unity

 we will make it work.

FROM ROGER FITCH AND OUR FRIENDS DOWN UNDER AT JUSTINIAN

Reign of Terror

ROGER FITCH ESQ • FRIDAY, JULY 5, 2024

SCOTUS ... Shocker decisions from the latest term ... The Trump Docket ... Presidential immunity ... Gratuities and bribes ... Obstruction ... Admin law trashed ... Criminalising the homeless ... Espionage Act - two sides of the coin for Assange and Trump ... At last, someone convicted at Guantánamo of a real war crime ... Roger Fitch reports from Washington 

"Somewhere along his life path, his Saurian eye identified a need among a swath of Americans for nonsensical gibberish … In another era, Trump's true calling in life would be a travelling tentpole circus barker, hustling from town to town with an entourage of snake oil salesmen, other grifters, and assorted freakish animal and humanoid curiosities... that's entertainment, and as ever, it serves a nefarious purpose - diverting the crowd from the pickpockets" - Nina Burleigh

........

The Justice Department has filed two contentious espionage cases in recent years. One, against an Australian citizen, is novel, an actual Trumped-up crime. The other, filed by a special counsel appointed under President Biden, is against Trump himself. 

Unlike Julian Assange's "offences", the charges against Donald Trump fit perfectly: it's a straightforward prosecution for wilfully and knowingly taking and concealing classified documents, misusing them and obstructing their retrieval. 

The Espionage Act, 18 USC 793, used in both prosecutions, does not say the accused must be working with another country to deliberately harm the US, only that it is a crime to have ...

"... unauthorized possession of, access to, or control over [information] ... the possessor has reason to believe could be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation," and to wilfully retain it while failing "to deliver it to the officer or employee of the United States entitled to receive it."

Prosecutors are not required to prove that the defendant knew the information could harm "national security", only that any reasonable person would understand the harm it could do. It's not necessary to prove actual damage or even that the documents were classified, only that they relate to US national security.

The Espionage Act was first enacted in 1917 during WWI and was initially used quite oppressively. Modern prosecutions, however, have typically been of spies and careless public or former public officials, and recently, whistleblowers.

Until Julian Assange, the Act was never used against a journalist, and Obama declined to use it against the Australian. In fact, Obama commuted the sentence of Assange's alleged co-conspirator, convicted of leaking the same information. 

Nevertheless, the experiences of Assange and Trump have greatly diverged. Whereas Julian Assange was harassed and persecuted for years before indictment, Donald Trump luckily landed in the court of a judge he appointed, Aileen Cannon, who appears to be auditioning for Trump's next supreme court vacancy.

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Assange: might have beaten the Espionage rap

The conviction of a journalist under the Espionage Act was only certain with a guilty plea; it's not clear the charges would have been upheld in a US court had extradition proceeded. Like Guantánamo, only the use of plea deals with no appeal allows legally-dubious charges to stand. 

In fact, the similarity of the Assange and David Hicks prosecutions is striking. Applying the Espionage Act to Assange's journalism is reminiscent of David Hicks' "war crime" conviction for the invented (later invalidated) "material support for terrorism". 

Sadly, the Pentagon continues its attempts, through guilty pleas, to convert civilian offences (terrorism and conspiracy) into "war" crimes: US-created offences unknown to international huminatarian law and thus not part of the "law of nations" as required by the US Constitution. The inchoate offence of "conspiracy" is one such. 

In 2014, a military commission charged Abd al-Hadi with various charges and in June 2024 accepted his guilty plea for certain ones, including "conspiracy". Al-Hadi did commit war crimes in an international conflict, and he's accountable for those recognised under IHL, but not for the American-concocted "conspiracy".

Al-Hadi's lawyers managed to strip out of his guilty plea all charges except three valid ones: treachery or perfidy; attacking protected property; and attacking civilian objects, plus the invalid conspiracy. 

Meanwhile, Al-Hadi has made history: he seems to be the only person ever convicted at Guantánamo for committing actual, internationally-recognised war crimes that occurred during an international conflict involving the US. 

 READ THE ENTIRE FITCH HERE.

Hope dies last....(con't)

 and by popular request:

HOPE DIES LAST

 I remain optimistic about the future of my country but I must admit sometimes it is hard to so remain!

So let me share this little number with you and remind everyone- democracy is not a spectator sport. So get working if you are not already.

H/O to Peter.

