Day 150: Gitmo hunger strike continues amidst world's outrage

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Guantanamo North: Abolish Secret Certificates and Secret Trials Immediately

Dees Illustration

Isabelle Beenen

How would you feel if one of your friends, family members, children or spouse were thrown into prison, indefinitely, WITHOUT ANY CHARGES here in Canada of all places? Did you know that that goes on here? I’m sorry to burst your bubble if you didn’t, but you need to know that this has been the case in our country since 1979!

After the events of 9/11, the Canadian government rolled in something called ‘Secret’ Certificates and ‘Secret’ Trials which in so-called ‘political’ logic allowed the following UN-constitutional, UN-democratic, racist policy to slip through under our very noses.

Those detained under security certificates are:

Obama's War Speech Interrupted by Peace Activist

Peace activist Medea Benjamin of Code Pink heckled Obama during his anticipated foreign policy speech today. As he was trying to pass the buck for closing Guantanamo to Congress, Benjamin shouts "You're Commander in Chief, you can close Guantanamo."  Watch the exchange below:

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Top US senator urges Guantanamo for Iraqi suspects

Gautanamo Bay Camp VI
© AFP/File Virginie Montet

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Senate's top Republican, Mitch McConnell, called Tuesday for two Iraqi nationals facing terrorism charges in his home state to be shipped to the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention facility.

"Get these men out of Kentucky. Send them to Guantanamo where they belong. Get these terrorists out of the civilian system and out of our backyards and give them the justice they deserve," said the Republican minority leader.

Waad Ramadan Alwan and his cousin Mohanad Shareef Hammadi have pleaded not guilty to 23 terrorism charges, but could face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Bin Laden kill does not change Gitmo plans: US

The US detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
© AFP/POOL/File Brennan Linsley

AFP

PARIS (AFP) - The success of the operation to kill Osama bin Laden has not changed US President Barack Obama's plan to eventually close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday.

Some opposition figures in the United States have argued that last week's commando strike was only possible thanks to clues gleaned by interrogating suspected Al Qaeda members at the US detention centre on Cuba.

But, speaking to reporters in Paris, Holder said: "It is still the intention of the president, it is still my intention, to close the facility at Guantanamo, and we will continue our efforts in that regard.

WikiLeaks highlights 'original sin' of Guantanamo

© AFP/DPA Karl-Josef Hildenbrand

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Innocent bystanders locked up for no reason, Al-Qaeda militants released to commit new atrocities: WikiLeaks has poured light on the "original sin" of Guantanamo, activists and experts say.

Documents released by the whistleblowing website show a system riddled with errors and botched assessments that have helped lead floundering efforts to shutter the facility on the southern tip of Cuba into a legal quagmire.

"These documents are remarkable because they show just how questionable the government's basis has been for detaining hundreds of people, in some cases indefinitely, at Guantanamo," the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said.

US seeks Guantanamo trial for USS Cole suspect

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba
© AFP/File Michelle Shephard

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US military prosecutor is recommending the prime suspect in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole be tried at Guantanamo in what would be the first military tribunal under the Obama administration, the Pentagon said Wednesday.

"Military commissions prosecutors have sworn charges against Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri of Saudi Arabia," the Defense Department said in a statement.

The trial, in which the prosecutors were recommending the death penalty, would be the first since President Barack Obama announced in March that military tribunals could be used at Guantanamo, in a reversal from his 2009 freeze of such trials at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Supreme Court rejects Guantanamo appeals

© AFP

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US Supreme Court on Monday rejected three appeals by Guantanamo detainees protesting their indefinite detention.

The highest US court did not decide three other appeals, including one filed by ethnic Uighur Chinese Muslims who were arrested in error in Afghanistan in 2001, and are still being held at the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The three appeals denied had asserted that the inmates' rights to challenge their detention had been violated and maintained that the indefinite detentions violated international rights law.

© AFP -- Published at Activist Post with license

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Obama Approves Indefinite Detention Without Trial

Restart of Military Tribunal System Announced

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Jason Ditz
AntiWar

President Obama today signed an executive order that will formalize the indefinite extralegal detention of terror suspects without charges as a permanent aspect of American life, while announcing that he intends to use this on detainees “who continue to pose a significant threat to national security” but against whom there is insufficient evidence to actually charge them with any crime.

The move came as the administration also ended a two year halt on new military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay, allowing the administration to avoid actual real courts and instead use stacked military tribunals in those cases where they have at least some evidence and feel comfortable with proceding to something resembling a trial.

But this will likely be the exception rather than the rule, and the administration seems likely to pursue even tribunals unless it is confident of success, and the executive order will allow them to be selective in even attempting to charge detainees, in that it is no longer at all essential to keeping them in prison for the rest of their lives.

