Tag: Guantanamo (page 7)

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia today reversed a trial court decision by Judge John Bates, a Bush appointee, and ruled that three detainees who have been held at Bagram AFB in Afghanistan without charges since 2002-2003, are not allowed to bring a habeas corpus action seeking release in U.S. courts. The opinion is here.

Judge Bates ruled in April, 2009 that there was no difference between those held at Bagram and those held at Guantanamo. His decision applied only to about a dozen detainees who were non-Afghans captured outside Afghanistan.

The three men in the case are a Tunisian man who says he was captured in Pakistan in 2002, and two from Yemen. One says he was captured in Thailand in 2002, and the other says he was detained in 2003 also outside Afghanistan.

The Appeals court based its ruling on the fact that "Bagram was on the sovereign territory of another government" and “pragmatic obstacles” of giving hearings to detainees “in an active theater of war.” [More....]

The House Armed Services Committee has unanimously passed H.R. 5136, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. Among it's provisions: There can be no money expended on buying Thomson Correctional Center (or any other prison in the U.S.) to house detainees from Guantanamo:

PROHIBITION ON FUNDS TO MODIFY OR CONSTRUCT U.S. FACILITIES FOR DETAINEES

The Committee firmly believes that the construction or modification of any facility in the U.S. to detain or imprison individuals currently being held at Guantanamo must be accompanied by a thorough and comprehensive plan that outlines the merits, costs, and risks associated with utilizing such a facility. No such plan has been presented to date. The bill prohibits the use of any funds for this purpose. Additionally, the bill requires the Secretary of Defense to present Congress with a report that adequately justifies any proposal to build or modify such a facility in the future.

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Accused al-Qaeda terror suspect Fahad Hashmi, extradited from the UK in 2007 and held in solitary at MCC in Manhattan for three years pleaded guilty today to one count of providing material support to terrorists. Both sides agreed to a sentence of 15 years. three other counts were dropped. Hashmim would have faced a maximum of 70 years if convicted on all counts.

Hashmi is a 30-year-old U.S. citizen who was born in Pakistan; grew up in Flushing, Queens, where his family still lives; and received his B.A. from Brooklyn College and his master's from London Metropolitan University. At Brooklyn College, in 2002, Hashmi was a student of mine in a seminar on civil rights. [More...]

Five Chinese Uighur detainees remain at Guantanamo. They have been cleared for release. A hearing will be held today in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals over whether they can remain free in the U.S. The case is Kiyemba v. Obama.

They can't go back to China where they may be tortured. They don't want to go to Paulau. Why can't they stay here? The trial court judge originally said they could (the ruling is here .) That got appealed and reversed by the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The Supreme Court originally accepted the case and set it for hearing, but in March, when a third country agreed to take the Uighurs, vacated the hearing sent it back to the Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals ruling reversing the trial judge was vacated. Last week, the Court of Appeals ordered a new hearing today. [More...]

Update: I've uploaded the Complaint here.

The Times of London has obtained a sworn declaration of Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to Colin Powell when Powell was Secretary of State for the Bush Administration, stating that Bush and Cheney knowingly sent innocent detainees to Guantanamo, for political reasons. He says they knew the majority of the detainees were innocent, but they sent them anyway as a means of garnering support for the war in Iraq and war on terror.

The declaration was submitted to the court in a lawsuit filed yesterday by former Sudanese detainee Adel Hassan Hamad, who alleges he was tortured. Hamad is seeking monetary damages from the U.S. and filed his lawsuit in federal district court in Seattle, because Robert Gates, one of the defendants, resides there. It is the first time a former official in the Bush Administration has made such a claim claim.

The Times reports Colin Powell backs Wilkerson's declaration. [More...]

The sad saga of the Uighur brothers held at Guantanamo has come to an end. They arrived in Switzerland today.

The two Uyghurs were neither charged with any crime nor condemned by the US authorities; today they are free again. They have expressly undertaken to respect the law in force and to learn the language spoken in their place of residence. They are also willing to take up a gainful employment and to provide for their basic needs.

