Candace Returns to the Airwaves

This coming Saturday at 5:00 pm ET, 4:00 pm CT, Candace will be interviewed by Mike Feder on Sirius Satellite Radio. Tune in!

Candace Speaks to the Campus

Last Thursday, while Candace was meeting with her clients in Guantánamo, students at Columbia College Chicago protested the Bush administration's foreign policy in Iraq and beyond. Candace sent this written statement of support for the students:

Greetings from Guantánamo.

As you are sitting here today I am spending the day in a tiny room with one of my two clients. Depending on which client I am visiting today I will either be soaking wet from the intense heat or freezing cold from the air conditioning turned on high. Tomorrow I will leave this hellhole but my unfortunate clients will remain. It is on behalf of my two clients, and the other inmates languishing at Guantánamo without any charges filed against them and no end in sight, that I would like to thank you for taking a stand today against the illegal and immoral policies of the Bush administration.

If I am meeting with Mr. Al-Ghizzawi today I can tell you a lot about the man that was wrongly picked up for a bounty… and I will tell you a little about him in a minute. However, if I am meeting with Mr. Razak Ali, I can tell you next to nothing about the man…. And here is why… I agreed to represent Mr. Ali in the spring, after I was already representing Mr. Al-Ghizzawi for almost six months… I figured what the hell; I am already going down to Guantánamo so why not see two clients instead of one….

However, the government has fought giving me any information about Mr. Ali…They did the same with my other client but eventually Mr. Al-Ghizzawi’s judge ordered the government to give me whatever information that had on Mr. Al-Ghizzawi. Unfortunately the Judge in Mr. Ali’s case has not entered a similar order. Last week I filed an emergency motion with the Appellate court asking them to allow me to see information about Mr. Ali before my trip this week, but on Friday at 4:00 the court finally answered…. They said they will get to my request some other time. So I went again to visit my client not having a clue as to what our government thinks he has done…

But let me tell you briefly about my other client Mr. Al-Ghizzawi. There was a good reason why the government fought giving me any information about him. You see Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was picked up in return for a bounty after we dropped thousands upon thousands of leaflets over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, and who knows where else. Our government promised people that we would give them wealth beyond their dreams if they turned over murderers and terrorists… Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was a Libyan living in Afghanistan. He had a small shop and was married to an Afghani woman with a new-born daughter at the time the US started bombing Afghanistan. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi took his wife and young daughter out of the city and to his in-laws to avoid the bombing. It was there at the home of his in-laws that he was turned over for the bounty, the family had no choice when the thugs came to the door. Being a stranger and an Arab was enough for someone to turn Mr. Al-Ghizzawi over and become “wealthier beyond (their) dreams.”

Our own government did not know anything about Mr. Al-Ghizzawi when he was turned over to them.. Eventually more than three years after he was picked up and sent to Guantánamo they did a review of him before a panel of three military people. A review that was stacked against Mr. Al-Ghizzawi by the procedures set up for the prisoners. However even that military panel, in the procedure that was stacked against him determined that Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was not an enemy combatant and that there was no evidence tying him to al-Qaeda, the Taliban or any other terrorist organization. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi’s capture was a mistake, like so many other “mistakes” at Guantánamo.

The first time I met Al-Ghizzawi, in July of last year, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi had already been at Guantánamo more than four years. The first part of his detention was spent in a cage with a strip of concrete around the sand floor. It was open to the elements: be it sun, rain, cold, or the occasional hurricane. The hovel erected by our government to house human beings looked like the animal shelter where we picked out a dog some years back, only our dog had a little covered corner where she could get away from the weather.

Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and the other men were eventually “upgraded” to the facilities that he was living in until this past December. They had walls, a roof, barred windows. and concrete floors. He has no blanket (blankets are not allowed). Instead he has a plastic “thing” to cover himself with. This plastic “thing” is cold when it is cold and hot when it is hot. It is never washed and it stinks.
Mr. Al-Ghizzawi has been held more than five years now. His health is rapidly deteriorating from the effects of untreated hepatitis B and tuberculosis (our government admits that it has known about both of these conditions since he arrived but has not treated him for either condition). His daughter, who was just a few months old when he was turned in for a bounty and whisked off to Guantánamo, will turn six soon. His wife and daughter live on the kindness of family. The bread and spice shop owned and operated by Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and his wife has been long since closed down (she cannot run the shop without him). Our courts and politicians have forsaken Mr. Al-Ghizzawi. The diplomats look the other way. Countries that understand just how awful the US has become refuse to take Guantánamo refugees, not because they are afraid the men are terrorists, but because they don’t want to be seen doing anything to help the US out of this awful mess we made for ourselves. Time will not look favorably to anything our country has done to the men of Guantánamo, but that is a bitter-sweet pill for the men we have caused and continue to cause, to suffer so greatly.

