On 11 January 2002 some 20 men detained in Afghanistan on suspicion of
belonging to Al-Qaeda became the first inmates at a newly opened US
prison camp at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Images of the hooded and shackled detainees arriving shocked many around
the world, and raised questions over Washington's commitment to human
Some 700 prisoners would eventually be transferred to the site. In 2009,
some 215 men of various nationalities remain. The others have been
released or handed over to their national governments.
The prison complex lies on a US military base occupying a small strip of
land on the southern coast of Cuba.
The prisoners were described by former president Bush in 2002 as "enemy
combatants"; and labelled by his defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld as
"the worst of the worst".
President Barack Obama has pledged to close the camp in 2010. The
remaining prisoners will then be either moved to military prisons in the
United States, face trial by civilian court or military tribunal, or