In Pursuit of Justice

Human Rights First put this white paper together with the help of pro bono attorneys in regards to the issues involved in pursuing justice in our federal courts... for prisoners being illegally detained. This is an important piece for atttorney's who are representing or thinking about representing these prisoners... and if you are an attorney in the US and not thinking about representing one of these people you should start thinking about it right now....

A kinder, Gentler Torture

While staying at his in-law’s village in Afghanistan in December 2001, Abdul Hamid Al-Ghizzawi, my client at Guantánamo, knew little of Bush and Cheney.
Later, when vigilante thugs turned him over to the Northern Alliance for an American bounty, Al-Ghizzawi knew nothing of Donald Rumsfeld, Alberto Gonzales, Jay Bybee, John Yoo or Matthew Waxman — the man who would become Al-Ghizzawi’s personal war criminal and who is now a professor at Columbia Law School....
(Click on the title to go to In These Times and read the whole article)

So What about the other 99% ??

Guantanamo with 270 prisoners remaining is just the tip of the iceberg. Click on the title to read the blog by Chris Floyd regarding the 27,000 prisoners being held by the US- primarily in Iraq... but also on ships and in various countries willing to share the dirty work with us. As Gitmo lawyer Clive Stafford Smith points out the other 99% of the prisoners are being held without access to lawyers and the media is clearly not interested in investigating this story.

Canadian Supreme Court says Canadian Government's Gitmo actions Illegal

Thanks to Captain Canada for sharing this story (click on title) and to Roger Fitch for the actual link to the Canadian Supreme Court's decision.

http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/cgi-bin/print.pl?referer=http://scc.lexum.umontreal.ca/en/2008/2008scc28/2008scc28.html

Even though the link goes beyond the page it should work...

From Roger Fitch and our friends down under

Roger Fitch Esq • May 17, 2008

www.justinian.com.au

Our Man in Washington

Guantánamo trials in crisis – legal adviser sacked for wanting torture evidence to be admitted and prosecutors quit in disgust over government meddling. Law of terror correspondent Roger Fitch reports

It looks likely that Salim Hamdan, the notorious bin Laden driver, will be the first to go on trial – if anyone does – before a Guantánamo military commission.

It was, of course, Hamdan’s earlier military commission that the Supreme Court struck down as an unconstitutional fantasy of George W. Bush.

Hamdan is charged with “conspiracy” and “material support for terrorism” for acts predating the war, and neither charge is an offence under the law of war.

In fact, in Hamdan’s own case, a plurality of the US Supreme Court confirmed that “conspiracy” is not a war crime. The “crimes” were in any case created in 2006, long after they were said to have occurred.

click on the title to read the rest....

New illegal charges against gtimo prisoner Muhammed

That to Roger Fitch for bringing this to our attention:

In the most farcical "charges" yet sworn, the Pentagon yesterday charged Noor Uthman Muhammed with conspiracy (not a war crime) to murder (not a war crime) and sundry other acts (not war crimes) between August 1996 and March 2002.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/May2008/d20080523mohammedsworn.pdf

Now, remember, the Supreme Court in the Hamdan case said nothing that didn't happen in a real theatre of war (eg Afghanistan) during a real war (ie, after September 11, 2001) could be a war crime, and the plurality specifically said that conspiracy is not a war crime.

Conspiracy with whom? Why, with Osama and Zawahari, apparently because he delivered a fax machine to them (in 1999).

What were the acts constituting the "crime" that occurred after September 11, 2001? Why here 'tis:

"On March 28, 2002, Muhammed, along with several other al Qaeda members, attempted to escape from a safehouse in Faisalabad, PAKISTAN, after a raid by local authorities, but was captured during his attempt." (emphases mine)

Got that? He was arrested in Pakistan (not a theatre of war), for acts occurring before, not during, a war, and the element of the "crime" which connects him to the period of war and thus to Al Qaida is that he was arrested, that's right, the act of attempting to escape being arrested!!!

Can anyone doubt that this goes beyond Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka and George Orwell, to new, uncharted territories?

So what is going on at the Solicitor General's office?

Last week we learned that Paul Clement, the solicitor general, unexpectedly announced his resignation effective June 2nd (which he no doubt hopes will be before the supreme court announces its decision in the Gitmo cases)... now we have learned that the deputy solicitor general Thomas Hungar actually announced his resignation first but that announcement was not released until today.... all we know about Hungar's departure is that it will be "soon."
Is it just me or do others think there is more to this than just wanting to spend time with their families?

No torture, No exceptions

“No Torture. No Exceptions” means:

• Reaffirming America’s commitment to existing federal laws and international treaties that ban torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment under all circumstances.

• Renouncing all legal interpretations and executive orders that redefine torture and permit such acts as sensory or sleep deprivation, stress positions, sexual humiliation, mock executions.

• Enforcing full transparency of information about how America treats any and all detainees held by our personnel and those in our employ anywhere in the world.

