Washington, January 12 (RHC)-- Monday marked 19 years since former President George W. Bush sent the first post-9/11 prisoners to the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.  The grim anniversary comes as human rights advocates continue to demand the closure of the U.S. military prison, where 40 people continue to be indefinitely detained — most without being charged or receiving a fair trial.

In a statement, the Center for Constitutional Rights urged the Joe Biden administration to close the prison, saying: “Today marks the beginning of the 20th shameful year of Muslim men being unlawfully imprisoned at Guantánamo.  Even in a national landscape of brutal and extreme incarceration, the detentions of the men at Guantánamo … are unprecedented and yet largely invisible by now.”