Phone Calls For Guantanamo Detainees Promised
by KJ Mullins.
Gitmo detainees will be allowed to make regular phone calls to their family members according to an announcement by the military on Tuesday. While the announcement is a nice thing for those in the prison they have to wait. No date has been set yet.
Some of the
detainees have been in extreme isolation for as long as six years. The phone calls are part of a strategy to ease frustrations among the military prisoners in the prison.
Since the prison opened it has been an area of criticism. The prisoners held there are considered enemy combatants with few rights.
Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon says that the phone policy shows a commitment to maintaining the health and the well being of those housed within Guantanamo's walls.
There has not been a start date set for the phone calls to begin.
Inmate's current outside contact consists of mail delivered by the International Committee of the Red Cross and meetings with their lawyers. Some of the detainees have had a chance to speak with their families when a "humanitarian" issue comes up. The death of a family member constitutes for one of those issues.
Not everyone is taking the announcement at face value.
"I will believe it when I see it," said Wells Dixon, a lawyer with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents many Guantanamo detainees.
Phone Calls For Guantanamo Detainees Promised
Email
Print
Share
del.icio.us
facebook
newsvine
reddit
stumbleupon
technorati