Ex-Detainees Launch Gitmo Inmates' Rights Group

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Source: AP

Former Guantanamo detainees launch group to help released, current inmates
The Associated Press

GENEVA

Former Guantanamo Bay detainees have launched an organization to help released inmates return to normal life and to lobby for the release or trial of those still held at the U.S. military prison, one of the founders said Wednesday.

The Guantanamo Justice Center aims to help over 500 men who have been released from the prison get medical and psychological treatment and find jobs, said Sami al-Haj.

Al-Haj, a Sudanese national who spent more than six years at Guantanamo, said only one in 20 former inmates has a job, and many have received no psychological or medical assistance.

"If you lock someone up in a normal prison for six months they need help," he told The Associated Press. "These people have been in jail for more than six years in an institution that's much worse than a normal jail."

Many have received no explanation or apology, despite having never been charged with a crime, al-Haj said.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=8201805