William Fisher

William Fisher writes for Inter Press Service.

CIA Briefed Congress on Renditions

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) briefed members of Congress from both political parties numerous times about the agency’s interrogation and detention programs, several prominent human rights groups said Monday. The groups – Amnesty International USA, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law … Continue reading “CIA Briefed Congress on Renditions”

High Court to Revisit Terrorism Support Law

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider one of the most consequential cases to arise from the "global war on terror." The nine justices will hear lawyers’ arguments in a case known as Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, which challenges a portion of the USA Patriot Act. That act was hastily passed by Congress … Continue reading “High Court to Revisit Terrorism Support Law”

Court Won’t Rule on Deaths at Guantánamo

A federal district court has thrown out the case of two men who died in U.S. custody at Guantánamo Bay in 2006 and who are seeking to hold U.S. government officials responsible for the men’s torture, arbitrary detention and ultimate deaths. The families of the dead men claimed that it was a violation of due … Continue reading “Court Won’t Rule on Deaths at Guantánamo”

The Seven Paragraphs that Shook US-UK Ties

A British court has ordered the publication of previously secret information that appears to reveal the UK government’s complicity with the U.S. in the torture of Binyam Mohamed, a British resident who was imprisoned by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The decision by the English Court of Appeals affirmed an earlier High Court ruling … Continue reading “The Seven Paragraphs that Shook US-UK Ties”

Legal Experts Slam Assassinations of US Citizens

Civil liberties advocates and legal authorities struck back Friday at what they describe as the “deliberate targeted killing of U.S. citizens far away from any active hostilities, as long as the executive branch determines unilaterally that they meet a secret definition of who the enemy is.” In an admission that took the intelligence community and … Continue reading “Legal Experts Slam Assassinations of US Citizens”

JAG Officer: Indefinite Detention ‘Defies Common Sense’

U.S. President Barack Obama’s decision to detain 47 of the just-under 200 remaining prisoners at Guantánamo without trial indefinitely is drawing scorn from legal experts and human rights advocates, who charge that the government simply does not have enough evidence to convict the detainees it says cannot be tried but are "too dangerous to release." … Continue reading “JAG Officer: Indefinite Detention ‘Defies Common Sense’”

Whistleblower Challenges Guantánamo ‘Suicides’

Is the administration of President Barack Obama concealing evidence suggesting that three suicides at Guantánamo Bay were not suicides at all? That is a question human rights groups, legal experts and national security specialists are pondering on the heels of an article in Harper’s Magazine by Scott Horton presenting whistleblower testimony suggesting that the three … Continue reading “Whistleblower Challenges Guantánamo ‘Suicides’”

US Names Bagram Prisoners, Withholds Details

After years of stonewalling, the U.S. Defense Department has released the names of people imprisoned at the notorious Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Made available in response to an American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, the list contains the names of 645 prisoners who were detained at Bagram as of … Continue reading “US Names Bagram Prisoners, Withholds Details”

British Govt. to Release Documents on Gitmo Case

After months of denial, the British government has agreed to release secret documents that lawyers say could prove that MI5 agents were present during the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s torture of a British resident held by the U.S. government for eight years. Shaker Aamer, a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, claims he was tortured during … Continue reading “British Govt. to Release Documents on Gitmo Case”

World’s Most Controversial Prison Enters Ninth Year

As the world marked the beginning of the ninth year of detention at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday, a leading legal advocacy group filed suit against the Library of Congress for firing Guantanamo’s former chief prosecutor for writing articles criticizing the use of military commissions to try suspected terrorists. Col. … Continue reading “World’s Most Controversial Prison Enters Ninth Year”