MORE BROKEN PROMISES

Two Years After Executive Order, Guantanamo Periodic Review Board Proceedings Yet to Begin

Washington, DC - This Thursday, March 7, marks the two-year anniversary of the President’s Executive Order governing periodic reviews of Guantanamo detainees. To mark the anniversary, Retired Rear Admiral Don Guter issued the following statement:

“The administration promised additional due process for Guantanamo detainees, but these reviews are way behind schedule. They should have started a year ago according to the president’s own executive order. By missing even self-imposed deadlines, the administration is reinforcing the notion that it has lost control over Guantanamo policy. It’s time now for the president to task a senior-level White House official with managing the policymaking process on Guantanamo issues. This official should ensure that the periodic reviews of Guantanamo detainees commence immediately, and with robust procedural safeguards. The official should also ensure that the administration uses its waiver authority to transfer those detainees that have been cleared for transfer by the Guantanamo detainee review task force.”

On March 7, 2011, President Obama signed an executive order establishing additional review procedures for Guantanamo detainees to determine if continued detention is warranted. The review procedures, consisting of an initial hearing with an interagency Periodic Review Board (PRB), were to have begun one year ago, as mandated by the executive order. However, the Obama Administration has not announced when the PRB hearings will begin or what procedures will govern the hearings.

All the while, the administration retains substantial authority to transfer 86 Guantanamo detainees who have been unanimously cleared for transfer by the interagency Guantanamo detainee review taskforce that included all the relevant security and intelligence agencies. As 15 retired generals and admirals have emphasized, congressionally-established waiver authority now allows the administration to certify many transfers that were previously prohibited by Congress.

For additional details on a practical path towards closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, see Human Rights First’s recent blueprint on How to Close Guantanamo. To speak with Guter, please contact Brenda Bowser Soder at bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org or 202-370-3323.

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OPEN LETTER FROM HABEAS COUNSEL TO COMMANDER AT GUANTANAMO

March 4, 2013

Rear Admiral John W. Smith, Jr
Commander,  Joint Task Force Guantánamo
U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay,

Cuba Captain Thomas J. Welsh, JAGC,
 USN Staff Judge Advocate,
Joint Task Force Guantánamo
U.S. Naval Station at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba

 Dear Sirs:

 We, the undersigned, represent men imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay and write this letter on behalf of habeas counsel about a matter that appears to be rapidly deteriorating and reaching a potentially critical level. We understand through reports by several detainees to their counsel that conditions in the camps have worsened to the point that all but a few men have now gone on a hunger strike in protest.
 Specifically, we understand that since approximately February 6, 2013, camp authorities have been confiscating detainees’ personal items, including blankets, sheets, towels, mats, razors, toothbrushes, books, family photos, religious CDs, and letters, including legal mail; and restricting their exercise, seemingly without provocation or cause. Moreover, we understand that Arabic interpreters employed by the prison have been searching the men’s Qur’ans in ways that constitute desecration according to their religious beliefs, and that guards have been disrespectful during prayer times. These actions, and the fact that they have affected so many men, indicate a significant departure from the way in which the rules have been formulated and implemented over the past few years.
 As a result of these practices, we understand that the men are suffering greatly and that a large number have gone on a hunger strike, which is now in its third week. As their health has deteriorated, we have received reports of men coughing up blood, being hospitalized, losing consciousness, becoming weak and fatigued, and being moved to Camp V for observation. Detainees have also expressed feeling increased stress, fear, and despair. It is clear that their health will only worsen unless and until the hunger strike ends, which requires taking immediate steps to address the reasons for their protest.
 The actions taken by camp authorities cannot be evaluated in isolation. As you are well aware, prior instances of mistreatment, including mistreatment of the Qu’ran, have led to protests, including widespread hunger strikes that have placed the prisoners’ lives and health in jeopardy. The practices occurring today threaten to turn back the clock to the worst moments of Guantánamo’s history, and return the prison to conditions that caused great suffering to our clients and were condemned by the public at large. If prior experience serves as any guide, the current practices risk dire consequences and will only invite outside scrutiny.
 The current situation has also affected and will continue to affect our access to our clients and our ability to effectively represent them, since the hunger strike has already prevented some of them from taking our calls, meeting with us, and being able to participate fully when we are able to speak with them about their cases.
 Accordingly, we write to request that you take immediate measures to bring an end this potentially life-threatening situation in the camps by addressing the reasons that give rise to it. Camp authorities must cease the arbitrary and regressive practices being reported by our clients, including all intrusive searches of the Qur’an.
 Given the urgency of this matter, we request a response to this letter, including steps the authorities are taking to address the situation, no later than Wednesday, March 6, 2013, care of Pardiss Kebriaei at the Center for Constitutional Rights by electronic mail, fax, or telephone. Further, we request that you meet with habeas counsel David Remes, who will be at Guantánamo on Monday, March 4, to discuss the matter in person.
 We hope this matter can be resolved quickly and cooperatively. We reserve the right to take further action should we not reach a mutually acceptable solution. Please contact us if we can provide you with further information. We look forward to hearing from you by March 6.

