The U.S. bishops’ international justice head told the U.S. Secretary
of Defense Chuck Hagel that detainees held on terrorism charges at
Guantanamo Bay deserve a just trial and should not be held indefinitely.
“Detainees have the right to a just and fair trial held in a timely
manner,” wrote Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, to Secretary
Hagel.
“The indefinite detention of detainees is not only injurious to those
individuals, it also wounds the moral reputation of our nation,
compromises our commitment to the rule of law, and undermines our
struggle against terrorism.”
Bishop Pates, who chairs the U.S. Bishops’ Committee on International
Justice and Peace, penned a June 25 letter to the Defense Secretary
asking for a review of the detention camp conditions and the release of
prisoners who have been cleared.
The bishop noted that “86 of the 166 detainees were cleared for release
three years ago and approved for transfer, but nonetheless remain
confined in Guantanamo.” Many of these prisoners are “now placed in
solitary confinement, they are filled with despair.”
He added that some prisoners have spent up to 11 years in prison without a trial.
Bishop Pates referenced Catholic social teaching, noting that while a
country has a right to defend itself from terrorism, “this right cannot
be exercised in the absence of moral and legal norms, because the
struggle against terrorists must be carried out with respect for human
rights and for the principles of a State ruled by law.”
“This moral teaching appears applicable to the situation in Guantanamo,” he asserted.
Bishop Pates also commented on a hunger strike in which roughly 100 prisoners are currently participating.
“Detainees retain basic human rights,” he said, cautioning against
simply forced feeding the prisoners and instead asking that the United
States “first do everything it can to address the conditions of despair
that have led to this protest.”
In light of the troubling reports, the bishop asked Hagel to “conduct a
careful review of conditions for detainees” and to “make good on the
President's commitment to close this facility that has become a symbol
of indefinite detention without trial.”