Andy Worthington

You would think, perhaps, with over 500 prisoners released from Guantánamo, that the remaining 263 might conform, in some way or another, to the administration’s long-standing description of them as the “worst of the worst” terrorists. Sadly, for the administration’s credibility, this is clearly not the case, as the stories of three recently released prisoners … Continue reading “Gitmo Remainders:
The ‘Worst of the Worst’?”

News that three more prisoners have been released from Guantánamo is cause for celebration, as all three men should never have been held in the first place. In a report to follow, I’ll look at the stories of the two Afghans released – one a simple farmer, the other a juvenile at the time he … Continue reading “Tortured in Egypt, Rendered to Guantánamo: Pakistani Heads Home After Six Years”

Just when you think that there can be no more outrageous proposals from the current lame duck government, and that it’s down to a straight race between Barack Obama, a man with respect for the rule of law, and John McCain, who, I fear, may allow the malign spirits of Dick Cheney and David Addington … Continue reading “Bush’s Proposed Terror Legacy: A Legal Basis for Perpetual War”

In the lawless world of Guantánamo – and the United States’ even murkier network of secret prisons run by or on behalf of the CIA – it has taken six years and four months for British resident Binyam Mohamed to secure anything resembling justice. Seized in Pakistan in April 2002, Binyam was rendered to Morocco … Continue reading “British Court Rules Against UK and US in Guantánamo Case”

As part of its alleged "desire not to hold detainees any longer than necessary," the Pentagon announced on Tuesday that two Guantánamo prisoners had been transferred to Algeria. This follows the repatriation of two other Algerians – Mustafa Hamlili and Abdul Raham Houari – at the start of July, who were the first Algerians to … Continue reading “Clearing Out Guantánamo: Two More Algerians Transferred”

Two years and two months after three prisoners at Guantánamo died, apparently as the result of a coordinated suicide pact, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), which has been investigating the deaths ever since the long-term hunger strikers were found dead in their cells on June 10, 2006, issued a 934-word statement on Friday that … Continue reading “Guantánamo Suicide Report:
Truth or Travesty?”

In a decision that will shock those watching the conclusion of the first full U.S. war crimes trial since the Nuremberg trials, the military jury that yesterday convicted Salim Hamdan of providing “material support for terrorism” has sentenced him to serve five and a half years in prison. Given that the judge in his case, … Continue reading “Hamdan’s Sentence Signals
the End of Gitmo”

The existence of a secret, CIA-run prison on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean has long been a leaky secret in the “War on Terror,” and yesterday’s revelations in Time – based on disclosures by a “senior American official” (now retired), who was “a frequent participant in White House Situation Room meetings” … Continue reading “Secret ‘War on Terror’ Prison on Diego Garcia Confirmed”

On Monday July 28, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it had transferred three prisoners – a Qatari, an Afghan and a prisoner from the United Arab Emirates – to their home countries from the prison at Guantánamo Bay. Adding that they "were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of … Continue reading “Brother of US ‘Enemy Combatant’ Released from Guantánamo”

Wake up, America! On July 15, the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled by 5 votes to 4 in the case of Al-Marri v. Pucciarelli [.pdf] that the president can arrest U.S. citizens and legal residents inside the United States and imprison them indefinitely, without charge or trial, based solely on his assertion … Continue reading “Court Confirms President’s Dictatorial Powers”