 Sincerely1,

1 Center for Constitutional Rights
Contact: Pardiss Kebriaeil
David Remes
Carrie Baker Anderson
Jerry Cohen
Sarah Cox
Stewart Eisenberg
Ramzi Kassem
Ranjana Natarajan
Cindy Panuco
Martha Rayner
Anne Richardson
Erin Thomas
Carlos Warner
Gordon S. Woodward

 cc: Andrew I. Warden, Esq.,
 U.S. Department of Justice

 1 The signatories below act on behalf of most habeas counsel representing men detained at Guantánamo. 2

HUNGER STRIKE AT THE BASE- THE MEN DEMAND RESPECT-

Many of you have read about the abuses at the military commissions which has included listening in on lawyer/client communications, confiscating and reading legal mail, searching the men’s private papers and searching their Quran’s (ostensibly for notes).  What has not made the news is that the other men being held at Guantanamo have been subjected to similar conduct. Muslim interpreters are searching the men's Quran’s  along with their personal papers and the military has confiscated their letters and pictures from their families as well as their legal mail. The military claims it is searching for notes that it believes are being passed in the Quran. According to reports from some of the men this caused a large riot in the "Gulf" block in February and now all of the men except a few with medical problems are on a hunger strike that is now in its 4th week. Keeping with its policy of secrecy the military has denied there was a riot and refuses to acknowledge that the hunger strike involves nearly all of the men at the base- while at the same time the men are getting weaker and being moved to the hospital....

The men at Guantanamo have provided two demands to the military before they will end their hunger strike:

 1. The right to voluntarily surrender the Quran under these conditions- the men would rather surrender their Quran’s than to be a party to the desecration by keeping it. (That will end the strike immediately);

2. Provide the Quran on an Ereader (this would ensure there are no notes being passed in the Quran and will allow the men to have the Quran without fear of it being desecrated).

TO DATE THE MILITARY REFUSES TO NEGOTIATE WITH THE MEN.

Read more about this here.

From Roger Fitch and our Friends down under at Justinian

Perfidy in peacetime

ROGER FITCH ESQ • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2013

The United States doesn't require a war for there to be "war crimes ... Stopping the "water cure" from flowing into the trial process ... European Court of Human Rights upsets the CIA's apple cart ... Roger Fitch files from Washington 

Judge Pohl: obligingly kept torture evidence secretTHE news media have concentrated this month on the Guantánamo 9/11 trial, where, in a moment of high farce, the sound and pictures under the delayed-response security systemabruptly vanished despite no one claiming responsibility. 

As soon as a defence lawyer mentioned his motion to preserve CIA "black sites" (they are crime scenes, after all), someone pulled the plug, and it wasn't the judge or official court censor. 

Whodunnit? The judge didn't know, but the prosecution did.

Could it be their mates at the CIA?

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST.....

And if you believe this one I have a bridge for sale......

Yes, the military at Guantanamo admits it has microphones in the meeting rooms where attorneys meet with their clients- but they claim they don't listen. Really??
Oh yeah, and they realized that the microphones were not working so they fixed them....but they still were not listening....
Really??
That sure is showing a lot of self control isn't it? And of course we know our military and its friends in the CIA exercise a lot of self control.
Many of us have long suspected that our meetings were being listened to by the military despite the fact that there was a court order demanding that they not listen- especially when our clients were questioned about things that came up in our meetings after we left- but the military always denied they were listening and of course the judges did not believe that the military would lie to them.....sigh.
Carol Rosenberg has more here.

Bybee- Bush's torture drafter- rules on torture in his position of appellate judge

Well I am sure this will not surprise anyone who has a clue who Bybee is- one of the drafters of the Bush torture papers who was then promoted to be a judge on the 9th circuit court of appeals. Well anyway Judge Bybee finally got a chance to rule on torture in a case in front of him- and guess what- Bybee did not think that being "chained at the ankles and the waist, shackled to a metal bed without a mattress, and forced to lie down and lap his meals from a bowl without using his hands. He said the cell was kept hot, poorly ventilated and in constant bright light. He tried to sleep when he could but felt his mind “deteriorating,” and the conditions “did in fact torture (him) mentally.”   amounted to torture...
But just in case someone else might think it did amount to torture Bybee also held (coincidentally) that since this conduct happened back in 2002 (right around when he was writing the torture memos) no one could have known that conduct like this would be considered  unconstitutional because the law had not been clearly established way back then-that torture was unconstitutional.