• Rejecting and abolishing the practice of rendering detainees abroad.

• Establishing a single standard of interrogation procedures to apply to all persons held in U.S. custody or by those under U.S. control, whether C.I.A., military, or civilian.

• Treating our detainees as we would have others treat detained Americans.

So... hats off to Scott Horton for bringing this to my attention (and now yours) and click on the title and do your part to try to put an end to this ugly chapter in US history.

Released Detainee testifies to Congressional Committee via satellite link

Turkish born German Citizen, Murat Kurnaz told his story of five years of abuse and torture at the hands of the US at Guantanamo to a congressional committee today. He has also told his story in a book that I have heard is well worth the read (I bought it but haven't had the time to read it yet) . Click on the title to read the AP story.

"Looking alive but actually dead"

That is what one prisoner said about his long term isolation.... For Mr. Al-Ghizzawi this isolation has helped fuel his physical and mental decline. Two new reports out from the center for constitutional rights in a report to congress outline the effects of the long term solitary confinement on the prisoners at guantanamo (including Mr. Al-Ghizzawi) and the outrageous practice of our government in allowing interrogators from foreign countries into Guantanamo to threaten and coerce the prisoners.
Links are below thanks to Charles Gittings at the Project to enforce the Geneva Conventions (www.pegc.us) who posted the articles so that I could link to them..


http://www.pegc.us/archive/Organizations/CCR_Foreign_Int_200805.pdf

http://www.pegc.us/archive/Organizations/CCR_Solitary_Conf_200805.pdf

Hamdan trial delayed

The DC circuit court of appeals just couldn't bring themselves to stop the government from going ahead with the military commission trail of Mr. Hamdan despite the fact that the U.S. Supreme Court will be ruling before the end of June on whether or not the military commissions are constitutional...
Fortunately the military saw the folly in going forward at this juncture and late in the day on Friday (after the DC Circuit Court refused to act) an order was entered to delay the trial to avoid "the potential embarrassment, waste of resources and prejudice to the accused that would result were the Bush administration to lose the Supreme Court case." How clever of the military to think of that.
Click on the title to read the story from the Miami Herald.

A NEW LOW (Updated)

Yesterday I (and other gitmo counsel) learned that the security clearance for one of our regular arabic translators was revoked without prior notice to counsel. The military is not accusing the translator of any wrong doing ...they apparently just randomly pulled his security clearance in the middle of a visit to the base that had been scheduled for months. Particularly disturbing to me on a personal level is that the attorney who was visiting the base with this translator was performing a favor for me in that he agreed to visit with Mr. Al-Ghizzawi. As many of you know I try to visit with Mr. Al-Ghizzawi every other month to monitor his health but for personal reasons I cannot go back to the base until July. The translator is one of the 3 or 4 that regularly go to guantanamo to translate for gitmo counsel... he, like the other translators is a top notch interpretor who has always displayed the highest level of professionalism and integrity. This is clearly just the governments latest ploy to interfere with our relationships with our clients.

Update: The court decided it doesn't have jurisdiction over this... screwing the attorneys once again.

New Documents Released to ACLU

Click on the title to go directly to the latest documents released to the ACLU in one of the FOIA actions they filed.
According to the ACLU press release " Uncensored documents released ... shed light on the deaths of detainees in Iraq and internal disagreement within the military over harsh interrogation practices used at Guantánamo Bay....

The documents contains new information about the deaths of some of these prisoners, including details about Farhad Mohamed, who had contusions under his eyes and the bottom of his chin, a swollen nose, cuts and large bumps on his forehead when he died in Mosul in 2004. The document also includes details about Naem Sadoon Hatab, a 52-year-old Iraqi man who was strangled to death at the Whitehorse detainment facility in Nasiriyah in June 2003; the shooting death of Hemdan El Gashame in Nasiriyah in March 2003; and the death of Manadel Jamadi during an interrogation after his head was beaten with a stove at Abu Ghraib in November 2003.

INTERESTING DEVELOPMENTS

All allegations against Mohammed al Qahtani (063) in the April 15, 2008 re-sworn charge sheet were dismissed without prejudice on Friday May 9, 2008. For those of you who don't know or recall Mr. Qahtan his interrogation memos were leaked last year showing the torture to which he was subjected. Although it is possible that the thugs might charge him again at some future date, with non capitol charges, Al Qahtani is at the moment uncharged and will not face the death penalty if there are ever any future charges. We will not ever know if Mr. Qahtani was a so called "terrorist" because of the criminal policies of the US government in subjecting him to torture.
The other interesting development is that on the heels of this dismissal the government buried the dismissal with the announcement (again) of charges against five defendants who all seem to be charged as the 20th hijacker...
a most crowded spot... as I believe Al Qahtani was also suspected as holding that same ticket.

Fridays military decision ousting Hartman for now

Click on the title to read the actual order entered last week by the Military commission.