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Obama to Lift Freeze on Guantanamo Trials

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Obama to lift freeze on new Guantanamo trials

Guantanamo Bay prison at Camp Delta in Cuba
© AFP/File Paul J. Richards

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama said Monday he would lift the two-year freeze on new military trials for Guantanamo Bay terror suspects and issued new guidelines on the treatment of those held indefinitely.

Obama, who has been thwarted in his desire to close the camp in Cuba which he calls a recruiting tool for Al-Qaeda, issued the long-awaited decision after a sweeping review of administration policy.

The White House made clear that despite permitting new trials at the camp, it remained committed to using federal courts to try some suitable suspects and vowed to complete the "difficult challenge" of closing Guantanamo Bay.

"I am announcing several steps that broaden our ability to bring terrorists to justice, provide oversight for our actions and ensure the humane treatment of detainees," Obama said in a statement.


The White House said Defense Secretary Robert Gates would soon issue an order "rescinding his prior suspension on the swearing and referring of new charges in the military commissions."

New military trials at the camp -- which contains top suspects from the September 11 attacks and other strikes against the United States, as well as prisoners from the battlefields of Afghanistan -- have been suspended since January 2009.

Obama also issued guidelines on the treatment of inmates who US authorities deem cannot be tried due to concerns about the admissibility of evidence obtained under duress, or who are are deemed too dangerous to free.

In an executive order, he ruled that among other requirements, detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their continued incarceration.

But Obama also reserved the right to try some detainees in federal courts, a process in which he has been blocked by members of Congress opposed to bringing terror suspects to the US mainland for legal proceedings.

Monday's actions represented the Obama administration's latest bid to navigate the thicket of legal problems left over from the previous Bush administration's "war on terror" policies.

In one of his first acts as president in 2009, Obama halted trials at Guantanamo Bay and announced he planned to close the controversial camp within a year.

 

But he has been thwarted in his ambition by the task of finding a new structure to deal with suspects deemed to be at war with the United States and opposition from friends and foes on Capitol Hill.

The White House said it was allowing the special trials to resume after enacting key reforms, such as a ban on the use of statements taken under "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment."

It said it has also adopted a better system for handling classified information that made military commissions an "available and important tool in combating international terrorists."

The executive order was designed to ensure that those inmates detained indefinitely without trial are only kept behind bars when it was "lawful and necessary" to do so, the White House said.

Detainees will be given notice of a pending periodic review on their case and receive information on the factors under consideration to determine their fate.

Should it be decided that a detainee no longer poses a threat to the United States, US government agencies will seek to identify a suitable transfer location -- but no detainees will be released on US soil.

In the White House fact sheet, the administration also thanked those countries that have agreed to take inmates at Guantanamo Bay.

"Our friends and allies should know that we remain determined in our efforts and that, with their continued assistance, we intend to complete the difficult challenge of closing Guantanamo," it said.

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Republicans seek tougher Guantanamo rules

© AFP/File Paul J. Richards

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama's Republican foes unveiled legislation  to toughen rules on the detention and trials of suspected extremists held at the notorious Guantanamo Bay prison.

The move came one day after Obama by presidential order lifted a ban on new military trials for detainees held at the US naval base in Cuba, apparently conceding the facility he has vowed to close will not be emptied anytime soon.

House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon, who led the effort, cited "serious concerns" about Obama's decree that detainees would have the right to a periodic review of the reasons for their continued detention.


The Republican bill would deny detainees access to legal counsel for such reviews, and stipulates that a decision on whether to transfer or release a detainee must be tied to the threat individual is seen to pose to US interests as well as the particular country to which they could be sent.

The measure also permanently forbids the transfer to US soil of all individuals held now or in the future based on the 2001 congressional authorization to use military force against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

And it prohibits the transfer or release of those held at Guantanamo Bay or Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan unless the US defense secretary certifies that the host country meets certain security criteria.

It also would bar the transfer or release of detainees to any country where there has been a confirmed case of detainee recidivism unless the defense secretary certifies that the transfer is in the US national security interest.

The Republican plan puts the defense secretary, rather than the US attorney general, in charge of deciding whether to keep a detainee in military custody.

"America needs and deserves a careful and comprehensive plan dealing with law of war detention for terrorists," McKeon said in a statement outlining the legislation.

The proposal would also forbid relatives of detainees from visiting them at Guantanamo, and would block funding for building any facilities on US soil to house Guantanamo detainees.

And where military jurors had to accept a plea of guilty to a capital offense, a judge will now do so, while the jury members will only vote to approve the death sentence at the end of the sentencing phase, officials said.