I would also suggest that Bybee had a conflict of interest in even ruling on this case as his decision could be seen as an attempt to buttress his own defense in the ongoing attempts to have him removed from the bench-his defense has been "I didn't know this kind of conduct was unconstitutional."

read the decision here

THE GUANTANAMO OFFICE IS NOW CLOSED

In other news- Obama finally closed something having to do with Guantanamo- the office in charge of resettling the men...sigh.
you can skip the ad by clicking up on the right hand side- this video from Colbert hits the nail on the head-http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/423309/january-29-2013/guantanamo-bay-office-closure

THE PUPPET SHOW CONTINUES ---

This week we all were able to see first hand who controls things at the Guantanamo "commission trials." Ok, we couldn't actually see who it was but we know it is not the judge right? In case you managed to miss this story a secret hand pushed a button censoring the hearing-and the censor was not someone in the courtroom- the judge was a bit pissed off that someone was controlling things from the outside and he claims to have eliminated  the secret censor but it seems to me that if he doesn't know who the censor is it is pretty hard to eliminate it....anyway the judge should know he is not in charge -I mean where does he think he is anyway- the US?

events on the twelfth anniversary

From Andy Worthington- click here...

From the Yemen Times- click here...

From Firedoglak--click here

From Daphne Eviatar (Huffingtonpost) --click here

From Carol Rosenberger (Miami Herald) --click here

I know I am probably missing some others....

Yes folks- Guantanamo is still open!

January 9th, 2013 8:02 PM

Guantanmo Is Still Open

By Candace Gorman

Hey folks -- Guantanamo is still open. My client and 166 other men are now entering their twelfth year of being held without charge or trial and there is no end in sight for their plight.

Is someone to blame for this?

Could it be Barack that is to blame? This New Year’s Eve seems to have been a big day for Barack Obama. As he signed the latest version of the National Defense Authorization Act -- the NDAA -- keeping Guantanamo, for all intents and purposes, open for another year -- he issued a “signing statement” -- the way George Dubya Bush used to do quite often -- but in this signing statement, the president lamented about how his hands are tied in closing Guantanamo. But of course he went ahead and signed the NDAA anyway, tying his own hands (and allowing him to tie ours, or detain us, or if necessary in his opinion, presumably torture or kill us) and then he flew back to Hawaii to finish his vacation. So certainly Barack cannot be to blame, right? After all, his hands are tied!

READ THE REST ON MICHAEL MOORE'S WEBPAGE.

WE ARE SO UP THE CREEK.....

(that is US slang -write if you need an explanation....)

It seems that a (former?) FBI man has been held hostage by someone since 2007. His family did not go public in hopes that my government (his government) would help him. Alas that never happened and the family finally went public....and there is good reason why my government has not done a god damn thing- and it has nothing to do with the unfortunate Robert Levinson....it has to do with my government...
Seems the people holding poor Mr. Levinson have been using him to make a point about my country's illegal and unconscionable jail at Guantanamo and my government didn't want to deal with that embarrassment.....

"The photos, for example, portray Levinson in an orange jumpsuit like those worn by detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay. The family received them via email in April 2011. In each photo, he held a sign bearing a different message.

"I am here in Guantanamo," one said. "Do you know where it is?"

Another read, "This is the result of 30 years serving for USA."

I am so very sorry for  Mr. Levinson. My country is completely dysfunctional and unwilling to admit its mistakes in operating this illegal prison and now we have others mimicking the prison.....what a shock!
I can only hope his captives will let him go- recognizing that so many of us here in the US have been trying to free the men at Guantanamo and holding this unfortunate man will not help those men.
Read more about this here.

The New American Justice

Another federal judge today confirmed that we (the attorney's for men held at Guantanamo) cannot see documentation that is classified at a higher classification level than the level awarded to us even if the information could be important for our clients freedom....sigh.

The doors of the courthouse keep shutting tighter and tighter....

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2013/01/judge-government-can-rely-on-top-secret-information-in-gitmo-case.html

another sorry anniversary

Friday starts year twelve for the 166 men still held at Guantanamo. Find a protest near you and make yourself heard. If you are in the DC area head to the white house and join the hunger strikers-let that miserable president of ours know that some in the country still do care about the rule of law.

Sorry Men.....

But the president has decided again this year that it just isn't that important to deal with those of you being held without charge or trial at our gulag at Guantanamo Bay- -
although he does profess to be unhappy with his decision .... and he shows his unhappiness by cloning GW and giving a signing statement....
what a wimp...
Speaking of wimps....now that Jeh Johnson has left the post of general counsel for the military he is announcing that the war with al-Qaeda must end and the transfer restrictions on the men at Guantanamo in the NDAA must end... (note that you have to work through the discussion about how we treated prisoners in world war 11 to get to the gitmo part in the link- its about 5 minutes in...)
thanks for your bravery and courage mr. Johnson in holding off on discussing these important issues until after you left office.

In a similar...but different vein...UPDATED

The senate yesterday confirmed once again the laws allowing all of us to be spied on all the time without warrant...because the threat of terrorism is so great that we must give up our civil liberties...
Emptywheel has more here.