The group, which has represented many men at the prison, urged the Biden administration to transfer the 19 remaining men who are not charged

July 31, 2024, New York – In response to the U.S. government’s plea agreements with the 9/11 defendants before the military commissions at Guantánamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement: 

These plea agreements are a substantial step toward ending military commissions and the extralegal nightmare of Guantánamo. They were also inevitable because the 9/11 case was never going to be tried before a military commission. The military commissions at Guantánamo have never provided justice or accountability for anyone. Rather, for the last two decades, they have provided a veneer of legal process that serves only to maintain the unacceptable status quo and cover up the torture and abuse of detainees. But as illustrated by the military commission cases of our clients David Hicks and Majid Khan, they have also been a way out of Guantánamo. Ironic, because it is ultimately men like our clients Guled Duran and Sharqawi Al Hajj, who committed no offense and are approved for transfer, who remain in detention indefinitely. This has been a central, ugly truth of Guantánamo since it opened in January 2002.

We express our hope that this deal provides some measure of peace for our friends and colleagues at September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows and other victim family members, and a kind of closure for all involved. And we urge the Biden administration to move expeditiously to transfer the 19 remaining men who are not charged.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for more than 22 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center has represented the families of men who died at Guantánamo, men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts, and men who were charged before the military commissions.