Camp 7 of notorious Guantanamo Bay prison shut down

Washington: The US shut down one of the prison units of the notorious Guantanamo Bay Detention Camp. The unit Camp 7, which is succumbing to ruins, was shut down, citing budget cost-cutting. The US military informed that the 14 inmates who resided there were shifted to another nearby camp. The need for a new centre to move the inmates of Camp 7 was sought during the 2013 budget, but no fund was sanctioned. Of the current inmates of Camp 7, five were captured for their alleged link with the 9/11 attack.

Before the election, President Biden had proclaimed the shutting down of the entire prison built in 2006 December. But as the Senate's special consent is needed to shift the prisoners to the US mainland, an immediate shutdown of the whole detention centre is not possible. In 2017, 15 inmates were shifted to Yemen, and now 40 inmates remain in Guantanamo.

The prison located in Guantanamo Bay, South East of Cuba, is notorious for human rights violations. The US took the area for lease under 1903 Cuban–American Treaty of Relations. Later the two nations fenced off their properties after the treaty was broken. In 1991, the US built camps there to imprison rebels of Haiti. The Guantanamo Prisons were put to debates after the 9/11 attack in the US and the US attack on Afghanistan.