The All Party Parliamentary Group for the Closure of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility met on 23 October 2023 to agree aims and speak with Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, whose report in June 2023 demanded “apology, full remedy, reparation, and guarantees of non-repetition to all victims”.
Parliamentarians in attendance included:
Chris Law MP (Chair)
Apsana Begum MP
Baroness Shami Chakrabarti
Baroness Helena Kennedy KC
John McDonnell MP
The aims agreed by the APPG were as follows:
1) To urge the UK government to use its influence as a key ally of the USA to call on the US government to finally secure the closure of the facility.
2) To urge the UK government to work internationally on the urgent and humane resettlement of detainees unanimously approved for release from Guantanamo by high-level US government review processes.
3) To urge the UK government to use its influence to call on the US government to ensure that the detainees receive adequate care for their long-standing physical and mental health needs, as required under international humanitarian law.
The group also discussed further the case of Ravil Mingazov, the former Guantanamo detainee who has been held since 2017 in prison in the UAE.
Andy Worthington summarised a meeting held at the European Parliament on 28 September on the closure of Guantanamo Bay. That meeting included a live talk by Mansoor Adayfi, former Guantanamo detainee and author.