Guantánamo detainees can now keep their art after release

The Pentagon has reversed a Trump-era ban preventing former Guantánamo detainees from taking their artwork upon release. The ban was imposed in late 2017 after an exhibition titled Ode to the Sea at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York featured 36 works made in the prison, some of which were sold. The Pentagon claimed it was unaware of sales and declared the art government property. In April 2018, lawyer for detainee Ammar al-Baluch filed a motion arguing the ban violated prisoner rights, but a judge rejected it. Last October, eight current and former detainees published an open letter urging President Joe Biden to lift the ban, stating the art embodies their suffering and identity. UN special rapporteurs also wrote to Secretary of State Antony Blinken in November, arguing the ban violates rights to artistic expression and cultural participation. The reversal comes as the Biden administration quietly works to close the prison, which held 700 inmates at its peak and now holds 34. Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Cesar H. Santiago told the New York Times that departing prisoners may take a 'practicable amount' of their art, though the term is vague and it remains unclear when the policy takes effect. Santiago emphasized that the works are still considered 'property of the United States.'