US closes once-secret Guantanamo Bay prison unit, transfers prisoners

US Southern Command says in a statement that the prisoners at Camp 7 are transferred to another facility on the American base in Cuba to “increase operational efficiency and effectiveness."

In this March 22, 2016 file photo, a detainee paces around a cell block while being held in Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp VI at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Reuters

In this March 22, 2016 file photo, a detainee paces around a cell block while being held in Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp VI at the US Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The US military has said a once-secret unit within the Guantanamo Bay detention centre that had fallen into disrepair has been closed and the prisoners moved to another facility on the American base in Cuba.

The prisoners at Camp 7 were transferred to a facility adjacent to where the other detainees on the base are held as part of what US Southern Command said in a statement on Sunday was an effort to “increase operational efficiency and effectiveness."

Miami-based Southern Command, which oversees the detention centre at the southeastern edge of Cuba, did not say how many prisoners were moved. 

Officials have previously said about 14 men were held in Camp 7. There are 40 prisoners at Guantanamo.

Southern Command said the Camp 7 prisoners were moved to Camp 5 “safely and without incident," but did not say when the transfer occurred. 

Camp 5, which was largely empty, is next to Camp 6, where the other detainees are held.

READ MORE: A new project aims to keep the memory of Guantanamo Bay alive

Black sites

Camp 7 opened in December 2006 for prisoners previously held in a network of clandestine CIA detention facilities, often referred to as “black sites,” where they were subjected to brutal interrogation techniques. 

The military ran it under an agreement with CIA, and Southern Command said intelligence agencies were involved with the transfer.

The military long refused to even acknowledge the location of Camp 7 on the base and has never allowed journalists to see the inside of the facility. 

Officials had said that unit, which was never designed to be permanent, had structural issues and needed to be replaced, but the Pentagon dropped plans to seek money for the construction.

Among those held at Camp 7 were the five prisoners charged with war crimes for their alleged roles planning and providing logistical support for the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

President Joe Biden has said he intends to close Guantanamo, but that would require approval from Congress to move some prisoners to the US for trial or imprisonment.

READ MORE: Will Biden keep his promise to shut down Guantanamo?

READ MORE: ‘Europe’s Guantanamo’ claims 20 more prisoners in January

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