US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth would probably have already had the prisoners executed.Image: keystone
June 11, 2026, 7:57 amJune 11, 2026, 7:57 am
After a visit to the US base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke out in favor of executing those held in a prison camp there. “In my personal opinion, the prisoners at Guantanamo should have been executed long ago for their crimes against the American people,” he told reporters in Tampa, Florida.
Hegseth was responding to a question from a journalist who wanted to know why the 15 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo Bay were not being executed in order to bring justice to the victims of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
According to information from the Pentagon at the beginning of 2025, only two of the 15 prisoners have been convicted by military courts so far, and proceedings against seven others are still ongoing.
Controversial Guantánamo military base
The Guantánamo Bay military base is located on the southeastern coast of Cuba. The territory has been under US control since 1903 due to a controversial lease agreement. Since the victory of the Cuban Revolution under Fidel Castro in 1959, Cuba has considered the permanent treaty to be invalid.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States established a controversial prison camp at Guantánamo. At one point, almost 800 people were imprisoned there. Suspected Islamist terrorists were held there for a long time without trial and were sometimes tortured.
Efforts by several US governments to close the prison completely failed for a long time due to a lack of countries willing to take in the remaining prisoners. Human rights groups criticize the continued detention of the remaining men and the use of military courts against the detainees. (nil/sda/dpa)