U.S. nun among protesters against treatment of Guantanamo prisoners

Published: 2005-12-15

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A nun from the United States stood with 25 marchers at the foot of the U.S. detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, protesting the treatment of prisoners by the U.S. government. Sacred Heart Sister Anne Montgomery called the actions against prisoners "pretty sickening" torture. They tie "people in painful positions, (the prisoners) soil themselves," and treatment includes humiliation, sleep deprivation and beatings, Sister Montgomery told Catholic News Service Dec. 13 in a telephone interview from Cuba. Torture "is not the way to get information, this is counterproductive. They (the prisoners) will say what they can to get out of the torture; it's creating more terrorism around the world," she said. Most of the detainees at the U.S. detention facility were captured in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States. "We are not saying everyone is innocent," Sister Montgomery said, adding that the prisoners should get a "fair trial just as we would want if our soldiers were imprisoned in another country."

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