Andy Worthington

As the Abu Ghraib scandal demonstrates, a photo is worth a thousand words – even if, as Errol Morris’ newly released documentary Standard Operating Procedure demonstrates, those words are sometimes what the viewer wishes to see, rather than what actually happened. There is, therefore, enormous excitement in the media about the first ever release of … Continue reading “Omar Khadr’s Canadian Interrogation at Guantánamo”

It doesn’t take much investigation to discover that Algeria has a bleak human rights record, which is one of the reasons that, until last week, when 49-year-old Mustafa Hamlili and 28-year-old Abdul Raham Houari were freed from Guantánamo, no Algerian prisoners had been repatriated. This was in spite of the fact that at least 10 … Continue reading “Repatriation as
Russian Roulette”

Some of us have known for years that the U.S. government’s basis for holding prisoners without charge or trial in the "War on Terror" has more to do with a fantasy world in which nonsense masquerades as truth, logic is skewed, and nothing that is uttered remotely resembles evidence that would stand up in a … Continue reading “Alice in Guantánamo”

In the history of legal challenges to the Bush administration’s assertion that it can hold "War on Terror" prisoners indefinitely without charge or trial, Parhat v. Gates has just joined a trio of Supreme Court verdicts – Rasul v. Bush (04), Hamdan v. Rumsfeld (06), and Boumediene v. Bush (12 days ago) – as significant … Continue reading “Six Years Late, Court Throws Out Guantánamo Case”

This is clearly no time for being mealy-mouthed. After nearly seven years of ruinous warmongering, economic meltdown, and the shredding of the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Geneva Conventions, and the UN Convention Against Torture, Sen. John McCain, who recently shelved his lifelong opposition to torture by voting against a bill banning the … Continue reading “John McCain, Torture Puppet”

Those who cherish the United States’ historical adherence to the rule of law – myself included – were delighted to hear that the US Supreme Court ruled on Thursday, in the case of Boumediene v. Bush (PDF), that the prisoners at Guantánamo "have the constitutional right to habeas corpus," enabling them to challenge the basis … Continue reading “The Supreme Court’s Guantánamo Ruling: What Does It Mean?”

Two weeks ago, I wrote a brief article in remembrance of Abdul Rahman al-Amri, a Saudi prisoner at Guantánamo, and a long-term hunger striker, who died on May 30, 2007, apparently by committing suicide. June 10 was another bleak and overlooked anniversary, as it was exactly two years ago that the news was announced that … Continue reading “Suicide and Irony at Guantánamo”

Now here’s a weird one to ponder as the arraignments at Guantánamo commence for five prisoners – including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed – who are charged with facilitating the 9/11 attacks. I’ve always thought that there was something particularly perverse about charging minor Afghan insurgents in specially conceived "terror courts" at Guantánamo, as though there was … Continue reading “Afghan Fantasist to Face Trial at Guantánamo”

Like alcoholics queuing up for drinks at closing time, the U.S. government is pressing charges against prisoners at Guantánamo at a frantic rate, anxious to be seen as validating the chronic lawlessness of the last seven years before November’s presidential election. At the end of last week, four more prisoners were put forward for trial … Continue reading “Last Call at Gitmo”

Editor’s note: As a 16th prisoner at Guantánamo, Noor Uthman Muhammed, is put forward for trial by military commission (the much-criticized system of trials for "terror suspects" invented in the wake of the 9/11 attacks), Andy Worthington, author of The Guantánamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America’s Illegal Prison, provides a guide … Continue reading “The 16 Prisoners Charged in Gitmo’s Military Commissions”