Sending New Inmates to Guantánamo a Step in the Wrong Direction

Washington, D.C.—Today, Senator Mitch McConnell (KY), the top-ranking republican in the U.S. Senate, argued that two Iraqis facing terrorism-related charges in Kentucky should be transferred to the prison at Guantánamo Bay. Senator McConnell stated that Kentucky residents do not want 30-year-old Waad Ramadan Alwan and 23-year-old Mohanad Shareef Hammadi treated like “common criminals in their own backyards.” “Sending new terrorism suspects to Guantánamo to languish in a failed system would be a step in the wrong direction. Criminals can and should be prosecuted in civilian courts,” said Human Rights First’s C. Dixon Osburn. To date, there have been 400 convictions of persons on terror related charges in federal courts versus only six convictions in tribunals.