force-feeding procedures are violating international codes of medical ethics, including the code of ethics of the American Medical Association and the UN Principles of Medical Ethics. During the Second World War, some Nazi doctors performed experiments on patients they were treating without their consent. "As a result of this heinous practice, a very important human right was recognised and codified after 1945," Paul Hunt, UN special rapporteur on the right of detainees to health, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "All patients must give their informed consent to medical treatment, provided they are mentally competent. If there is a requirement of informed consent, there must be a right to refuse treatment and that includes being force-fed." The UN report concludes that "health professionals in Guantanamo Bay have systematically violated widely accepted ethical standards set out in the United Nations Principles of Medical Ethics and the Declaration of Tokyo, in addition to well-established rules of medical confidentiality." The 1975 Tokyo Declaration of the World Medical Association -- revised and reaffirmed in Divonne-les-Bains, France, in 2005 -- provides guidelines for physicians regarding torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in relation to detention and imprisonment. The declaration, whose preamble reads that it is the privilege of the physician to practice medicine in the service of humanity, goes on to state that: "The physician's fundamental role is to alleviate the distress of his or her fellow human beings and no motive -- whether personal, collective or political -- shall prevail against this higher purpose." Allegedly compelled by and acting under prison authorities, health professionals at Guantanamo Bay have reportedly compromised their professional obligations. The alleged violations include breach of confidentiality by the disclosure of health information for the purposes of interrogation, participating in and providing advice for interrogations -- and engaging in non- consensual treatment, including drugging and force-feeding. "Health professionals have been complicit in abusive treatment detrimental to the health of detainees," the UN report states. "Such unethical conduct violates the detainees' right to health, as well as the duties of health professionals." The report adds that often detainees found out that the interrogators knew their medical histories, raising concerns that such information may have been used to punish and coerce the detainees. The disclosure by physicians of personal medical information to interrogators is damaging to doctor-patient relationship for which trust is essential. "There is evidence that in Guantanamo Bay the essential trust between doctors and patients has been eroded," Hunt said. The UN report on Guantanamo Bay, of which Hunt is a co-author, calls on US authorities to allow independent health professionals to monitor the situation of detainees on hunger strike at the base. Physicians for Human Rights equally call for independent medical personnel to be allowed in Guantanamo Bay. The "tough" measures taken in Guantanamo Bay, according to prison officials, have been very effective, resulting in a dramatic drop in the number of detainees on hunger strike. Lawyers representing some of the detainees and human rights groups, including the US-based Physicians for Human Rights, condemn the measures as inhumane and abusive. Pentagon and prison officials maintain that the manner in which the detainees are force-fed is not inhumane. They say that force-feeding is done in the detainees' interest to preserve their lives, adding that the policy is consistent with practice in some federal prisons when a hunger strike threatens an inmate's life. The potential deaths of detainees on hunger strike would inevitably intensify international condemnations of the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. Lawyers representing some of the detainees and human rights groups point out that the men on hunger strike are not seeking death but are trying to draw world attention to their predicament as they languish in an island prison for years, without charge or trial. "We don't assume this many people want to die, that is rarely the goal of hunger strikers," Susannah Sirkin, deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, told Al-Ahram Weekly. "They are protesting against the conditions at Guantanamo Bay and this is not just the physical conditions but also their indefinite detention." She added that the solution does not lie in force-feeding those on hunger strike, but in addressing the conditions that are driving the detainees to take desperate measures. Chief among these is the lack of due process. "Being detained indefinitely without knowing if and when it is going to end induces a terrible mental stress and psychological trauma," Sirkin said. When Guantanamo Bay opened in January 2002, US authorities argued that it was the right place for holding the most dangerous Al-Qaeda terrorists -- "the worst of a very bad lot", in the words of vice-president Dick Cheney. Yet, according to Pentagon documents, the majority of the men held at the base are "not determined" to have committed "hostile acts" against the US. Only eight per cent are classified as "Al-Qaeda fighters." And even most of this eight per cent reportedly deny the charges, allegedly based on confessions obtained through abusive interrogation. At least 250 people previously held at Guantanamo Bay have been released and repatriated to their countries. Most have been released without charge upon coming home. This is the case of nine British citizens who have been repatriated to Britain after a long negotiation between London and Washington. The Pentagon maintains that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, where interrogations to extract from detainees information about the Al-Qaeda network are conducted, serves a vital purpose in the fight against terrorism -- helping in the gathering of valuable intelligence. Reacting to the increasing international calls for closing the detention centre, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said: "Every once in while someone pops up and gets some press for saying, 'Oh, let's close Guantanamo Bay.' Well, if someone has a better idea, I'd like to hear it. The idea that you could just open the gates and say, 'Gee, fellows, you're all wonderful' is not realistic. There's no torture. There's no abuse. It's being handled honourably." It is doubtful that this assertion will reassure many, if anyone. Rumsfeld, who is ultimately the chief warden of Guantanamo Bay, had previously described the notorious naval base as the "least worst place" to hold people suspected of having links with the Al-Qaeda terrorism network. Since the release of the UN report in February, condemnations of the military prison have multiplied. Germany's new Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that "Guantanamo cannot and should not exist in the longer term." British Prime Minister Tony Blair has called it an "anomaly" that must be dealt with "sooner or later." Some British MPs have said it should be done away with sooner rather than later. The French, British and German ambassadors to Washington urged its closure in a joint appearance on CNN. Even Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, a conservative politician and staunch Bush ally, joined the chorus of calls for closing Guantanamo Bay saying: "One should move with maximum speed toward closing down these centres where incidents condemned by the whole world have occurred." Former American president Jimmy Carter -- who was awarded the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in the search for peaceful resolutions of international conflicts and for the advancement of democracy and human rights -- added his voice to the growing list of prominent personalities who have endorsed the UN report. "Despite President George W. Bush's bold reminder that America is determined to promote freedom and democracy around the world, the US continues to suffer terrible embarrassment and a blow to our reputation as a champion of human rights because of reports concerning abuses of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo," Carter said. "The best thing that the United States could do for our own reputation, for justice in the world and for the honouring of human rights is to shut down Guantanamo Bay prison -- as was recommended by the United Nations."
