One year ago yesterday, on his second day in office, American president Barack Obama pledged to close the US detention centre at Guantanámo Bay, Cuba within twelve months.

But, as the 240 men still held there know only too well, Obama has missed his deadline, and hasn't announced a new timeline for closing the prison.

Keeping the spotlight on Guantanámo, that's the priority of Reprieve - a prisoners' rights organisation that represents 33 men still held at the detention centre in Cuba. To date, Reprieve has helped secure the release of 50 men from the prison, despite having limited access to their clients and no rights of attorney client confidentiality. Reprieve's Christopher Chang:

"Things like improving conditions have been the hardest thing to achieve but, yes, we have been able to keep the spotlight on Guantanámo and keep it in the news so that we can continue to say this is not right. But as we go into the 9th year, there are still many men who are suffering a great deal in Guantanámo. Often we talk about Guantanámo in terms of theory and figures, and we don't tell enough the actual human stories of guys who are there."

Younus' story
So let's take a closer look at one of the inmates: Younus Abdurrahman Chekkouri, a Moroccan national who's been at Guantanámo since 2002.

Younus left Morocco for Pakistan in 1990 with his brother, his sister, and her husband. He'd heard that education was cheaper there than in Europe and he was hoping to get a degree before returning home.

But, as Christopher Chang explains, Younus and his family struggled financially in Pakistan. He moved to Yemen and later to Syria in the search for better work and cheaper education, and ended up in Afghanistan in 2001 to work for a charity that helped local Moroccan youth.

Wrong place, wrong time
After the events of September 11th, chaos reigned in Kabul and Younus decided to go home. That's where his real troubles started, says Chris Chang:

"Younus like many others tried to flee into Pakistan...but was rounded up by Pakistani forces and handed over to the US military. The border areas was where there was just a massive roundup of Arabs, basically, and anyone who looked to be of Arab descent was rounded up. Unfortunately, Younus's story is not unique. Many of our clients were picked up in similar fashion and transferred to Guantanamo. It's clichéd to say, but unfortunately, for many of the men who made it to Guantanamo, it's just being at the wrong place at the wrong time."

Although Younus hasn't been charged with any crime, US authorities suspect him of membership of a Moroccan terrorist group fighting in Afghanistan, an allegation he denies. But without being charged, he can't challenge the accusation.

Uphill battle 

A Pentagon report earlier this month estimated that around 20 percent of men released from Guantanamo have returned to the fight against America, in one form or another. Coming on the back of the failed Christmas Day attack on a US airline by a self-declared al-Qaeda supporter, Obama is facing an uphill battle - the US congress refuses to give him the money needed to transfer prisoners to the United States, and other countries refuse to take in former prisoners.

Despite these obstacles, earlier this month President Obama reiterated his determination to shut the prison down. "Make no mistake," he said, "we will close Guantanamo prison."

But he's learned not to set a deadline for making good on his promise.