Joe Biden urged to close down Guantanamo Bay facility

Past US Presidents have been urged to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba. Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has now urged President Joe Biden to close down the infamous detention camp that has been running for 20 years.

Amnesty International is urging Biden to close down the Guantanamo Bay detention facility that has already been running for 20 years as of this month. Speaking with DPA in Washington, the watchdog’s US expert Sumit Bhattacharyya said the facility supports arbitrariness, torture, and injustice. Bhattacharyya said that Biden should shut down the facility and bring those who were involved in illegal activities or torture at the facility to justice.

As of now, the facility has 39 detainees remaining. It was opened in 2001 by George W. Bush to contain suspected Islamic terrorists without trial as a result of the 9/11 attacks. While Barack Obama wanted to shut down the facility, he was opposed by Congress, and Donald Trump during his presidency said he wanted the camp to stay open.

Biden, who was the vice president of Obama, has already planned to shut down the facility and is trying to push through with closing the camp. Amnesty International has since marked the 20th anniversary of the facility’s opening by staging protests in several countries over the weekend.

Meanwhile, Biden is also facing pressure to act on voter protections as Republican-led state legislatures are pushing for more restrictive voting and election reforms. The US leader is set to travel to Atlanta, Georgia, on Tuesday to make a case for voting rights legislation as the Democrat-controlled Congress is set to pass two voting rights bills facing unanimous Republican opposition, especially in the Senate.

The only chance both voting bills pass the evenly divided Senate is through abolishing the filibuster, which is a step that Democratic leaders are prepared to take and one that Biden is willing to endorse.

Biden, along with vice president Kamala Harris, is set to lay a wreath on the crypt of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and visit the church he preached, the Ebenezer Baptist Church.