Death row defence lawyer who's been to Guantanamo Bay 42 times claims infamous prison is 'all a lie'
A human rights lawyer who has represented multiple people on death row has claimed the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba is 'all a lie'.
It's a bold claim about one of the most notorious prisons in the world, but Clive Stafford Smith stands confident in his belief after having been to the detention facility 42 times throughout his career.
Smith, who is now in his 60s, describes himself as 'fighting for justice for people singled out by the state for imprisonment or execution', whether they be spending their sentences on death row or at Guantanamo Bay.
In a new episode of the This Is Actually Happening podcast, Smith made the surprising admission that he 'love, love, love[s]' going to Guantanamo, despite it being 'a nightmare of a place at one level'.
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He explained: "It's when I get to go see the clients, and to me, what this is all about are the human beings."
Construction on Guantanamo Bay began in 2002, and since then it has been known to house suspected members of al-Qaeda, the terrorist organization responsible for the 9/11 attacks, as well as fighters for the Taliban.
However, Smith believes the image presented of Guantanamo isn't actually the truth.
He said: "My whole theory is Guantanamo is all a lie."
Smith continued: "They've got it all secret because they want to pretend that they're doing something about 9/11, and if we open it up to public inspection they will close it down because it will be too embarrassing."
The lawyer went on: "I've represented 87 people [at Guantanamo], the courts ordered the release of one, the other 86 got out because we went in there, we got the truth out, we published it [and] we embarrassed the US military so much that they said, 'let's send this guy home'. So we won and that's an amazing thing."
The 'truth' Smith appears to be referring to is whether or not the prisoners were being detained lawfully. In 2022, Smith became one of the first lawyers to challenge the prison to try and restore prisoners' habeas corpus - a procedure where a person under arrest can go before a judge to determine if their detention is lawful.
In 2023, a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism detailed 780 Muslim men and boys who had been subject to 21 years of detention at Guantanamo. Of those 780 men and boys, only seven had been convicted of crimes.
Guantanamo Bay has been condemned by rights groups including Amnesty International, which has cited 'abuse and torture' taking place at the facility and described it as an 'indelible stain on the United States’ history'.
As of January 2025, 15 prisoners remain at Guantanamo Bay. Smith continues to work with legal teams working on behalf of the remaining prisoners.
Emily Brown