Andy Worthington

This has been another terrible week for Guantánamo’s Military Commissions, established by Dick Cheney and his close advisors in November 2001 to try, convict and execute those responsible for 9/11 through a novel process so far removed from the US court system and the military’s own judicial procedures that the tainted fruit of torture would … Continue reading “Guantánamo’s Shambolic Trials”

Finally, then, nearly six and a half years after the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. government has charged six Guantánamo detainees with, among other things, terrorism, murder in violation of the law of war, attacking civilians, and conspiracy – adding, for good measure, that it will seek the death penalty in the case of any convictions. … Continue reading “Gitmo Charges: Why Now? And What About the Torture?”

As pre-trial hearings take place in the US prison complex at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison, looks at the stories of the three defendants whose cases are being heard this week and next – two alleged "child soldiers," and a … Continue reading “Guantánamo Trials: Where Are The Terrorists?”

The media is buzzing with the news that Michael Hayden, the director of the CIA, admitted in an open session of Congress on Tuesday that waterboarding – a long-reviled torture technique, which produces the perception of drowning – was used on three "high-value" al-Qaeda suspects in CIA custody in 2002 and 2003. The three men … Continue reading “Waterboarding: Two Questions for Michael Hayden”

The news that U.S. citizen José Padilla has received a prison sentence of 17 years and four months should provoke outrage in the United States, although it is unlikely that there will be much more than a whimper of dissent. The former gang member and convert to Islam – whose arrest in May 2002 was … Continue reading “Padilla’s Sentence Should Shock and Disgust All Americans”

How humiliating. The story begins with the shameful case of Maher Arar, a Syrian-born Canadian who was kidnapped by U.S. agents as he changed planes in New York in 2002 and rendered to Syria, where he was tortured for a year on behalf of the American authorities before being released. Arar – who was awarded … Continue reading “Canada’s Gitmo Torture Warning Shows Double Standards”

The Bush administration has maintained a low profile over the last month, as waves of indignation over the destruction of CIA videotapes showing the torture of two "high value" detainees have lapped ever closer to the White House. In the last few weeks, as coverage of the presidential primaries has consumed the media, both President … Continue reading “Six Years Of Guantánamo: Enough Is Enough”

As 2007 drew to a close, the tally of detainees released from Guantánamo throughout the year rose to 122, as another 10 Saudis were repatriated, to add to the 53 sent home between February and November. With 492 detainees now released – and 281 remaining – the administration’s initial claim that the prison housed the … Continue reading “Who Are the 10 Saudis Just Released From Guantánamo?”

Two years after being cleared for release from Guantánamo by a military review board, Adel Hassan Hamad, a hospital administrator who worked for a Saudi charity, and Salim Muhood Adem, who worked with orphans for a Kuwaiti NGO, have been repatriated to the country of their birth, where, as lawyer Clive Stafford Smith explained, they … Continue reading “The Shocking Stories of the Aid Workers Just Released From Gitmo”

Whether to impress the Supreme Court with its sense of justice prior to next month’s showdown over detainees’ rights, or, more likely, to placate the Saudi government following the death of a third Saudi detainee in Guantánamo in May, the Bush administration released another 14 Saudi detainees on Saturday. Whichever way you look at it, … Continue reading “Innocents and Foot Soldiers: The Stories of the 14 Saudis Just Released From Gitmo”