In December Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and approximately 200 others were moved into the new camp 6. Camp 6 is solitary confinement, total isolation. Being placed there has nothing to do with the prisoners’ status or threat level. Many of the individuals placed in camp 6 are scheduled to be released… but now they sit in solitary confinement, in a building that is brutally cold. They have no one to talk to, they have no fresh air, they never see the sun or the sky… and they are slowly going crazy.

When Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was explaining to me his early years at Guantánamo, he told me about a flower that had appeared outside his “cage” in the spring of 2002. Just one little flower poking its beautiful leaves and petals out of the sand. He was describing the flower to me, but I couldn’t quite figure out what kind of flower it was. He called it a primrose and maybe it was. He said to me “I am like that little flower. It didn’t belong there…. I don’t belong here either.”
I ask each of you to do everything in your power to close this place. It means writing to congress and to newspapers. Getting a petition drive. Keeping this disgrace front and center for the American people to see and think about. Bush will not close this place until he is forced to…. We must force him.

On behalf of Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, Mr. Ali, and the other prisoners at Guantánamo, I thank you in advance for whatever help and attention you can bring to their plight.

Goldsmith on Guantánamo

The UK's top lawyer, Her Majesty's Attorney General Peter Goldsmith, expressed his clear disapproval of the Bush admistration's detention policies in his remarks before the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association.

Goldsmith called Guantánamo a "symbol of injustice" and suggested that the prison camp was tarnishing the image of the United States and the West as a whole.

The Miami Herald's Carol Rosenberg reported on the ABA meeting.

Earlier, the ABA's House of Delegates adopted a resolution of support for the ''courageous lawyers'' who provide free-of-charge services to Guantánamo captives.

A senior Pentagon official in charge of detainee affairs, Charles ''Cully'' Stimson, himself a lawyer, lit a national legal firestorm by making a Jan. 11 broadcast call on corporate America to boycott firms whose lawyers represent Guantánamo captives.

Lawyers across the country protested that so-called pro-bono representation is a bedrock American principle. Stimson, who was deputy assistant secretary of defense for attorney affairs, apologized. Then he resigned.

The House of Delegates adopted the resolution by unanimous voice vote after impassioned addresses by three lawyers, among them New York Bar Association President Mark Alcott, who invoked the Pledge of Allegiance.

''It's not justice for some -- not justice for most,'' Alcott said. ``It's justice for all.''

The Pentagon has held men and teens from dozens of countries as ''enemy combatants'' at the remote U.S. Navy base for more than five years. Today they number about 395 -- none currently charged with a crime.

Tony Blair's government has successfully negotiated the release of all the British citizens held earlier at Guantánamo -- after, Goldsmith said, he offered the legal opinion that the United States could not guarantee them fair trials that met international legal standards.

Goldsmith said that British legal officials would ''provide more detail to the U.S. government'' of its concerns about the latest legislation.

He also took a swipe at Stimson's remarks.

''I assure you that remarks of that sort,'' he told the House of Delegates, ``are viewed from across the Atlantic as unjust, unacceptable and un-American.''

Kangaroo Tribunals

The Combatant Status Review Tribunals are the extra-judicial process that the government uses to classify a captured individual is an "enemy combatant." Mark and Joshua Denbeaux's report, No-Hearing Hearings provides a useful introduction to this kangaroo tribunal.

On a few occasions, a Tribunal initially found that the detainee was not/no longer an enemy combatant. In such cases, the detainee was never told of this decision. Instead, the Tribunal’s decision wasreviewed at multiple levels in the Defense Department chain of command and eventually a new Tribunal was convened. However, some detainees were still found not/no longer to be enemy combatants. At least one detainee’s record indicates that after a second Tribunal found him no longer an enemy combatant, the process was repeated and sent back for a third Tribunal which found him to be an enemy combatant.

Our friend, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, was one those prisoners initially found to have no ties to terrorism classified as a "non enemy combatant." The higher-ups overturned this determination and Mr. Al-Ghizzawi continues to languish in Guantánamo.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

A Lawyer's Journey to Guantánamo

An excellent column by Michael Rapkin appeared in the February 5th issue of the L.A. Daily Journal. Rapkin's client, Yousef Abdullah Al-Rubaish, is a young Saudi who, like so many others, was regularly abused during his unjust imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay. Rapkin does an excellent job at addressing the facts and fictions surrounding the camp and its inmates:

With unclassified government records, I can refute much of the misinformation disseminated by the Bush administration and the military.

For example, American forces captured only 5 percent of the Guantanamo detainees. Only 8 percent of the detainees are deemed to be al-Qaida fighters. Fifty-five percent never committed a hostile act against the United States or its coalition allies; and 85 percent were captured by bounty hunters who were paid money (according to American leaflets) "beyond their wildest dreams."

