Rare admission from my government...

 The military has now admitted that the Moroccan man that was held at Guantanamo for 13 years was held based on "unreliable evidence." The man was released last month and is now being held by the Moroccan government while they do an investigation into his "crimes."
Read more here.....
Even with that news the Moroccan government is still holding the former Guantanamo detainee.
Read the latest from Morocco here.

And here's to Canada.... hoping you become a nice country again.

Will Obama have the GUTS to actually Veto the Pentagon Budget this time around....

Every year the republicans stick language in the pentagon budget that makes it difficult (but not impossible) for Obama to close Guantanamo.... and every year Obama threatens to veto the budget but then he never does....
He is threatening a veto again. Will he do it?
Read more about my wimpy president here.

What is wimpy? : a weak person who lacks confidence, courage, etc.

CIA vs. High School Students.... UPDATED

I don't know which is funnier-- that the head of the CIA had an AOL account (for those unfamiliar with AOL it was one of the biggest email subscriptions services when email first became a thing--and now the only people to continue to use AOL are primarily old and low-tech) or that high school students hacked into his account.
Anyway you can read about it here.

Emptywheel has more here.

The so-called "queen" of Torture....

"A German human rights group has filed a criminal complaint against Alfreda Frances Bikowsky, a CIA official who allegedly authorized torture of suspected al Qaeda militants. The complaint, submitted in federal court on Monday, presents proof of Bikowsky’s involvement in the torture of German citizen Khaled El Masri and asks that she be prosecuted in Germany. It also puts Bikowsky, nicknamed the “Queen of Torture,” in the spotlight of European efforts to hold CIA officials accountable for allegations of abuse."

Read the rest here.

Waterboarding by a different name...

That CIA- they are so clever.... they have claimed that they only waterboarded three prisoners. I don't know or care if that is the number because 1 is too many. However, now it turns out they "water doused" many more men--a technique akin to waterboarding and which of course is also torture. Add that to the men that they dry boarded and I think it is fair to say that the CIA (with of course the help of psychologists) ran a torture campaign that was forever changing. That of course makes it easier for the CIA and friends to claim small numbers for each technique.
By any other name it is still torture.
Read more here.

trying for accountability

Two former detainees have sued the psychologists who coordinated and oversaw their torture.... I can't help but wonder how these two war criminals will get off the hook but somehow I think they will....
Read more here. And here. and.... here.

Another Forever Detainee Cleared for Release....UPDATED

Today it was announced that the "periodic" review board  (PRB) cleared Mohammed Kamin (ISN 1045 from Afghanistan).

The prison population remains at 114: 54 are cleared, 50 are awaiting clearance, and 10 are in the military commission system (of those, 7 are in “active” “trial” proceedings while 3 have been “convicted”).

Of the 54 cleared, 43 (79.6%) are Yemenis and 11 are non-Yemenis.

Of the 50 awaiting clearance, 24 are Yemenis and 26 are non-Yemenis.

The PRB has now approved for transfer 14 of the 16 detainees for whom it has issued decisions.  Five detainees are officially in the PRB process and awaiting their first hearing or decision.  43 detainees are PRB-eligible but have not yet officially begun the process.  (For these purposes, a detainee is “officially in the PRB process” when he shows up on the PRB web page tracking individual detainees’ proceedings.)

H/O to Brian Foster for pulling together the numbers....

MORE INFO IN THIS REPORT.

Algerian detainee seeks relief from Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

   Djamel Ameziane was held at guantanamo for 12 years without charge before he was finally returned to his homeland in Algeria. Mr. Ameziane cannot find a job- no one will hire him because of the stigma of being held at Guantanamo for all of those years. Now he is asking the InterAmerican commission for help. Read more here and here.
You can read his petition here.

An Interiview with Mohammed el Gharani- from Guantanamo Speaks....

Guantanamo Speaks

Former Prisoner defies ban on Guantanamo detainees coming to the US by virtually appearing. Read the rest here and if you are in NY and not rained out try to attend this amazing piece of art and humanity. Unfortunately I couldn't get the entire picture on here so click on the link.

Clive Stafford Smith on Shaker Aamer...

"There is one matter that is beyond all doubt: various members of the US military and the UK intelligence services will start briefing against Aamer. They will do this because they know they have done him wrong, and they hate him for it. They feel a very human urge to prove that they were justified and, in their distorted morality, that can only be true if he is a very, very bad man indeed.

They always do this. In 2009, when Binyam Mohamed was released from Guantánamo, someone at the Pentagon leaked to the BBC a classified copy of the confession tortured out of him. Binyam had been sent to Morocco where a razor blade was taken to his penis every fortnight for 18 months. Naturally he told them what they wanted to hear. To the credit of the BBC – and in compliance with the UN convention against torture – ultimately the corporation decided not to defame Binyam with this statement."

Read the whole opinion piece here.

And the talking dog has long been writing about Shaker and has hosted Andy Worthington on his trips to the U.S. over the years as he came to our country to remind the American people not only of the illegality of Guantanamo but also to advocate for the release of his countryman --shaker Aamer. Read what he has to say here.

DC Circuit grants en banc in al Bahlul.....

As Steve Vladeck reported-- on Friday, the D.C. Circuit granted rehearing en banc in al Bahlul v. United States, the constitutional challenge to the Guantánamo military commissions’ authority to try domestic offenses in the military commission. In the process, the Court of Appeals vacated its major June 2015 ruling (which had held that such jurisdiction violates Article III), and set the whole matter for new briefing and argument — the latter scheduled for December 1, 2015.

Read the rest here.

Detainee Released To Morrocco faces Torture...

And the documents to prove he is innocent of any terror related activity is held as classified by my government.... This is a potential problem for many of our remaining clients and my government has thus far refused to unclassify the documents.
Read more here.

WE STAND WITH SHAKER