Anniversary message from REPRIEVE

Today is the 9th anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo Bay and marks two years since President Obama promised to close the prison and seek justice for its inmates. Yet instead of closing the prison, last Friday President Obama signed a bill blocking its closure and condemning its prisoners to indefinite detention without trial.

The 173 prisoners still trapped inside now have little hope of either trial or release after the US Congress inserted provisions into the bill that are explicitly designed to prevent even cleared prisoners from leaving.

The disastrous Defense Authorization bill includes a ban on using funds to transfer Guantánamo prisoners to the US mainland to face criminal trials, a ban on using funds to buy or build a prison on the US mainland to hold Guantánamo prisoners and a ban on the release of any prisoner cleared for release by the Obama Administration’s Guantánamo Review Task Force to countries considered dangerous by Congress.

As a result:

• 89 prisoners cleared for release by the Task Force will remain imprisoned without charge or trial;
• 58 of those cleared prisoners remain imprisoned simply because they are Yemenis, due to a moratorium on releasing any Yemen nationals;
• 31 of those cleared prisoners remain imprisoned largely because they cannot be safely repatriated due to a substantial risk of torture; for many the stain of Guantánamo would vastly increase the risk of persecution;
• 33 prisoners recommended for trials by the Task Force will, for the most part, remain imprisoned without trial.

As you can imagine, this is a very dark time for prisoners in Guantánamo. Please consider writing to someone being held there to offer your support. All the information you need to do so is on our website.

Thank you, as ever, for your support,

The Reprieve Team

As Guantanamo enters its 10th year join in the protests

*CLOSE GUANTÁNAMO WITH JUSTICE NOW*

DAY OF ACTION AGAINST TORTURE, EXTRA-LEGAL DETENTION

AT THE WHITE HOUSE AND JUSTICE DEPARTMENT,

TUESDAY, JANUARY 11

Anti-Torture activists to rally at the White House and march to the Justice Department as the prison at Guantánamo enters its 10th year; March to be led by 173 “detainees” wearing hoods and jumpsuits to represent the 173 men still held at Guantánamo.

The protest on the 11th will be followed by 10 days of fasting, lobbying,and demonstrating in Washington, D.C.

*Witness Against Torture* demands include:

- Close the prison at Guantánamo Bay;

- Free all prisoners who have been cleared for release, ensuring their safe resettlement and providing asylum in the U.S. for those unable to go elsewhere;

- Produce charges against all other prisoners and prosecute them in U.S. courts;

- Open all detention centers to outside scrutiny. That includes accepting the oversight of the International Committee of the Red Cross of all facilities; and

- Conduct a comprehensive criminal inquiry against all those who designed and carried out torture policies under the Bush administration.

Who: Witness Against Torture and co-sponsors

Event: Rally, “prisoner procession” to Department of Justice, and non-violent direct action

Date and Time: Tues, Jan. 11, beginning at 11am

Location: The White House, Washington, D.C.

Thanks for all of the good wishes....

And now we wait..........

but as we wait I will continue the musical interlude.

To Razak....

In honor of Human Rights Day- and- To Razak's Mother

Next week my remaining client at Guantanamo will have his habeas corpus hearing. He has been held without charge at Guantanamo for almost ten years.

May he soon be home with his family.

But I'm not the only one....

RIP

Wikileaks...and Guantanamo

Our heroes at Wikileaks are at it again. I expect there will be some interesting documents related to the effort to find homes for the men who cannot return to their homeland, the deals that were made and the deals that fell through....and who knows what else.

Those of us who are tired of living in a police state that monitors everyones every move are forever grateful to the men and women exposing my government's lies, corruption, and incompetence.

Special thanks also goes to the country of Ecuador for offering sanctuary and a platform for Assange.

IMAGINE THAT...THE JUSTICE SYSTEM WORKED

Today a New York jury convicted a former detainee from Guantanamo of one count of conspiracy...dismissing some 180 other counts. Does this mean our judicial system should be thrown away...for not convicting a man that was tortured and framed? Or does it mean that there is still hope for our system despite the fear mongers and those that would like to see us use military law whenever the word "terrorist" is thrown out there.... ? The jury is still out on that question and I for one will not hold my breath.