And these are the government's own records.

Yousef, like most Guantanamo prisoners, was physically and psychologically tortured by our American military - as publicly documented by the FBI and other organizations. He was beaten before meals by guards with batons and helmets wearing metal knee braces and metal gloves, who would forcibly remove him from his cell. They broke bones and forced Yousef into physically stressful positions. They smashed him in the eye while praying and provided sub-standard
medical care. Other Gitmo prisoners sustained worse torture conditions than Yousef.

The torture continues today in Guantanamo. Prisoners suffer prolonged isolation in solitary confinement, exposure to the elements and constant sleep deprivation. One prisoner recently had his daily allotment of 15 sheets of toilet paper confiscated because he used some to cover his eyes in order to sleep.

During his five years in Guantanamo, Yousef never saw his family. I was his only contact with the outside world. When I brought him family pictures his family had sent to me, he could not stop staring at them.

Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld have described the Guantanamo prisoners as the "worst of the worst," but we all know the truth. The government knows most of the prisoners are innocent; only 10 out
of more than 800 have ever been charged. And even those 10 have never had a day in court.

Rapkin also takes on the nefarious Military Commissions Act of 2006 and the Bush administration's assault on habeas corpus.

Late last year, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. This un-American legislation applies to all non-U.S. citizens or residents, as well as to the Guantanamo detainees. If the president designates someone an "unlawful enemy combatant," he or she loses habeas corpus rights, the single most critical safeguard of individual liberty in our legal system. They lose the right to due process under the law. They lose the right to be told why they have been imprisoned or even what they are accused of having done. They can be held indefinitely in prison for the rest of their lives, with no trial.

The good news is that Yousef was released from Guantanamo last month and has flown home to Saudi Arabia. Like other Saudis who have been transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia, Yousef is being held temporarily in a Saudi jail, but he is being treated well. Based on past Saudi policy, Yousef expects to be released soon to resume his life. And even though the Bush administration ripped five years from the prime of his life and thus far refuses him any compensation, Yousef does not harbor ill feelings towards the United States.

Today, hundreds of prisoners still remain at Guantanamo. Conditions have not improved. There is no due process and currently no habeas rights under the Military Commissions Act. (I protested in front of the White House the day the president signed this legislation). Some detainees are in the new $37 million dollar state-of the-art prison facility known as Camp 6, designed to reduce contact among inmates. The new Congress will be considering two bills which would modify the Military Commissions Act and, among other revisions, restore the centuries old habeas corpus law.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

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Hat tip to G. Munson for technical support with this post.

More Bounty Leaflets

The great majority of Guantánamo "detainees" were not captured by U.S. forces. Many were seized by armed groups in the fog of war that engulfed Afghanistan in late 2001. The United States dropped leaflets over that impoverished country promising handsome rewards for enemy fighters. Not surprisingly, this resulted in the capture of countless innocents.

Many of you have seen this widely circulated leaflet:

Here are two more leaflets, one is made to resemble a banknote:












Click on the thumbnails to enlarge. The images are modified from Mark and Joshua Denbeaux's Report on Guantanamo Detainees.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

How can you help?

Friends,

Some of you have offered to contribute funds to support Candace's work. She is moved by your generosity and by your passion for justice. However, Candace pledged to fund the effort herself when she took the case pro bono and she intends to abide by that commitment.

The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York has been the backbone of Guantánamo litigation. It has played a major role in recruiting and training habeas counsel, coordinating strategy and providing resources and guidance. Candace urges citizens and activists angered by the injustice of Guantánamo to support CCR's invaluable work.

In solidarity,

The Guantánamo Blog

New on Huffington Post:

Candace was recently informed that a letter from her Libyan client, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, had been classified and placed in her "secret drawer" in the government's "secret facility." Candace flew to D.C. last week to read Mr. Al-Ghizzawi's super top-secret missive. Candace recounts the adventure in a new piece on Huffington Post - "John Lennon and Mr. Al-Ghizzawi: Two Peas in a Secret Pod."

The title of the post alludes to recently released documents in John Lennon's FBI file (the documents contained no new or "sensitive" information about the singer/activist). In her latest Huff Po piece, Candace offers these observations on how the government uses and abuses its power to declare things "secret":

I had thought these secret policies were particular to the massive and unconscionable illegalities of the Bush administration, but the episode with Mr. Lennon's FBI file shows, at least to a certain degree, that this is a long standing governmental policy. Professor Wiener referred to it as "excessive government secrecy" in his recent Nation article. Maybe, but it seems more likely that this is our government's way to make it seem, in Lennon's case, like there was something to justify the illegal spying and intrusion into his life, and in Mr. Al-Ghizzawi's case, to justify his illegal imprisonment. It is a policy of covering up illegal activity by declaring it "secret" and thereby making it seem like something sinister is going on that they just cannot tell us about for our own protection

H. Candace Gorman on the Radio

H. Candace Gorman was recently featured on The Story, a radio program produced by North Carolina Public Radio. Check out WUNC's digital archive and listen to the program here.

