WASHINGTON (AP) — Advocates for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center were optimistic when President Joe Biden took office. And they were relieved this summer after the U.S. released a prisoner for the first time in years. Many are now increasingly impatient.

In the months since that release, there have been few signs of progress in closing the notorious offshore prison on the U.S. base in Cuba. That has led to increased skepticism about Biden’s approach as the administration completes its first year and the detention center reaches a milestone Tuesday — the 20th anniversary of the first prisoners’ arrival.

“President Biden has stated his intention to close Guantanamo as a matter of policy but has not taken substantial steps toward closure,” said Wells Dixon, an attorney with the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, which has long taken a leading role in challenging the indefinite confinement without charge at the base.

“There’s a lot of impatience and a lot of frustration among advocates and people who have been watching this,” said Daphne Eviatar, director of the security with the human rights program at Amnesty International USA.

Without a more concerted effort, those who want the center to close fear a repeat of what happened under President Barack Obama. Obama made closing Guantanamo a signature issue from his first days in office, but managed only to shrink it in the face of political opposition in Congress.

“We can’t forget what this country did 20 years ago and is continuing to do today,” Eviatar said. “This administration has a lot on its plate, certainly, but this is such an egregious human rights offense.”

There are 39 prisoners left. It’s the fewest since the detention center’s earliest days, when the initial groups, suspected of having a connection to al-Qaida or the Taliban, arrived on flights from Afghanistan — hooded, shackled and clad in orange jumpsuits — to what at the time was a sleepy U.S. outpost on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

Guantanamo became the focus of international outrage because of the mistreatment and torture of prisoners and the U.S. insistence that it could hold men indefinitely without charge for the duration of a war against al-Qaida that seemingly has no end. The critics grew to include Michael Lehnert, a now retired Marine Corps major general who was tasked with opening the detention center but came to believe that holding mostly low-level fighters without charge was counter to American values and interests.

“To me, the existence of Guantanamo is anathema to everything that we represent, and it needs to be closed for that reason,” Lehnert said.

At its peak, in 2003, the detention center held nearly 680 prisoners. President George W. Bush released more than 500 and Obama freed 197 before time ran out on his effort to whittle down the population.

President Donald Trump rescinded the Obama order to close Guantanamo, but largely ignored the place. He pledged during his first campaign to “load it up with some bad dudes” but never sent anyone there and said the annual cost of operating the detention center was “crazy,” at around $13 million per prisoner.

Of the remaining prisoners, 10 face trial by military commission in proceedings that have bogged down for years. They include Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Two others still at Guantanamo have been sentenced and one of them, former Maryland resident Majid Khan, is expected to complete his sentence next month.

The other 27 include 13 who have been cleared for release, including eight under Biden who could now be returned to their homeland or resettled elsewhere. Two dozen have not been cleared and have never been charged, and likely never will be, a status that some Republicans continue to defend, including in a Senate hearing last month.

“We’re not fighting a crime. We’re fighting a war. I don’t want to torture anybody. I want to give them due process consistent with being at war, and, if necessary, I want to hold them as long as it takes to keep us safe or we believe that they’re no longer a threat,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

A senior Biden administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal policy, said the National Security Council is “actively” working with the Defense, State and Justice departments and other agencies to reduce the population within restrictions imposed by Congress. The restrictions include a ban on returning prisoners to certain countries, including Yemen and Somalia, or sending any to the U.S., even for further imprisonment.

The official said the administration is committed to closing the detention center, an effort it “jump-started” after four years of inaction under Trump.

One sign of progress is the eight approved for release through a review process created under Obama. Under Trump, just one detainee was cleared and the only release was a Saudi sent back to his homeland as part of an earlier military commission plea deal.

Critics want the Biden administration to get busy repatriating or resettling the detainees who have been cleared and to restore a State Department unit devoted to the effort that was eliminated under Trump.

“Until I see some visible signs that the administration is going to do something about it, I am not heartened,” said Lehnert, the retired Marine Corps general. “If there is somebody in charge of closing Guantanamo, I have not talked to anybody that knows who they are.”

Advocates argue the administration could resolve the fate of the rest through plea agreements with those charged in the military commission cases and releasing the rest.