Musical interlude

 Every mother's day for many years I have posted the U2 song "Mothers of the disappeared" and dedicated the song to my Guantanamo clients and the many others taken from their homes never to be seen again-- or at least never to be seen for a long time.

This past mother's day in the U.S. was on May 12th. Coincidently, on that same day, the Algerian Government was bringing charges against my remaining Guantanamo client.  Saeed was being charged with being a member of an unknown terrorist organization.  Although held for more than 20 years Saeed was never charged with any crime by the US. The faulty charge however came from random US documents taken out of context. 

I was too preoccupied with the mess our State department caused in Saeed's case to get my usual mother's day song posted.

Now, Saeed is no longer "disappeared" and although his mother was not alive to see him come home this song is for Saeed.

From Roger Fitch and his friends down under at Justinian

 

Pecker problems

ROGER FITCH ESQ • TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024

Trump minting coin from his felony convictions ... Toadies in the bleachers ... Justice Alito flagging his proclivities ... SCOTUS corrupted ... Rule of lawlessness ... More horrible judicial distortions in the pipeline ... Roger Fitch files from Washington 

"The smart play ... would have been to say it doesn't matter whether or not [Trump] had a relationship with Stormy Daniels, because that renders big chunks of the case irrelevant. But character is destiny, and Trump's character is egotistical and combative" - former federal prosecutor, NY Times 

"Trump Undone by the Truth of his Pecker" - ambiguous Emptywheel headline 

Donald John Trump has been convicted on all counts in People of the State of NY v Trump. The offender was charged with falsifying records to cover up another criminal offence. This could be his usual business practice, but in New York, it's a felony.

Lawfare listed what prosecutors had to prove in People v Trump, and the Times listed the 34 counts that were proved. 

Further felony charges against Trump remain and are awaiting trial in Georgia state court (election interference), DC federal court (the January 6 election theft attempt) and Florida federal court (Espionage Act violations), but Trump is already a convicted felon, affecting travel to 38 countries including Australia.

Sadly, Trump won't do the decent thing: drop out. Running is too lucrative. Since his conviction, fresh millions from sucker supporters have flooded in. "Moron", after all, is an Americanism.

The trial itself was uncontroversial, except for the unseemly behaviour of the defendant, who ranted before and after his court appearances, accompanied by an entourage of what one cartoonist called "Trump Chumps and Toadies", i.e, Republican camp followers and vice-presidential aspirants. 

Mob boss: "Benny Eggs" Mangano

Trump may not be an actual mob boss, but he took the precaution of hiring Susan Necheles, a former (unsuccessful) lawyer for the Genovese crime family underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano. In Trump's trial, Necheles had the unenviable task of cross-examining Stormy Daniels, and it didn't go well. 

The Republican groupies who followed Trump into court each day included the former head of Hell's Angels; a NY criminal gang of yesteryear; the convicted NY City Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik (pardoned by his patron); the crackpot lawyer Alan Dershowitz; the health care plunderer, now Senator, Rick Scott; the theocrat House speaker Mike Johnson; the Trump-convert and Hillbilly Elegy author, Senator JD Vance; the fraud-indicted Texas AG Ken Paxton; and the Indian-American vice-presidential wannabe Vivek Ramaswamy. 

There were so many congressional sycophants that it could have cost the Republicans a close vote in the evenly-balanced House.

Speculative clues to the further adventures of NY v Trump may be found in the Spring Exam set by Cornell Law Professor Michael Dorf for his Federal Courts course.

≈   ≈   ≈

READ THE REST HEREHERE.

Guantanamo Survivors Fund... please donate today.

 

Saeed has been acquitted

 Two weeks after Saeed was found guilty of being part of some unknown terrorist organization and sentenced to three years in prison an appellate court reversed the conviction and sent him home.

Of course Saeed has no home. but that is a story for another day.

The U. N. Special Rapporteur's office has been a great help and I like to think that the fact that they are visiting with Algerian officials this week might have something to do with the quick turnaround. 

Saeed's appeal

 Usually appeals take quite long. We have learned that Saeed's appeal will be heard this week- on May 30. This is very quick. We hope that this is a good sign. Time will tell.

The "Intercept" discusses Saeed.

 Sorry for the delay in posting. Star reporter Elise Swain follows up on my client.

FORMER GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEE Saeed Bakhouch was sentenced by a court in Algeria to three years in prison on terrorism charges, Bakhouch’s lawyers told The Intercept.

