IT is a bittersweet homecoming for the Rabbani brothers, Mohammed and Abdul Rahim. The two are finally back in Pakistan, but after spending nearly two decades in Guantánamo Bay, the notorious American gulag in Cuba that entered the global lexicon during the ‘war on terror’.

The brothers, accused of aiding Al Qaeda, have never been charged, in effect rendering their lengthy confinement illegal. Both were picked up from Karachi in 2002 and were taken to a CIA facility in Afghanistan before being shipped off to Guantánamo.

They claim they were tortured by the Americans. The release of the Rabbanis follows Saifullah Paracha’s repatriation to Pakistan last year; Mr Paracha, a septuagenarian, also languished in detention for nearly two decades without charge.

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The release of these men brings into focus a particularly dark chapter of the ‘war on terror’: the use of gulags and black sites to circumvent legal systems and prevent the accused from defending themselves through due process.

The fact is that Guantánamo and other notorious facilities are a stain on the reputation of the US and other states that claim to respect fundamental rights — a stain that will not wash away easily. They reflect a contempt for legal norms and due process, indicating one law for ‘us’, and another for ‘them’.

The individuals held in Guantánamo were accused of aiding and abetting terrorism, yet Western legal systems — otherwise quite effective — seemed inadequate to prosecute these men in regular courts of law, where their fundamental rights would be guaranteed. What is more, the use of torture, freely employed by law enforcers in societies such as Pakistan, exposed the claims of those states that swear to uphold the ‘rules-based order’.

The fact is that during the ‘war on terror’ there were no rules, and the rights of dozens of men were violated as they spent large, productive parts of their lives incarcerated without charge and without conviction.

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Moreover, these policies did little to combat terrorism, as the eventual rise of the militant Islamic State group proved. Terrorism cannot be countered by breaking the law and trampling on human rights. Many moons ago, Barack Obama promised that he would shut down Guantánamo.

Two other men have occupied the White House since, yet the promise remains unfulfilled. The current US administration should close down this gulag and compensate those held for decades without charge.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023