Biden’s low-key approach could be a smart strategy considering the political opposition encountered by Obama, argues Ramzi Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York who with his students has represented 14 Guantanamo prisoners since 2005.

“President Biden appears to have learned from Obama’s missteps, transferring one prisoner and clearing many without being too loud about it and painting a target on his own back,” Kassem said. “Still, the administration must up the pace because, at the rate of one prisoner a year, it won’t come close to shuttering the prison.”

Members of the PKK terror group in Switzerland have subjected a local man to "torture," and "cruel treatment" over suspicions that he was informing Turkish authorities of their connections, according to a local daily on Sunday.

The victim, who changed his name to Aydin K. and works in a pizzeria in the town of Biel just northwest of the capital Bern, was interrogated for more than six hours by six PKK members, who threatened to kill him, said the Berner Zeitung report by journalist Kurt Pelda.

An indictment prepared by the prosecution said the six PKK members committed crimes including "cruel treatment," "torture," "forced confession," and "beating" in the restaurant's cellar in May 2019, said the report which also touched on alleged complicity between Swiss authorities and the PKK.

The PKK members reportedly accused Aydin K. of providing Turkish authorities with the name of the pizzeria's owner, who was detained in Turkiye for alleged links to the PKK -- a claim the victim denies.

They allegedly locked a barefoot Aydin K. in the restaurant's freezer room twice for about 10 minutes each, the report said, citing the indictment. It added that they repeatedly threatened to "break all his bones, dismember him, and leave him in the freezer until the next morning."

According to the report, the PKK members also showed him photos of his children and threatened to harm his family.

2 of 6 suspects fled Switzerland

Deniz D., a so-called senior member of the terror group in Switzerland, threatened Aydin K. in a bid to manipulate him to confess to their accusations and cooperate.

Also the head of its so-called "torture unit," Deniz D. reportedly brandished a knife that he said he would use on the victim, who one of the suspects injured with a stab in the calf.

Four of the six suspects who took part in the torture were put on trial, while Deniz D. and one more unidentified person fled the country.

Describing the measures taken by Swiss authorities in the case as "questionable," the report blamed officials for the escape of Deniz D. and the other fugitive, who is also thought to be one of the terrorist organization's so-called top members.

Saying their escape was "not a coincidence," journalist Pelda said: "Outraged by the incident in the pizzeria, a federal authority contacted the Swiss PKK leadership and issued a warning. Then, Deniz D. quickly packed his bags and disappeared abroad."

"The responsible public prosecutor from Biel initially only ordered a nationwide manhunt, and so Deniz D. was able to escape. There are many signs that the authorities did not want to expose the PKK too openly," said the report.​​​​​​​

Switzerland's lack of recognition of PKK as a terrorist organization has attracted criticism as the country has become a "safe haven" for the terrorists.

In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkiye, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the US and EU – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants. The YPG is the PKK’s Syrian offshoot./aa

Tunisia’s public prosecutor has rejected a request by President Kais Saied to arrest Ennahda deputy leader Noureddine Bhairi, a Tunisian adviser said Sunday.

Bhairi has been placed under house arrest for his alleged involvement in terrorism-related activities.

In a Facebook post, Riadh Chaibi, an adviser to Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi, said the Tunisian president had asked the country’s public prosecutor to issue an arrest warrant for Bhairi.

“But the public prosecutor rejected the request due to lack of evidence,” he said.

There was no comment from Tunisian authorities on the claim.

On Monday, Interior Minister Taoufik Charfeddine placed Bhairi and a ministry official under house arrest over accusations of issuing false identity documents to a Syrian couple while he was serving as justice minister, with one of the individuals previously linked to terrorist cases committed outside Tunisian territory.

Ennahda party, the largest party in the now suspended Tunisian parliament, termed the accusations against Bhairi as "politicized" and called for his immediate release.

Bhairi, 63, was transferred to Habib Bougatfa Hospital in the northern city of Bizerte after his health deteriorated due to his hunger strike in protest of his detention.

Saied ousted the government on July 25, 2021, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. While he insists that his "exceptional measures" are meant to "save" the country, critics have accused him of orchestrating a coup./aa

Acres of Central African rainforests that indigenous Pygmy people have called home for 5,000 years are rapidly disappearing due to logging and mining.