The May 13 sentencing, on charges made under Algeria’s broad Article 87 anti-terror laws, which can carry the death penalty, came despite assurances from the U.S. State Department that he would be treated “appropriately” and “humanely” after being repatriated after his stint in Guantánamo.

Bakhouch was the most recent Guantánamo detainee to be transferred out of the military prison under the Biden administration, never having been charged with a crime. Bakhouch, his American lawyer Candace Gorman said, was a victim of torture at the hands of the U.S. and slowly deteriorated over his 20 years of arbitrary detention until his release in April 2023.

Read the rest here.

Fellow former Guantanamo refugee writes about Saeed

 Mansoor Adayfi was also held at Guantanamo for many years. He has been a voice for many of the men-

and he has written about Saeed and his plight at the hands of the Algerians after the U.S. State department

dropped the ball on Saeed's case and left him unprotected and imprisoned by the Algerians.

You can support Mansoor by purchasing and listening to his audible collection "letters from Guantanamo"

here.

Trauma Updated

 Shortly after Saeed was convicted of being a member of some unknown terrorist group we learned this information about the men tortured at the black sites. The bottom line is not difficult to understand- these men, like Saeed, have life time trauma from their experience. And now the Algerian government, with the help of the U.S. State department, is inflicting more trauma on Saeed.

I am learning more details of the so-called trial in Algeria and it is heart wrenching. Saeed was forced to relive his trauma and of course nothing he said was believed. 

In the end  Saeed had two good attorneys that worked hard for him. Originally I was not so impressed with his Court appointed attorney but I have learned more about that court appointed attorney and I have revised my opinion of her. 

The other attorney was an attorney who was located by an Algerian attorney in Canada. I understand he is exceptional as well.

I cannot practice law in Algeria, but I have been doing everything I can to help his attorneys. And I will continue to do so. 

But what the fuck State department? You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

Saeed's trial

 My client was convicted by the Algerian Court of terrorism today. They sentenced him to 3 years in prison and took him away. The U.S. state department is responsible for this.

Trial Day for Saeed

 

The State department. Or I guess I should say, my state department, remains incommunicado in regard to the mess it has caused my Guantanamo client. They fucked up the transfer of Saeed by not getting assurances that they are willing to enforce. And I know that if they raised the issue of the assurances the Algerians would surely back down in prosecuting Saeed.

So now Saeed, who spent more than 22 years at Guantanamo without any charges lodged against him and then another seven months in an Algerian prison with charges pending based on unfounded accusations (proved by the fact that he was never charged)  by the United States, now faces a trial today. The hypocrisy is actually staggering but then so is everything about this nightmare for my client.

I prepared an affidavit for my client’s trial since I am unable to go to Algeria for the trial. In preparing the affidavit I reviewed my cleared records (unclassified) and I was reminded just how dishonest my government has been about this man. And they knew they were being dishonest. On the eve of his Habeas Corpus hearing back in 2010 the government changed its entire theory because I was able to show the original theory was false. No problem there. Just change the facts! And the “justice” department played along. And the Judge could have cared less but it is hard to imagine.

And so now I wait to see what the Algerian court will do to my client.

The Talking Dog on a very bad 2024...

 

2024 Keeps Giving

It’s certainly been a while since I’ve posted anything. So we’ll post today, on this, what would be the 87th birthday of TD Dad of blessed memory. Of course, there’s an explanation for the long reticence, besides overall existential angst associated with a planet insanely and dangerously out of balance and, despite his “legal troubles,” the probable coming restoration of Mafia Grover Cleveland, which is of a very personal nature. Unfortunately, the Loquacious Pup is suffering from a rather serious illness, from which we have every confidence that, surrounded with unbelievably wonderful and generous friends and her loved ones and with her own resilience, she will make a full recovery, but we expect her battle with this illness to take most of the rest of 2024. Along the way, by which I mean last weekend, we lost one of our two beloved cats, who finally succumbed to his own longstanding battle with an ironically similar illness, just after his own 15th birthday. That this painful event happened during the Loquacious Pup’s illness is just part of the ongoing horror show that I’ve certainly come to associate with 2024.

From our usual beat, Candace gives us depressing news coming out of North Africa, to wit, that her longstanding client, Saeed Bakhouche of Algeria and formerly of 20 plus years at GTMO, will be put on trial on murky “terrorism” charges in Algeria this Sunday May 12th (Mothers Day in the USA, FWIW).

Read the rest here.