In a move that seems to open up a route out of Guantánamo for prisoners accused of having an active involvement with international terrorism that does not involve reviving the much-criticized system of trials by military commission, the Justice Department announced today that Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian, one of 14 "high-value detainees" transferred to …
Continue reading “Out of Guantánamo and Into Court”
Andy Worthington on the cases that should be dropped now
William Fisher on the military-commissions betrayal
Andy Worthington says a pile of lies is still lies
Ray McGovern badgers an official on torture
Human rights advocates and legal scholars fear that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama may resurrect the military commissions designed by his predecessor to try Guantánamo detainees after Obama’s 120-day moratorium on proceedings expires on May 20. That possibility appeared to move a step closer to reality when Guantánamo’s chief judge refused to delay …
Continue reading “Back to Military Commissions?”
As lawmakers amped up the outcry against releasing Guantánamo "terrorists in our neighborhoods," France agreed to accept a "cleared" Guantánamo prisoner and human rights groups continued to press for release of 17 Chinese Uighurs the U.S. government has declared to be no threat to national security. The Democratic-led House Appropriations Committee last week passed a …
Continue reading “Congress Resists Guantánamo Releases”
A leading human rights organization is charging that an American Psychological Association (APA) task force formed to advise the U.S. military on prisoner interrogations was "stacked with Defense Department and [George W.] Bush Administration officials" and "rushed to conclusions that violated the Geneva Convention." Newly released internal APA documents indicate that the organization’s 2005 ethics …
Continue reading “Psychologists Under Fire for Role in Interrogations”
Andy Worthington is losing patience with Obama
British High Court judges are expected to rule this week on whether a document by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency can be publicly disclosed, thus opening the courthouse door to a lawsuit charging that the British government was complicit in facilitating the rendition of a British resident by the CIA, which tortured and secretly imprisoned …
Continue reading “Britain Tries to Block CIA Rendition Case” 