Integration efforts aimed at settling down the traditionally nomadic Pygmies, barred from forests designated as national parks, have so far proven fruitless.

Thousands of Pygmies inhabiting the rainforests of the Nomedjo region in southern Cameroon, close to the Congolese border, have been forcibly uprooted due to the timber trade.

'Banned from entering forests'

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, one Pygmy said authorities had banned their entry into the forests, adding that they had been unable to contact their kin.

Tombombo Dieudonne, a Pygmy of the Baka ethnic group, said the government had torn the forests apart through the timber companies. "We come from the forest. They condemned us to live by this roadside. When we were in the forest, we found very good quality food. Just of honey, we had 15 kinds, each of different quality."

"They beat us when they catch us in the forest. We aren't allowed to enter the Dja Park right next to us. It's the same for the Nki National Park on the other side. Our relatives there are also suffering. They're subjected to violence by forest officials," said Dieudonne.

'Forests being destroyed by companies'

Venant Messe, Coordinator of OKANI Association, which defends the rights of indigenous peoples living in Cameroon's forests, said that after the Central African nation gained its independence, the timber trade was valued as a major source of income, representing approximately 20% of the country's economy.

"Every year, hundreds of thousands of hectares of forestland is destroyed by companies in the region where the Baka Pygmies live," said Messe.

Pygmies seek to maintain hunting, gathering culture

Underlining that much of the areas that the Pygmies called home have been eliminated due to the forests' destruction, Messe said the Pygmies would not be able to adapt to settled life, as they are a hunter and gatherer society, rather than an agricultural one.

Another former resident of the forest, Elenga Emile said he wants to live and raise his children in the areas that are his ancestral home. "Our life depends on the forest. The forest is our homeland, where we meet all our needs."

The Europeans referred to the local tribesmen as "Pygmies" -- a word meaning "dwarf" in Greek with a mythological reference, as they have an average height of 120 centimeters (3.9 feet).

There are currently around 120,000 Pygmies in the world, with most living in Cameroon's forested region near the Atlantic coast.

Small Pygmy communities also exist in other countries like Rwanda, Burundi, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Gabon, and Angola./aa

At least seven people were killed Saturday in southeastern Brazil when a canyon wall collapsed on speedboats in a lake, according to local authorities.

The rockslide in Lago de Furnas near the city of Capitolio hit four boats and two sank, said local sources, while footage of the incident went viral on social media.

The Minas Gerais Fire Department said three missing people were found on a boat called Jesus that the rock directly hit.

Earlier, Fire Chief Edgard Estevo said 20 people were missing because of the accident. Search and rescue efforts continue and divers will take a break from their night work as it is risky.

Fire department spokesman Pedro Aihara told the Brazilian EPTV channel that some who were missing were found after contacting state hospitals.

After the accident, many victims went to hospitals in the state and 20 were listed as missing because there was no cross-listing, added Aihara.

It occurred "due to heavy rains, which caused the loosening of a wall of stones in Lago de Furnas, in Capitolio," Minas Governor Romeu Zema said on Twitter.

"The Government of Minas is present from the beginning through the Civil Defense and Fire Department. Rescue work is still ongoing," he added.

The navy will launch an investigation into the incident./aa

The head of the military junta in Myanmar has agreed to support peace efforts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the country, an official statement said.

This came during a meeting between Min Aung Hlaing and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who was on a visit to Myanmar.

According to a joint statement issued following their meeting, the Myanmar military junta leader said he “welcomed” the participation of the special envoy of the ASEAN chair on Myanmar to join cease-fire talks.

The Myanmar military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, launched a military coup in February last year and jailed the National League for Democracy (NLD) leadership led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi who was sentenced last month to four years in jail.

According to the Myanmar-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, some 1,447 people were killed and nearly 8,500 demonstrators arrested in the military’s brutal crackdown on mass protests and rebellion against their rule.


The military leader said his government had “declared a five-month ceasefire … until the end of February 2022 and decided to further extend it until end of the year.

According to the statement, he said that he will facilitate the ASEAN special envoy's visit to the country and meetings with the all parties concerned, including ethnic groups.

Hun Sen, for his part, emphasized that a complete peace and national reconciliation cannot be achieved without participation and agreement of the all parties involved./aa