MORE LINKS FROM OUR CANADIAN FRIEND (updated)

HATS OFF TO KAPTAIN KANADA FOR THE FOLLOWING LINKS:

http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/913662.html

http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/early-ruling-on-detainee-process/

http://www.startribune.com/nation/35210944.html

http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11063128

http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202426254333&rss=newswire

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/30/international/i080519S03.DTL&feed=rss.news

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7757225.stm

(just copy and paste the ones that you can't click on....)
THERE ARE SO MANY MORE THAT HE SENT BUT THIS SHOULD KEEP YOU BUSY FOR NOW.

Op-Ed from Sabin Willett (one of the Uigher attorneys)

Now here is an idea for you... judge the Guantanamo cases by the facts as they are .... not the facts as Mukasey and his idea of a justice department would like them to be.
Click on the title to read the op-ed

Bin Laden's "driver" to be released to Yemen?

Bin Laden driver to be moved from Guantanamo

(CNN) -- The former driver and bodyguard of Osama bin Laden will be moved from the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on Monday, several U.S. sources told CNN.

Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who has been held at Guantanamo Bay for years, will be moved to his native Yemen to serve the final weeks of his sentence, the sources said.

Hamdan was convicted by a military commission in August of a war crime -- providing material support to al Qaeda -- but was cleared of more serious terrorism conspiracy charges.

He was found guilty of being the terror leader's bodyguard and driver, and of receiving weapons training and transporting and delivering arms. However, the commission rejected charges that Hamdan conspired with others in carrying out al Qaeda attacks, including those of September 11, 2001.

Hamdan received a 66-month prison sentence, which was due to be completed by the end of the year, because he had received credit for time served before being found guilty.

November 23, 2004

It was four years ago today that my client Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was found by the Military's Combat Status Review Tribunal (CSRT) to NOT be an enemy combatant.... Seemed like an appropriate anniversary to file his petition for certiorari before the U.S. Supreme Court. I filed it with the Court Security Office today. When it is cleared for public consumption I will post it here.

NPR's "The Story"

Well it is not everyday I can tell people I was on a radio program with both Obama and Bush but listen yourself.

5 of the 6 Bosnians Ordered to be Released

Judge Leon who has been conducting Habeas hearings in DC just ordered that five of the six Bosnians held at Guantanamo these past 61/2 years must be released. For those not familiar with Judge Leon he is a very conservative Bush appointee and the "justice" department thought it had a friend in him that would just do what they asked. Fortunately he is a Judge first and foremost.
click on the title to read more...

Talking Dog interview with Buz Eisenberg

Habeas counsel Buz Eisenberg has been representing Gitmo clients for more than 4 years.
Click on the title to read another amazing Talking Dog interview and read to the letter at the end and ask yourself this.

Tomorrow on NPR's The Story

On Thursday I will be on NPR's The Story to give the latest on my Guantanamo cases. Click on the title to go to the website and see what time it will be on in your location. In Chicago it will be on WBEZ at 2:00 pm.
I will have a link to the show later this week.

I lOVE GITMO

So what should be done with Guantanamo when Obama closes it, as he promised to do? I am sure there will be many novel ideas but this one is great fun! (be sure to click on the illustrations.)

CLICK ON THE TITLE TO READ MORE

Chief Military Judge Retires Immediately

Judge Ralph Kohlmann had been scheduled to retire in April but I guess he just could not wait... he is out as of yesterday.

Kids at Gitmo

As I reported here last week the Guantanamo Testimonials Project at the Center for the Study of Human rights in America at UC Davis did a study of the governments own records and determined that we were holding more kids at Gitmo then previously admitted. The military has now revised its figures to the number the testimonials project determined to be the correct number.
Click on the title for the AP story (I know I don't like to post AP stories but I am making this exception!).

My letter to the editor to a paper today....

I am surprised to learn that President-elect Obama is seriously considering legislation to create special courts for the men at Guantanamo. I hope Obama, a lawyer himself, will take the time to carefully review the “evidence” against many of the men still being held at that base. At first blush, some of the so called “evidence” might strike the untrained as serious but if Obama reviews the underlying support for that “evidence” he will see that the reason behind many of these detentions is (to quote one of the military tribunal panel members) “garbage.” I represent two of the men at Guantanamo and I have looked at what is supposed to be the secret evidence against my clients. I can tell you that there is a reason they keep this information secret and it is not about “national security”, this is about national embarrassment. In fact, calling this “garbage” is, in my view, a gross understatement. Couple this with the resignations of six of the prosecutors in the Military Commission system and it should be clear that there are serious problems underlying the cases. It is appalling that these men have sat at Guantanamo for almost seven years with no charges against them and no judicial review of the evidence. If Obama follows through with his trial balloon and sets up yet another system to try these men my clients will look at another year or more before they get the fair hearing that they so desperately need. The US Supreme Court said in June that these men have waited long enough for their hearings. I pray that Obama will heed the call of the Supreme Court and let our justice system, which has worked just fine for over two centuries, do its job.

H. Candace Gorman

Attorney at Law

close gitmo

I hope Obama does not disappoint us on this one. But if he does I will do everything I can do, legally, to make him keep his word.

Close Gitmo.

AND WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THEY LEAVE?

Former Guantanamo prisoners still strugglin

By Jane Sutton – Wed Nov 12, 5:57 pm ET

MIAMI (Reuters) – Former Guantanamo prisoners released after years of
detention without charge went home to find themselves stigmatized and
shunned, viewed either as terrorists or U.S. spies, according to a
report released on Wednesday.
The report by human rights advocates urged U.S. President-elect
Barack Obama to form an independent, nonpartisan commission with
subpoena powers to investigate the treatment of U.S. detainees in
Afghanistan, Iraq and the Guantanamo Bay U.S. Navy base in Cuba.

