Tag: Guantanamo (page 9)

President Obama made it official today. His administration will not close Guantanamo by the one year deadline in January.

Part of that is due to the inability to find countries willing to take the detainees. And while Attorney General Eric Holder was strong in his commitment today to U.S. federal criminal trials for some detainees, it's still troubling that he continues to suggest the Obama Administration may continue to hold some detainees indefinitely without charges or trial.

If the administration has evidence against these detainees, it should prosecute them in federal court. If not, it should repatriate them or relocate them to safe havens."

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn is in favor of moving Guantanamo detainees to the almost empty Thomson Correctional Center, 150 miles from Chicago. (Background here.) So are local residents. It would be an economic boom to the area -- up to $1 billion over four years.

Who objects? Republicans.

House Republican Aaron Schock of Peoria plans to introduce a measure aimed at prohibiting the use of federal dollars to move the detainees to Thomson...The spokesman for Schock said House Republicans Tim Johnson, John Shimkus and Peter Roskam, all from Illinois, have agreed to sign on to the measure and efforts were ongoing to bring all seven GOP House members from Illinois on board.

If the deal goes through, it will be at least as secure as Supermax, and detainees would not be allowed to have visitors (other than legal counsel.)

While the focus on Guantanamo this week has been on the 10 who will be charged in federal court or military commission trials, the AP today has a report on the 15 Judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia who have been holding habeas hearings for the Guantanamo detainees not charged with crimes. The hearings have been ongoing as a result of the Supreme Court's decision that detainees have the right to challenge their detention and conditions of confinement. So far, 30 have been ordered released, and 8 have been ordered detained. The scorecard is here.

• Total Habeas Cases Decided: 38
• Habeas Cases Granted: 30
• Habeas Cases Denied: 8
• Habeas Granted and Released: 18
• Habeas Granted and Still Detained: 12
• Current Guantanamo Population: 215

The court's public website for the cases is here. Some ruling excerpts:

Happy Birthday, Gitmo? Former President George W. Bush signed the order authorizing detention at Guantanamo on November 13, 2001:

On Nov. 13, 2001, President George W. Bush signed what has become known as Military Order No. 1 [4] in what he termed a Global War on Terrorism. Without informing his national security adviser, his secretary of state, his chief of staff or his communications director, Bush approved [5] what would appear three days later in the Federal Register as: "Military Order of November 13, 2001: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism."

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A bi-partisan group of dignatories (list here, pdf)has issued a declaration for safely closing Guantanamo. It is backed by the Constitution Project and Human Rights First. The plan supports trying detainees in federal court and opposes indefinite detention. The declaration is available here (pdf).

The largest bipartisan group of prominent Americans to propose a plan for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has backed a single scheme for the disposition of cases of current and future detainees.

• close Guantanamo on schedule;
• use federal courts, not military commissions, to prosecute accused terrorists; and
• prohibit forever the practice of indefinite detention without charges.

Yesterday, President Obama signed the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed last week by Congress that prevents the release of photos depicting torture and abuse of detainees and allows the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. for prosecution -- but won't allow those acquitted to remain in the U.S or those convicted to serve their sentences in U.S. prisons.

Last week, the ACLU sent this letter (pdf) to Defense Secretary Gates on why the photos should not be excluded from Freedom of Information Act Requests. [More...]

The Senate has passed the bill authorizing trials of Guantanamo detainees in U.S. criminal courts. But, it also prevents those who are acquitted from remaining in the U.S. What happens to those who can't return to their home country for fear of torture? If they can't stay in the U.S., Guantanamo is closed and they can't go to their home country, where will they go?

Also, those who are convicted won't be allowed to serve their sentences in US prisons. Will we build new prisons abroad for them? That's a terrible idea. We need to get out of the prison business.

The bill now goes to President Obama for signing.

There's more to the bill: No release of torture photos: [More...]

This ad to close Guantanamo will air on cable tv channels for a week beginning tomorrow. From the press release (received by e-mail, no link)

The campaign, called the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, was launched with a press call with Retired Generals Bob Gard and John Johns, VoteVets.org Chairman Jon Soltz and former US Congressman and Director of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo Tom Andrews. The campaign will support President Obama’s call to close the prison and urge Congress to reject the scare tactics of Dick Cheney, and the far right, and shut down the Guantanamo.

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An Obama Administration official said Saturday that a decision on where to move the 223 remaining Guantanamo detainees is in the final stages:

"We are doing everything we can to close it by the date," the official said, declining further identification. "We are in the final stages of locating a secure facility in the U.S. where detainees can be held."

Not likely to be chosen: Standish, MI and Fort Leavenworth, KS. That seems to leave Supermax in Florence, CO, also known as "Alcatraz of the Rockies" and U.S. military brigs. More than 200 prisoners convicted on terror charges are currently in U.S. prisons.

Supermax sounds like the most likely choice. The offical said Obama hasn't been briefed yet on the possibilities, which means a decision is not imminent.

Alla Ali bin Ali Ahmed, an innocent Yemeni stranded at Guantanamo for months after being ordered released by a U.S. District Court Judge, has been sent home to Yemen. Judge Gladys Kessler's May opinion is here. (pdf.)

Two other Gitmo detainees have been sent to Ireland. Their names haven't been released yet. Here's a chart with the names of those ordered released but still detained in red. The New York Times has this list of countries that have accepted Guantanamo detainees.

The judge presiding over the military commission proceedings of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi Binalshibh and three other detainees at Guantanmo issued a stay order today putting the cases on ice until November 16, so President Obama can decide whether he prefers to have the cases transferred to federal criminal courts.

The military had flown some family members of 9/11 victims in for the hearing. The defendants didn't appear in court which disappointed them -- and the prosecutor. The prosecutor asked they be brought from their cells but the judge refused. [More...]

Two Syrian detainees at Guantanamo have arrived in Portugal and are now free.

The U.S. has not released their names. In June, a federal judge ordered the release of Syrian detainee Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al-Janko. The court's opinion is here (pdf.)

Al-Janko was first captured by al-Qaeda who tortured him, causing him to falsely confess he was an American spy. Then he was imprisoned by the Taliban who thought he really was an American spy. The Taliban abandoned the prison where al-Janko was being held but left him there. The Americans found him, imprisoned him in Kandahar and sent him to Guantanamo where he has remained for 7 years. Hopefully, he's one of those released to Portugal and freed.

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