Arkin Mahmud, 45 had been accepted months ago, but refused to leave without his brother Bahtiar, 32, who had become mentally ill while at Gitmo. Props to Switzerland for agreeing to take both. Only five Uighurs remain at Gitmo.

The U.S. sent three detainees to the Republic of Georgia yesterday. It did not provide information about them, but the lawyer for one of them today said two of the three are Libyans.[More...]

Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote this letter to Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner yesterday. It's a "butt out" letter on Congress' threat to ban funding on U.S. terror trials of those at Gitmo, but he also accused them of trying to block the Administration's intended trial of suspects in "reformed military commissions."

Too bad the commissions aren't really reformed. I guess he's talking about Thomson, Illinois Correctional Center, which is set to become Gitmo of the Midwest. Obama and Holder intend to use the facility both for trial by military commission and continued indefinate detention without charges.

On a related note, the ACLU filed habeas petitions today for four detainees at Bagram, AFB in Afghanistan. [More...]

Spain, which already agreed to accept two Guantanamo detainees, has agreed to take another three who have been cleared for release.

There are 192 detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. Approximately 110 have been cleared for resettlement in a third country or for repatriation.

So that leaves 82 detainees not cleared for release: 5 of them are the 9/11 defendants and 5 have been designated for military tribunals. 72 of them are unlikely to be charged at all. We just don't like the idea of letting them go.

For 82 detainees, we are going to spend $237 million to retrofit Thomson or $100 million a year to continue to operate Guantanamo? [More...]

Switzerland has agreed to take two Uighur brothers from Guantanamo.

The Swiss said Wednesday that they will resettle the brothers, Arkin Mahmud and Bahtiyar Mahnut, probably within a month. They are among seven Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs), who remain at Guantanamo.

Just in time to avoid another Supreme Court ruling?

The high court has scheduled argument for March 23 to consider whether a federal judge can order their release into the United States over the objection of Congress and the administration when no other nation will take them. The government acknowledges they pose no terror threat, and they can't return to China for fear of persecution or worse.

Maybe not. Five Uighurs in the lawsuit will remain at Gitmo after the brothers' transfer. The case is Kiyemba v. Obama. The Uighurs' opening brief is here. [More...]

With the announcement today of the return of a Uzbek Guantanamo Bay detainee to Switzerland, the population at Gitmo is now down to 192. Of them, almost half are from Yemen, more than 40 have been cleared for release.

One of the topics expected to be addressed tomorrow at the London conference on Yemen, is the creation of a Yemeni rehab program, similar to the Saudi program, so that the Yemeni detainees can leave Guantnamo. The Telegraph reports:

A source close to the Obama administration said the Yemenis had agreed in principle to the establishment of a Reintegration and Risk Reduction Initiative, which would be internationally funded and monitored. Aimed at steering detainees back into society, it would be modeled on previous efforts in Northern Ireland, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

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Update: The ACLU today launched a new website, Indefinite Detention." No Charges, no Trial, No Justice."

A Department of Justice -led task force is recommending 50 Guantanamo detainees, mostly Afghan and Yemeni, be held indefinitely without charges under the laws of war.

The task force's findings represent the first time that the administration has clarified how many detainees it considers too dangerous to release but unprosecutable because officials fear trials could compromise intelligence-gathering and because detainees could challenge evidence obtained through coercion.

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Today is the 9th anniversary of the receipt of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Center for Constitutional Rights is holding events for "Obama's Guantanamo", beginning at 11:45 this morning with a Demonstration with street theater, signs, and speakers, and announcement of 12-day fast at White House Plaza, between Lafayette Park and “picture postcard” zone.

To mark the beginning of the ninth year of detention without charge or trial at Guantánamo on Monday, January 11, activists and lawyers of detained men will rally, march and hold a briefing to outline current issues related to President Obama’s Guantanamo, demand that the president make good on his pledge to close the prison, and declare their opposition to any plan for holding prisoners without charge or trial in the U.S.

...This is Obama’s Guantánamo now. He has failed in his pledge to close the island prison from a lack of leadership, bowing to the pressures of partisan grandstanding, and vigorous attempts to keep all cases out of the courts. The transparency we were promised has been discarded. This is an anniversary that should not have come.”

Details of today's events are below: