Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that inmates at Guantanamo Bay have a right to go to federal court to challenge their detention, detainees have filed more than 150 such lawsuits. Thirty-five of these cases have now been completed. And of these, federal judges have ruled that 29 prisoners are being unlawfully detained. …
Continue reading “Cleared for Release, but Still at Gitmo”
On August 28, in the first indication that European countries are prepared to help the Obama administration fulfill its promise to close Guantánamo by accepting prisoners who have been cleared for release, but who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will face torture on their return, the Portuguese interior ministry announced that two …
Continue reading “Who Are The Two Syrians Released From Guantánamo To Portugal?”
Back in September 2005, when I first began researching Guantánamo for my book The Guantánamo Files, the prison was still shrouded in mystery, even though attorneys had been visiting prisoners for nearly a year, following the Supreme Court’s ruling, in June 2004, that they had habeas corpus rights. Researchers at the Washington Post and at …
Continue reading “Bagram: Gitmo All Over Again”
The United States Supreme Court will hear the U.S. government’s appeal on a lower-court ruling requiring the release of photos showing the abuse of prisoners held in overseas facilities. The government is appealing a 2008 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit which ruled that the government must release the photos …
Continue reading “Obama Seeks to Block Release of Abuse Photos”
Imagine if you were imprisoned for seven years without charge or trial, and then a judge ruled that the government’s case against you consisted solely of unreliable allegations made by other prisoners (who were tortured, coerced, bribed, or suffering from mental health issues) and a "mosaic" of intelligence, purporting to rise to the level of …
Continue reading “Guantánamo: You Can Check Out Any Time You Like, but You Can Never Leave”
But the govt wants to keep him, says Andy Worthington
A federal judge last week excoriated U.S. government lawyers for advocating the continued detention of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay after his "confession" was ruled inadmissible because it was extracted through torture. Calling the case "an outrage," U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle urged the lawyers to "let him out. Send him back to Afghanistan." …
Continue reading “Judge Slams Govt Over Afghan Detainee”
Updated at 10:42 p.m. EDT, July 22, 2009
Violence struck a group of Iranian pilgrims in Diyala province. The attack left five Iranians dead and 37 wounded and was the most significant event of the day. Iraqis fared better only a day after the worst violence in weeks. At least six Iraqis were killed and 20 more were wounded. Meanwhile, PM Maliki is in the U.S. for talks with President Obama, and a House key committee approved more funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also, the U.S. State Department issued a report stating that the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is significantly overstaffed.
Last Thursday, while most U.S. media outlets were focused relentlessly on the marathon endurance test that was Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing, the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight held a hearing to investigate why the Bush administration had allowed Chinese interrogators to visit Guantánamo to interrogate the …
Continue reading “Obama Maintains Bush Policies on Gitmo Uighurs”
Andy Worthington on the revived military commissions
