Abu Zubaydah v Poland

Another extraordinary rendition case has been launched in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that will be relevant to those following Guantanamo detainees:  Abu Zubaydah v Poland involves the CIA’s black sites. The filings are available here.  A press release by Interrights, co-counsel (with Joseph Margulies and the Polish firm Jankowski & Co.) describes the significance of the case as follows:

The case is of interest because the complaint alleges that, through both its acts as well as omissions – including by agreeing to house the secret detention centre, turning a blind eye to normal protections and oversight, and otherwise participating in and facilitating the extraordinary rendition of Abu Zubaydah into and out of Poland – the Polish authorities are responsible for multiple violations of Abu Zubaydah’s rights.  

This case is also important because it is the most significant (and potentially only) European investigation into black sites underway.   The decision may help to shape the investigation, particularly because it focuses on the benchmarks for effective review. It follows El-Masri (decided by the ECHR in December 2012).  Related cases, Abu Zubaydah v Lithuania, al Nashiri v Poland, and al Nashiri v Romania, are still pending before the ECHR.    

Abu Zubaydah is a stateless Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia who was transferred to Guantanamo Bay in 2006 and remains in indefinite detention.   He has not been charged with a crime by a military commission or court.

Donate for full page ad at New York Times

WORLD CAN'T WAIT is helping to organize a campaign to raise funds to run a full time ad on the 99th day of the Guantanamo detainees hunger strike. Please donate what you can.

Text content of the ad is here, posted as a sign-on message.  World can't wait expects to have a beautiful, arresting ad design for the print-one that will make people think about Guantanamo and the men who continue to suffer there.  You can donate online here,   Online or check donations to Alliance for Global Justice, the fiscal sponsor of World Can't Wait, makes your donation tax-deductible.

THE WORLD REALLY CAN'T WAIT.

SOMEONE SHOULD LET HIM KNOW HE IS PRESIDENT.....UPDATED

(updated to add link to Judge Lamberth's opinion from yesterday...)

So what happened to the buck stops here Barrack?....

Does he really think this is the fault of congress?

At least the pressure is stepping up....even Ralph Nader found time to write a letter to Obama!

And the Yemen human rights minister is in DC to talk....

I mean- even the Chicago Tribune has an editorial today asking Obama to close the place...(although in typical fashion they managed to get most of the facts wrong....)

When I saw this headline I thought a solution was at hand....but then I read the article and realized no one was suggesting sending the DC judges to Gitmo in a trade....


Of course the American people still don't get it....if only someone could do a reality tv show about Gitmo maybe people would understand why this place is unacceptable...

Meanwhile- if I want to go check in on my client I have to take an entire week off because of the plane schedules...Judge Lamberth entered an Order YESTERDAY- expressing his concern about attorney access....sigh. Concern of course does not equate with change but at least he is checking into the mail situation as many of us have had the letters we write to our clients withheld for unknown reasons....just another awful day in the life.

the whimp...I mean the president, speaks

I was going to try to do a summary of that part of the press conference when Obama talked about Guantanamo but I was too pissed off to spend the time.
Thanks you Marcy for pulling it together here.

And if that isn't enough read this.

another petition.....

SORRY ABOUT THE FORMATTING ISSUES....sigh.

Dear H.Candace ,  Thanks for signing my petition, "President Obama:  Close Detention Facility at Guantanamo Bay ."  Can you help this petition win by asking your friends  to sign too? It's easy to share with  your friends on Facebook - just click here to share the petition  on Facebook. There's also a sample email below that you can forward  to your friends.  Thanks again -- together we're making change happen,  Morris Davis  --------- Note to forward to your friends: Hi! I just signed the petition "President Obama: Close Detention  Facility at Guantanamo Bay " on Change.org. It's important. Will you sign it too? Here's the link: http://www.change.org/petitions/president-obama-close- detention-facility-at-guantanamo-bay?share_id=aUzRMOtRYz &utm_campaign=signature_ receipt&utm_medium=email&utm_source=share_petition Thanks! H.Candace

Red Cross is Back....

