US subjects Guantánamo Bay detainees to ‘cruel’ treatment, UN says after visit

First UN human rights investigator allowed to visit since camp was set up says men subjected to ‘inhuman and degrading’ treatment

The US government continues to subject the 30 men held at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba to “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment”, the first UN human rights investigator allowed to visit the camp since it was set up 20 years ago has concluded.

Fionnuala Ní Aoláin was granted unprecedented access as an independent UN monitor, spending four days at Guantánamo in February and meeting a range of the 34 prisoners who were then detained. The number held has now fallen to 30, including the five prisoners accused of plotting the attacks on New York and Washington on 9/11.