U.K. Lawyer: Gitmo Abuse Has Worsened Since Obama Inauguration

According to a lawyer with the respected British human rights group Reprieve, abuse of prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp has actually gotten worse since President Obama took office.

“According to my clients, there has been a ramping up in abuse since President Obama was inaugurated,” lawyer Ahmed Ghappour told Reuters.  The Pentagon has said that it too received reports of worsening prisoner abuse — though as we reported earlier, its report released Monday assured that the conditions at the prison complied with the requirements of the Geneva Conventions. (U.S. human rights groups disagreed.)

The worsening treatment did not seem to reflect orders from the top, Ghappour emphasized.  Rather, he said, it seems as if sadistic and frustrated prison guards are trying to “get their kicks in” before the Obama administration closes the notorious prison down.

“If one was to use one’s imagination, (one) could say that these traumatized, and for lack of a better word barbaric, guards were just basically trying to get their kicks in right now for fear that they won’t be able to later,” he told Reuters.