I will only say that the framers of our constitution understood quite well what happens when there is no system of justice and they worked quite hard to frame a system that insured the independence of the judiciary. Unfortunately some in our judiciary have been the worst advocates for maintaining that system as they seek "guidance" and "direction" from the politicians as to how to do their job. Shame on them....

But heartfelt thanks to the New York Jury....this was a difficult case because of all of the pressure by the pundits..... and you made those of us who care about our judicial system proud.

New Yorks own talking dog has this to say about the verdict.

For those in the Baltimore area.....

Pioneering American composer Annea Lockwood is about to present in Baltimore In Our Name, a new composition featuring poetry written by Guantanamo Bay prisoners.

Sponsored by Maryland ACLU, the concert will be held at An Die Musik on November 17 and involve Thomas Buckner, baritone, Annea Lockwood, electronics and voice, and Ted Mook, cello.

Lockwood’s In Our Name, a collaboration with Buckner, builds on excerpts of poetry written by Jumah al Dossari, Osama Abu Kabir and Emad Abdullah Hassan while incarcerated without trial at Guantanamo Bay.

For more information about the up-coming Baltimore concert, to request images or to arrange interviews with the composer or performers, contact Raymond Beegle at booking@thomasbuckner.com

Remembering....

On this veteran's day 2010 I salute the military defense lawyers representing the men at Guantanamo. Men and women who have risked their careers to ensure that the Constitution they swore to uphold...is followed.

NOT WITH A BANG....BUT A WHIMPER

Yesterday came and went and no one was indicted for destroying the videotapes that graphically showed the torture that we subjected at least three men. The statute of limitations is now up for that particular crime.

Emptywheel has more here.

Meanwhile Bush continues to brag about his role in the torture program.

what a sick country.

ARE YOU FEELING SAFER NOW?

Well the "show sentencing" is over. By making his plea deal, the kid we locked up and tortured since age 15 agreed not to contest the made up accusations against him and the "jury" gave him 40 make believe years. Of course if he contested who knows what would have happened so it was probably the safest move for him. Soooo, this unfortunate young man will spend the next year in solitary confinement (unless his attorneys were able to get that changed in the plea deal) because those are the rules of my pathetic country.....once found guilty they are locked in solitary. Then he moves on to his homeland for the rest of his seven year sentence and that becomes an issue for the Canadians. No great hope there as the Canadians wouldn't lift a finger to help their young son all these years. The best that can be hoped for is that the Canadians dump Stephen Harper and go back to being the Canadians that we all knew and loved... as the country to find sanctuary..... so far, things look as glum as ever on that score.

Meanwhile, it seems that some on my side of the boarder are thinking that sentencing based on a plea deal that requires not only an admission but an agreement not to contest really shouldn't stand......

Finally, I hope the rest of the world takes note, killing US soldiers is a war crime..

The galloping beaver has more here.

Daphne Eviatar has more here.

And Andy Worthington gives us a glimpse of the human side.

All of this leaves me wondering when my country will hit rock bottom....seems the bottom is further away than I thought.

LIES LIES LIES and more to come........

As I examine the lies in my own clients habeas case....I am reminded of

the history of lies that resulted in my clients almost 10 years of unlawful

detention....

Yes. The wrong fucking people are locked up.

Paying for his father's sins....

Another in a string of black days in this here country of mine. Today we (sorta) sentenced a young man for supposed war crimes committed while he was a child. Shame on us and shame on Canada for not coming to the rescue of its young son long ago. (every other Western nation took their citizens out of Guantanamo years ago....even the Australian Bush clone Howard....but Harper refused, even after the Canadian Supreme Court held that the country had a constitutional obligation.)

Of course there is still a chance that the jury in his case will give him a lesser sentence....the sentencing hearing continues before the military jury.

Andy Worthington has more here.

Emptywheel has more here.

The Toronto star has more here.

And let's not forget our friends at P,O and GG,E

From David Hicks' autobiography

David Hicks, aka "the Australian Taliban" has written an account of his treatment in US hands. The book is due out in another month or so ....but click on the title for a glimpse.