The US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, on a 78-square-kilometre scrap of arid soil, is the oldest US military base outside the US.
Camp Delta, inside the area, is the infamous detention centre that has housed detainees since the previous facility, Camp X-Ray, closed.
Here the inmates, or "unlawful enemy combatants" as they are designated by US authorities, most of whom were captured during the US-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, are held.
On January 11, 2002, the first detainees were flown into the facility. More than 800 in total have been housed in the camp.
So far about 400 detainees have been released and, as of March 2008, the camp now houses approximately 280 detainees.
At least five detainees were teenagers, one aged only 13, reports said.
The facility has been condemned by the United Nations, the European Union, and numerous human rights groups, and many in the US argue that the camp has become a liability.
clipped from: english.aljazeera.net 