Desmond Tutu on Guantánamo

Bishop Tutu, addressing supporters of Omar Deghayes:

Tell them injustice and oppression won't have the last word - that one day they will be vindicated...

In South Africa I opposed detention without trial and I have no reason to change.

The Argus: "Tutu compares horror of Guantanamo to apartheid era"

Amnesty International on GTMO conditions:

Last month, Amnesty International issued a comprehensive report on conditions at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. (Click here for a PDF version.)

In addition to the highlighting the profound injustice of indefinite detention and physical abuse, the report also makes note of the declining mental health of Guantánamo's inmates and the psychological damage caused by isolation.

The report's appendix (which we have posted here) outlines exactly how the United States can undo the damage caused by Guantánamo Bay: fair trials and an end to unlawful detentions. The appendix also stresses that the right of victims to seek reparations in U.S. courts should not be limited and that unlawfully detained prisoners should be speedily transferred to a safe location of their choosing and offered the option of asylum in the U.S.

Interview with Tina Foster

The Talking Dog has another excellent interview, this time with Tina Foster who represented Guantánamo prisoners pro bono at Clifford Chance and later at CCR.

Foster is now the director of the International Justice Network. She has filed a habeas petition for a Yemeni held at the Bagram Air Base, citing his rights established by Rasul. The government has moved to dismiss, arguing that the Military Commissions Act strips the courts of any jurisdiction. However, since nobody at Bagram has ever been designated an "enemy combatant" through a Guantánamo-style Combatant Status Review Tribunal process, Foster can maintain that the MCA does not apply.

But now...

almost as if by magic, the military announced, two days before a court deadline on this issue, that it has established new CSRT-like proceedings (none of which involve the detainee even present, of course), but that this somehow satisfies the prerequisites for depriving the court of jurisdiction.

READ MORE