SOCORRO, New Mexico (STPNS) -- To the Editor:

This Thursday, January 11, marks the five year anniversary of the first prisoners being brought to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by the U.S. military.

Yes, that?s right, five years!

During this time no Guantanamo detainee has been convicted of a criminal offense. Of the 775 detainees that have been held at Guantanamo, 86 percent were arrested by non-U.S. forces often for rewards of thousands of dollars. Recently, almost half of the detainees were released and sent home without being charged with a crime or being told why they had been detained.



The youngest detainees were 10, 12, and 13 years old. Four juveniles are still detained.

Evidence that detainees have been tortured and mistreated comes from the few detainees who have been allowed to meet with lawyers, from some who have been released, and from FBI agents and former military personnel.

During their years of captivity 40 detainees have attempted suicide and up to 200 have staged hunger strikes to protest the conditions of detention.  These have been kept alive through painful forced-feeding procedures.

Of the 395 remaining detainees, only about 75 will be charged under the new Military Commissions Act, according to an Armed Forces Information News article dated October 17, 2006.  However, this Act denies habeas corpus (the right to challenge the lawfulness or conditions of detention); denies the presumption of innocence; denies the right to trial within a reasonable time; denies the right to a lawyer of choice; denies the right to challenge and present evidence; and allows the use of evidence obtained under coercion.

Because this Act seriously undermines traditions of U.S. and international law and a number of fundamental universally recognized human rights, it should be abolished and the prisoners accused of terrorism should be tried in U.S. federal courts as such persons have been in the past, or they should be released. Call your Congressman and join in protest on the Socorro Plaza this Friday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.

David Wunker

San Antonio, NM