Veteran US Senator John McCain, the top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was to unveil companion legislation on Thursday, joined by four fellow Republicans and independent Senator Joe Lieberman.

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Guantanamo one of world's 'finest' prison: Rumsfeld

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The "war on terror" prison at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba is "one of the finest prison systems in the world," former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday.

Rumsfeld, who is promoting his autobiography titled "Known and Unknown," praised US military personnel that worked at the site in the interview on FOX News Channel’s Hannity show.

Rumsfeld was defense secretary 2001-2006 under former president George W. Bush. He was replaced as defense secretary by Robert Gates.


"The heart-breaking thing with respect to Guantanamo is not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s one of the finest prison systems in the world," said Rumsfeld.

"What’s awkward is the fact that, for whatever reason, the administration was incapable of persuading people that that was a first-class operation, that they were not torturing people, that they were not hurting people," he said.

Rumsfeld described it as "a fine operation," and said US military personnel working there have "taken a lot of the heat unfairly" and "deserve a lot of credit" for their work.

Rumsfeld was also critical of President Barack Obama's attempt to close the site.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, Obama "was critical of indefinite detention for unlawful combatants. He was critical of military commissions," he said.

"And here we are ... two-plus years later, and all of those things are there. Not because anyone wants them to be there, but because they were the best solutions."

The Guantanamo prison opened in January 2002 to hold prisoners captured in Afghanistan and swept up elsewhere in the US "war on terror."

Upon taking office in January 2009, Obama promised to close the prison in one year, but has not found a place to move the inmates and the US Congress has banned the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to US soil.

There are currently 173 inmates at the Guantanamo prison, of which only three have been convicted after a trial.
© AFP

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Guantánamo detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani cleared of 284 terror charges

Setback for Obama as first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in civilian court is convicted on just one of 285 charges

Chris McGreal
Guardian

Barack Obama's plans to try accused terrorists in civilian courts experienced a major setback last night when the first former Guantánamo detainee to be tried in one was convicted on just one of 285 charges over the 1998 attack on US embassies in East Africa which killed 224 people.

Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a 36-year-old Tanzanian, was found guilty of conspiracy to destroy US government buildings and property for helping an al-Qaida cell to buy a lorry and bomb parts in the attacks on the American embassies in Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam. But a US federal jury acquitted him of all the more serious charges of murder and conspiracy.


Ghailani faces 20 years to life in prison when he is sentenced in January. He had already been told that even if he was acquitted on all counts he would not be freed so long as America remains "at war" with al-Qaida.

However, the verdict is an embarrassment for US prosecutors who maintained that Ghailani played an important logistical role in the attacks but were unable to persuade a jury which showed signs of serious disagreement during deliberations, with one juror asking to be excused because of differences with other jurors. The judge, Lewis Kaplan, refused.

The failure to convict Ghailani on the more serious charges is also a blow to Obama's attempts to persuade a sceptical Congress and security establishment that civilian trials are better than the widely condemned military tribunals held at the Guantánamo detention centre. The trial was considered a test run.

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Jury asked to 'send a message' in Guantanamo

Omar Khadr
Janet Hamlin/Pool/CBC

Ben Fox

Associated Press

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — A prosecutor urged a military jury to send a message to the world Saturday with a 25-year sentence for a former teenage al-Qaida fighter convicted of war crimes – but it would be largely symbolic since a plea deal limits the time the last Westerner at Guantanamo would spend behind bars.

Canadian Omar Khadr, who was 15 when captured in Afghanistan in 2002, does not deserve special consideration because of his age or the radicalism of his father, prosecutor Jeff Groharing told jurors at a hilltop courtroom encircled by razor wire at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Nor should Khadr, now a lanky and bearded 24-year-old, be treated like just another soldier who threw a grenade that mortally wounded a U.S. special forces medic during a four-hour firefight, Groharing told the panel. Al-Qaida does not represent a country and ignores internationally accepted principles of war, he said.

"Omar Khadr is a terrorist and murderer who killed Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer and attempted to murder countless others," he said. "The accused has caused tremendous pain and suffering for which he should be punished severely."

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Court: NSA can keep mum if it wiretapped Gitmo lawyers

Supreme Court says NSA doesn't have to say whether it has warrantless wiretapping records  

Associated Press  

The Supreme Court won't make the super-secret National Security Agency divulge whether it has records of the warrantless wiretapping it did of lawyers representing Guantanamo Bay inmates.

The court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from detainee lawyer Thomas B. Wilner.

Wilner and other detainee lawyers filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the NSA asking whether it has warrantless wiretapping records on them. But the NSA won't say whether it does or does not, saying that revealing this information would endanger national security.

Federal courts have agreed with the NSA, saying that the FOIA does not require the divulgence of sensitive national security information. 

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