Submitted by : manvi(70) ,shiwani mahla(108), surendra devenda

GUANTANAMO BAY: A LEGAL BLACK HOLE

Abstract
United States Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (also called Gitmo or GTMO) is located on 45 square miles (120 km2) of land and water at Guantnamo Bay, Cuba which the United States leased for use as a coaling and naval station in the Cuban-American Treaty of 1903. The base is located on the shore of Guantnamo Bay at the south-eastern end of Cuba. It is the oldest overseas U.S. Navy Base, and the only one in a country with which the United States does not have diplomatic relations. Since 2002, the naval base has contained a military prison, the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, for persons alleged to be unlawful combatants captured in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other places. The torture of prisoners, and their denial of protection under the Geneva Conventions, has been a source of international controversy.1 The most powerful democracy is detaining hundreds of suspected foot soldiers in a legal black hole at the United States naval base at Guantanamo Bay, where they await trial on capital charges by military tribunals. Democracies must defend themselves. Democracies are entitled to try officers and soldiers of enemy forces for war crimes. But it is a recurring theme in history that in times of war, armed conflict, or perceived national danger, even liberal democracies adopt measures infringing human rights in ways that are wholly disproportionate to the crisis. It all started when Al-Qaeda attacked United States on September 11th 2001 better known as 9/11. Congress passed authorization for use of military force against terrorists and the prisoners were sent to GTMO, where they were treated inhumanely. Prisoners in Guantnamo have reported being exposed to extraordinary review of its detention and interrogation practices for the detainees was a shame on the US government and the international community as well.
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^ "CNIC Naval Station Guantanamo Bay History". United States Navy. Retrieved 3 September 2012

The administration, refused to release the names of any detainees, the high-level officials and the transcript that was disclosed to detainees and the public was from a proceeding that lacked basic elements of due process.

Geography
The Naval Base is divided into three main geographical sections: Leeward Point, Windward Point, and Guantnamo Bay. Guantnamo Bay physically divides the Naval Station into sections. The bay extends past the boundaries of the base into Cuba, where the bay is then referred to as Baha de Guantnamo. Guantnamo Bay contains several cays, which are identified are Hospital Cay, Medico Cay, North Toro Cay, and South Toro Cay. Leeward Point of the Naval Station is the site of the active airfield. Major geographical features on Leeward Point include Mohomilla Bay and the Guantnamo River. Three beaches exist on the Leeward side. Two are available for use by base residents, while the third, Hicacal Beach, is closed. Windward Point contains most of the activities on the Naval Station. There are nine beaches available to base personnel. The highest point on the base is John Paul Jones hill at a total of 495 feet.2 The geography of Windward Point is such that there are many coves and peninsulas along the bay shoreline providing ideal areas for mooring ships

Present position
The courts are also implicated. The Supreme Court twice sought to ensure that Guantnamo would be subject to law. In 2004, in a case brought by the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which almost no one thought could be won, the Court ruled that the detainees had a statutory right to challenge the legality of their detentions by filing writs of habeas corpus. When Congress repealed the statutory basis for that decision, the Court in 2008 held that the detainees had a constitutional right to seek judicial reviewthe first time the Court had extended constitutional rights to foreign nationals outside our borders.

2 abc

"Guantanamo Bay [GTMO] "GITMO