Obama's election bodes changes for Guantanamo prisoners

The 250 detainees at the US Guantanamo war-on-terror prison could see their living conditions improve under Barack Obama, but he has yet to say how he might change the controversial military tribunals created to try them.

David Cynamon, who represents four of the detainees at Guantanamo, says he is not sure they will be overly excited by the election of Obama, who pledged to shut down the navy-run prison in a US enclave in Cuba, set up in the wake of the September 11, 2001 Al-Qaeda attacks.

"I will tell them that this is a very hopeful development," he said as he planned to visit his clients next week.

"But they have been so beaten down during the past seven years that I don't know whether they will allow themselves to agree.

"They will be surprised, because they were convinced that a black man could never become president in the US," Cynamon added.

Civil liberties activists who have strongly denounced the Guantanamo prison all applauded the election of the progressive Democrat to replace President George W. Bush, whose administration set up the prison in 2002.

Guantanamo's population reached some 800 prisoners at one point, and most of those who have passed through its doors never been charged.

Critics say the detainees are denied basic rights, and they have cheered Obama's pledge to abide by constitutional principles with regard to the detainees.

John Podesta, the head of the transition team preparing Obama's assumption of power on January 20, acknowledged last week that Obama "has said that he intends to close the facility at Guantanamo."

But he added it is "a complicated matter" and the incoming government's position was "under review."

Still, the Pentagon has already begun researching alternative sites on US soil where a high-security prison could be set up, Sandra Hodgkinson, US assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, told AFP.

They cannot simply be dumped in federal prisons with other convicts, due to a legal prohibition against housing enemy fighters with convicted criminals, she said.

One plan to transfer the detainees into a military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas was not well-received locally, sparking worries that prisoners the government calls dangerous terrorists might escape, and that the prison could be targeted for attack.

Hodgkinson suggested that with reinforced security measures, worries could be eased.

The new prison would not necessarily house all 250 prisoners still at Guantanamo. Among them are some 60 the Pentagon regards as "transferrable," meaning they could be released to their home country or a third country in the near future.

Moreover, the detainees are all now contesting their detentions in front of a US federal court, after a ruling in June permitted the challenge. If the court judges that any are held without cause, they could be freed.

But some rights activists oppose replacing Guantanamo with another high-security prison inside the country's borders.

"I don't think it would solve anything to close down Guantanamo but to reopen it inside the US under a different name," said Jameel Jaffer of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But, he added, "I think that closing (Guantanamo) is an important step in bringing the US back into line with its constitution and with international law."

For him Guantanamo's closure needs to be accompanied by an overhaul of the special military tribunals established for detainees, which critics say deny fundamental US rights for defendants.

While so far only some 20 prisoners have been formally charged, including five men accused of helping organize the September 11 attacks, the Pentagon envisages eventually trying some 60 to 80 for "war crimes" under the special tribunals.

So far Obama's team is keeping its views on the special tribunals secret, though they denied rumors that they would create new "national security" tribunals.

"President-elect Obama said throughout his campaign that the legal framework at Guantanamo has failed to successfully and swiftly prosecute terrorists, and he shares the broad bipartisan belief that Guantanamo should be closed," Obama foreign policy advisor Denis McDonough said on November 10.

"There is absolutely no truth to reports that a decision has been made about how and where to try the detainees, and there is no process in place to make that decision until his national security and legal teams are assembled."