Don't close Guantánamo  The prisoners could lose their access to
habeas corpus, lawyers and human rights groups if moved overseas
When President Barack Obama issued an executive order in January
to close the Guantánamo detention facility, Amnesty
International hailed the move as "a major step forward" for
human rights. But in hindsight, Obama's announcement may have
been one step forward, two steps back. Perversely, it could
reverse the progress that civil rights attorneys have made in
their efforts to secure legal protections for detainees.  For
several years, rights activists have recognised that closing
Guantánamo is only half the battle. The next question is: where
will the 241 remaining detainees go? One option is to send them
home. However, more than 40% of the detainees are Yemeni, and
negotiations between the US and Yemen to repatriate those
prisoners have reached a "complete impasse". Yemen is combating
an extremist insurgency already, and it is not keen to accept
dozens more men who have been descr