The International Red Cross arrived back at the base on Saturday. I think it is time for the ICRC to publicly disclose exactly what is going on with the men....read about the ad hoc visit here....

A detainee speaks and "Life Under Lockdown"

Carol Rosenberg has a good article about life for the detainees under Obama- life right now at the base sounds a lot like the harsh life the detainees suffered through under Bush- before attorneys were allowed onto the base- for example, the men are now in solitary confinement  24 hours a day- they can have nothing in their cells with them except a small isomat, a sheet and a pillow-their showers are scheduled for them as is their force feeding- they are shuffled around in shackles. 

One detainee spoke to his attorney last week and told his attorney first hand what life is like right now.... "The cells were emptied of everything." They now only have a isomat, a sheet and a pillow. "No other items are permitted in the cell. No books, no soap, no toothbrushes. Nothing." They are in a 24 hour lock down and isolation but according to the detainee "This will not break the strike, this will push the resolve deeper in the men."

  In short their lives suck....but the men decided that it sucked even more to continue to sit and wait for something to happen. Nothing is going to happen with this president unless he is embarrassed into doing something. If the only thing that will embarrass the president enough to do something is more death-so be it.

The same detainee described the attack by the military on April 13th (hours after the ICRC left the island) " The Military stormed the camp without notice or warning. Many were hit with rubber bullets at close range. ...Only hunger strikers were hit. Everyone's hands were tied behind their back and the men were left on the floor for 6 hours in this position, face down. The men were not permitted to use the bathroom during this time. The men's clothes were soaked with pepper spray and this caused further illness. The treatment was "vicious." This was a one sided war, as the hunger strike is intended to be a peaceful protest."

That detainee who spoke out is also-like most of the men- on a hunger strike and is being force-fed. He described his force-feeding this way-"I am exhausted and completely skinny. ..The military is using a size 10 tube instead of size 8. I Requested an 8, but the military will not comply. The 10 is too big and induces vomiting. The 10 makes it hard to breathe. My entire body is tied down and the large tube is inserted."

"This is a peaceful protest.  There was a one sided war on April 13. The demand is the same. Surrender the Korans. There has been no communication with the men, only force. The men are asking that an official come and speak to them as humans. We wish to speak directly. We want the conditions to be the same as before the strike, but the military must speak with them to negotiate, not just exert force and use violence over starving and weak men. Allowing a rule that the men may surrendur the Koran will cause a majority of the men to begin eating again. The men are resolved to continue their peaceful protest and to negotiate with the military. The military is using their suffering to close Guantanamo. This is a peaceful protest."

I guess it must makes the military feel tough and strong to treat the detainees in this fashion. I only wish it would make the American people ashamed about what is being done in their name....but I guess they are too busy watching tv.

Meanwhile.....

The bipartisan "torture report" concluded that yes it is true the good ole U S of A did in fact use torture- and it didn't make us any safer.
You can download a full copy or an abridged version here.
what a surprise....

Update---

Sorry for the long delay here is what we know about the hunger strike as of today:

* the military is now admitting what we (the attorneys) have been saying for more than six weeks- that most of the men being held at the base are on a hunger strike. We know the number is around 130- the military admits more than 100.;
*the military now admits that 20 men are being force fed;
*the military now admits it is not equipped to handle this many hunger strikers and that they had to ship in almost 100 medics;
* despair by the inmates is heightened by the failure to release even one detainee in several years and the periodic review boards (PRB's) that Obama promised more than one year ago -for the men who are not "cleared for release" have not occurred because the CIA refuses to allow the torture the men were subjected to be used in those hearings to explain things like admissions (admissions under torture);
*Sen. Feinstein called for a review of the moratorium of the Yemeni men (which she suggested... by the way...)
*at the same time that our clients are preparing to die rather than be warehoused indefinitely, getting to Guantanamo has become more difficult for the attorneys representing them- the one airline that flies to Guantanamo only flies on monday and friday which means an attorney like me would have to take off an entire week to visit my one client for a day. Military flights had been an option but the military just declared that the attorneys can no longer use those flights.