A Digest of GTMO News:

1. AP via International Herald Tribune: "Life harsher for detainees in Guantanamo's newest prison unit"

The AP covers GTMO's newest facility, the maximum security Camp 6. The Article quotes Wells Dixon and Sabin Willett.

2. Toronto Star: "The View from Guantanamo Bay"

The Star covers conditions in Camp 6, with a special focus of the situation of Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, who was captured at the age of 15.

3. Asharq Alawsat: "Missing Saudi Found in Guantanamo after 5 Years"

The family of a Saudi man who had been missing for five years discovers that he had been "disappeared" to Guantánamo Bay.

4. The Age (Australia): "Guantanamo a lawless prison: lawyer"

David Hicks' Australian attorney, David McLeod, calls it like he sees it and accuses the U.S. government of moral "bastardry."

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

The Guantánamo Testimonials Project

We've added a new site to our Friendly Links list. The UC Davis Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas has launched the Guantánamo Testimonials Project.

In the words of the center:

...the goal of this project is to gather testimonies of prisoner abuse at this detention center, organize them by the source of the testimony and the type of abuse (physical, sexual, medical, legal, psychological, age-related, religious, national / ethnic, verbal, unspecified and en route) and post them on this site. The strength of these testimonies is considerable. Based on them, a number of distinguished individuals and organizations have called for the closure of Guantánamo.

The Case of Murat Kurnaz

Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish-German man and former Guantánamo inmate has written a book, soon to be published, about his experiences at the prison camp.

Although Mr. Kurnaz was deemed to be harmless shortly after his capture, diplomatic imbroglios and government inaction resulted in a nearly five years of imprisonment for the so-called "Bremen Taliban."

According to UPI, Germany's foreign minister may be forced to resign over this scandalous injustice. Of course, no resignations are forthcoming from any government officials on the American side for the ongoing travesty of Guantánamo.

In the United States official impunity holds the day.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

Worth a Read:

Joseph Lelyveld has an interesting article on Guantánamo in the February issue of the New York Review of Books.

Lelyveld observes:

None of those released from Guantánamo has received an acknowledgment that there appear to have been no reasonable grounds for his detention, let alone an apology for the years snatched from his life, let alone even a modest attempt at compensation. In fact, Congress has had the foresight to bar damage suits by former detainees. Whenever questions are raised about cases in which reasonable grounds for suspicion are hardest to detect—the teenagers, septuagenarians, and Muslim travelers in war-afflicted regions who, whatever their motives or sentiments, never had a chance to get training as soldiers or bombers—official spokesmen can be relied on to allude to damning material in classified files that cannot be disclosed without damage to national security.

A Note on the Kafka

After reading a post about H. Candace Gorman on Majikthise, Lawrence Krubner posted this reflection:

"Gorman doesn't yet know what one of her clients is alleged to have done, even though she's been his lawyer for some time. "

Seriously though, if you just change "Gorman" to one of the character's names, couldn't this sentence be straight from Franz Kafka's novel The Trial? A man forced to defend himself against charges he is never allowed to know? Lawyers who agree to help, also without knowing the charges? The parallels with the novel are surprising. Who would have thought a nation with a supposedly strong allegiance to the rule of law could end up in this situation?

In The Trial, a young bank employee is charged with an unstated crime and forced through an absurd bureaucratic process before his inevitable execution. Just as the Bush admnistration's manipulation of language can be described as Orwellian (see recent semantic acrobatics with the term "torture"), its approach to due process can rightly be described as Kafkaesque.

These days, a news search on "Kafka" or "Kafka-esque" will produce any number of articles and editorials on Guantánamo and the Bush administration's detention policies. Like Josef, the protagonist in Kafka's novel, hundreds of designated "enemy combatants" being held in George Bush's dungeons have never been charged with a crime. They live at the mercy of seemingly arbitrary authorities that will inexplicably release some prisoners after insisting for years that the government possessed secret evidence of their unspeakable crimes. Others, like Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, will continue to languish in Guantánamo into the indefinite future.

- Adrian Bleifuss Prados

On Alternet:

Alternet, the internet's progressive media digest, has picked up Diary of a Guantánamo Attorney, H. Candace Gorman's recent piece in In These Times.

Post Script:
The article has also been picked up by After Downing Street.