CLICK ON THE TITLE FOR THE REST OF THE STORY...

So many links.... so little time

Hats off again to Kaptain Kanada for sending me all these links. I am busy responding to the new court deadlines which I hope will finally result in my clients getting released... although I fear it is just a tad to late for poor Mr. Al-Ghizzawi... but take a look at the following links to see the latest that is going on... and for those links that are not active you can copy and paste them in your browser.

http://www.antiwar.com/worthington/?articleid=13744

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/11/10/national/
w010237S64.DTL&feed=rss.news

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N10475063.htm


http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2008/11/09/kerr/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/09/opinion/l09gitmo.html

http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/story.html?id=15203a37-9ec7-4333-a348-b67ece676a86

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=234350&Sn=WORL&IssueID=31234

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/washington/07gitmo.html?ref=us

Obama ideas floating around the media

I really hate it when smart people have bone-headed ideas. The very thought of setting up yet another structure to deal with something that our courts were designed to deal with makes my skin crawl. If that idea makes its way up the chain we will be looking at least at another year before our innocent clients get the hell out of our gulag.

2 more on their way to Algeria (updated)

The DOD just announced two more men were sent back to Algeria:
Labed Ahmed, ISN 703. Camp 5 not cleared for release.
Abbar Sufian Al Hawary (ISN 1016). He was cleared for release.

So much happening in such a short time

Last week while I was visiting my clients at Guantanamo (after my election work for Obama) Judge Hogan entered the long awaited order sending the procedures etc for getting the Habeas hearings underway. He set very tight schedules and I will be leaving for DC later today to start doing my end on those schedules. Rumor has it that J. Hogan had this order ready quite awhile ago but that certain judges were sitting on their final approval until the results of the election were in. I don't know if that is true or not but it would explain alot. To catch up on everything that has been going on I turn to my friend Charly Gittings who did a great posting collecting all the sources. Unfortunately in my usual style I can't seem to get the links working on Charly's email so if you click on the title it will take you right to his site (Project to enforce the Geneva Conventions).

2) THE DETAINEE CASES

There's quite a bit going on these days; for the details, see the outstanding reports by Lyle Denniston at SCOTUSblog linked below.

But now the election has created a very interesting situation. In two months, the government's view of the law in these cases is going to change, and change a lot. The question is how much and how soon, and it's clear that DOJ is a mess that will require major house cleaning of both personnel and legal policy. It will be very interesting to see how the new administration deals with it.

Then there's DoD, and all I'm going to say about that is that I think it would be a VERY bad idea to keep Gates as Secretary of Defense -- DoD is almost as rotten as DOJ is.

MORE HERE BUT LINKS AREN'T WORKING... CLICK ON TITLE FOR THE REAL THING

Guantanamo's Children

The UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas -- (CSHRA) has just posted the analysis of publicly available government documents that show that the Department of State underreported to the United Nations, by 50%, the number of children seized and sent to Guantanamo.

The analysis is Guantánamo's Children: Military and Diplomatic Testimonies, and can be found here.

Also you can click on the title to go directly to the Guantanamo Testimonials Project which has an amazing collection of information related to our Gulag.

HOPE IS DYING...

Al-Ghizzawi is in very bad shape and I am thinking it is time for people to send him letters to try to give him some hope. It takes a long time for mail to get to him. It will be read by the "authorities" and it will be censored....but if you have the time please send him a nice little letter letting him know that he is not forgotten. Who knows, he might even receive it.
Thanks,
Candace

ABDUL HAMID AL-GHIZZAWI, ISN #654
Camp Delta
U.S. Naval Base Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Washington, DC 20355

THE GAMES THEY PLAY

I just got off the phone with Al-Ghizzawi's brother in Libya. Our government is preparing for Al-Ghizzawi to be released to Libya and I guess the US wants to be able to argue that it is turning over men not to countries that will torture and detain indefinitely for no reason (like us and Libya) but instead to "family members"... so we can say "hey, we didn't turn him over to the government we insisted that he be turned over to his family." So the Libyan government made Al-Ghizzawi's brother sign a statement which forces him to turn over Al-Ghizzawi to authorities when (or if) he is turned over to his brother. This way the Libyan government can say "hey, his family turned him over to us."
This is really ugly.
The government has to give me notice before they can turn Al-Ghizzawi over to another country.
I will continue to fight to get Al-Ghizzawi out of Guantanamo and not sent to Libya.

I will marvel....

at today's election results... when my innocent clients are freed from Guantanamo.
I head there tomorrow.

ELECTION REPORT FROM NORTHERN MICHIGAN

Well here I am in a small town in Northern Michigan working as a legal monitor for Obama. The polls opened promptly at 7am and there was a long line of people waiting to vote. Everything is going smoothly up here. An interesting fact for all of you: 98% of the eligible voters in Michigan are registered to vote.

N.Y. Times gitmo database

I was just reminded of this comprehensive database put together by the NY Times on the men held at gitmo. Click on the title for more.

Another Transfer (updated)

Mohammed Hussein Abdullah, ISN 704, was returned to Somaliland on Friday. For some reason the government/military did not think it was worth mentioning publicly.... something about Somaliland not being a real country so they really did not have to make any announcement. Abdullah had been cleared since 2005 (not a typo). He was in Camp 4.

What is Goin on?

I was interviewed by an attorney in Georgia who has a local radio show. Click on the title to go to his website and listen if you care to.

TWO MORE TRANSFERED...(updated)

Yesterday the military announced that two men have been transfered: One to Tajikistan
and one to Kazakhstan (Abdulrahim Kerimbakiev- Camp 6 (ISN #521). When I have more details I will provide an update.