Talking Dog Interviews Eric Lewis

Eric predated me in the Gitmo litigation and so I never had the opportunity to meet him- but it is yet another fascinating interview....
read it here...

KISS MIRANDA GOODBYE....

From Roger Fitch and our Friends Down Under at Justinian

Glory, glory, hallelujah

ROGER FITCH ESQ • SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013

Old guard rallies to the cause of female CIA agent glorified fictionally in Zero Dark 30... Latest from US Supremes, including forthcoming important gene patent case ... Secret no-fly lists tested in court ... DoJ's sweetheart deals with badly behaved banks and bankers ... George W. Bush's Liberty and Freedom Institute opens for business ... Our Man in Washington 

Brennan: ably assisted by CIA villains

JOHN BRENNAN has been sworn in as CIA director, using a copy of the Constitution without the Bill of Rights. 

Ably assisted by an interview committee composed of CIA villains, Mr Brennan is already busy advancing the careers of CIA operatives implicated in crimes, such as the acting and proposed director of CIA Clandestine Services.  

A right-wing Washington Post columnist was outraged that this worthy woman's (torturous) past might be held against her, just when it seemed the CIA's infamous glass ceiling might crack. 

Naturally, the torture counsellor John Yoo was also upset.    

More here and here on the promotion of the female CIA agent glorified fictionally in the filmZero Dark 30 (see January post).  

One of the accusations against this person is her unauthorised visit to Poland to witness the CIA torture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, now being tried at Guantánamo.

The CIA acknowledges water-boarding two other men held in Poland, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah and, interestingly, the  now acting CS director helped organise the destruction of videotape evidence of their torture - formerly a federal crime.

Both Nashiri and Zubaydah are suing Poland for torture in the European Court of Human Rights. 

READ THE REST HERE  

Lying Sacks of Sh*t

Yes, that would be the military. They are busy making shit up to explain the brutality it engaged in against a bunch of unarmed guys who haven't eaten in a few months. Emptywheel has done a good job of putting the lies all in one article- this is an excerpt:

Carol Rosenberg, Ryan Reilly, and Charlie Savage have all posted their stories on the government’s attempt to make the raid on detainees sound better. (Except as noted, the quotes below come from Rosenberg.)

But the accounts only seem to make it worse. Start with the fact that two of the officers interviewed — Captain John and Lieutenant Hermoine (a pseudonym, according to Rosenberg) — refused to give their names to reporters.

Then there’s Colonel John Bogdan’s claim that, even though he watched the raid via video, no video of the raid exists. (Jim wrote about Bogdan here.)

The chief of the guard force, Army Col. John Bogdan, said he monitored the mission by video screen and radio but told reporters that no taped record existed of the skirmish to independent review what went on Saturday morning.

Given that the most seriously injured of the five detainees and four guards reportedly injured in the raid was a detainee who allegedly banged his own head against his cell, I find the claim of no video especially curious.

READ THE REST HERE...

White House Petition

I am not very big on petitions- especially to that clown in the white house- but since they are so very close to the 100,000 mark and anything that could embarrass the white house is ok with me please take this as my invitation to you to sign this petition to shut the hell hole....
And thank you anonymous for posting the link....

Talking Dog Interviews Cori Crider.....

Reprieve has been one of the anchors in the litigation for the men held at Guantanamo and of course the individuals leading Reprieve have been instrumental in this battle- today's interview is with Cori Crider and it is another great interview of yet another inspiring attorney fighting for the men at Gitmo. Read it here.
Thanks again to the dog for sticking with this....