Guantanamo Bay files leak facts for kids

The Guantánamo Bay files leak happened on April 24, 2011. This is when WikiLeaks and several news groups started sharing 779 secret documents. These papers were about the people held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp. This camp was set up by the United States in 2002. The documents included secret reports and notes about the prisoners. They were written by a special group in charge of the prison. The papers were marked "secret" and "NOFORN," meaning they should not be shared with other countries.

News reports about the documents showed that over 150 innocent people were held for years without charges. These included farmers, chefs, and drivers from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The files also showed that some of the youngest and oldest prisoners had health issues. For example, Mohammed Sadiq was 89 years old, and Naqib Ullah was 14. The files also contained statements from Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. He claimed that al-Qaeda had nuclear weapons and would use them if Osama bin Laden was attacked.

What Were the Guantánamo Files?

The Guantánamo Files were secret papers about the people held at the prison. They showed that many prisoners were held for a long time. This was often to get information from them. Even if they were not seen as a threat, they stayed in prison.

For example, Sami al-Hajj, a journalist, was held from 2002 to 2008. The files suggest he was held so officials could question him about his news network, Al Jazeera. The documents said he was a "HIGH risk" and "of HIGH intelligence value." This meant he was seen as dangerous and had important information.

Where Did the Files Come From?

The New York Times said it got the documents from a secret source. This source was not WikiLeaks. They shared the papers with other news groups like NPR and The Guardian. WikiLeaks thought the source might be Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former colleague.

The Guardian reported that the Guantánamo Bay files were part of many documents. U.S. soldier Chelsea Manning was accused of giving these to WikiLeaks in 2010.

The United States Department of Justice said the documents were still secret. They told lawyers for the prisoners not to read them. This was even though major news groups had already published them. The U.S. government said it was "unfortunate" that news groups published the documents. They said the papers were "obtained illegally."

How Did People React?

Many journalists noticed how different news outlets reported the story. Glenn Greenwald said the differences were "very clear and interesting." He wrote that foreign newspapers showed how unfair U.S. actions were. But American newspapers did not focus on that as much.

See also

In Spanish: Filtración de documentos sobre Guantánamo para niños