NEWS:
Guantánamo Bay:
At the beginning of May, the Yemeni government
announced a presidential decree that it would look into building a rehabilitation
centre to accommodate prisoners returned to the country from Guantánamo Bay.
This move could speed up the repatriation of Yemeni prisoners who make up the
largest single nationality (70+) as well as the largest number of prisoners
cleared for release (57). Some lawyers for the Yemeni prisoners have expressed
concerns that this effectively means only further imprisonment – without charge
– upon return to the country and not actual release, as well as continuing
surveillance at the behest of the US. Last year, Barack Obama lifted a
moratorium he imposed in 2010 preventing the return of Yemeni prisoners to the
country, but none have been released since. No reasons have been given for the
failure to release these innocent men over the past year.
In the meantime, the prisoner status review panel has cleared another
Yemeni prisoner for release. 35-year old Ghaleb Nassar al Bihani was cleared
for eventual release and recommended for resettlement in a third country rather
than Yemen; he does not wish to return to the country, although he would accept
repatriation there. He is known to be in poor health. His lawyer later stated
that “the security and other agencies on the board rightly determined that his
continued detention of more than 12 years is unnecessary." This brings the
number of prisoners held but cleared for release to 79 out of a total of 154.
Earlier in May, another prisoner, Saudi Mohammed
al-Shimrani, refused to attend his review panel hearing due to the intrusive
physical body search he would have to be subject to in order to do so. He
described the search as “humiliating and degrading”.
Uruguayan President José Mujica has stated that
his country will accept 6 Guantánamo prisoners who have been cleared for
release but cannot return home for their own safety or do not have homes to
return to: they are 4 Syrians, a Palestinian and a Tunisian. He met the US president
during a visit to the country. Mujica has asked the US to move fast – all the
men have been long cleared for release – but the US has responded only that it will
consider the request. Uruguay has insisted it will treat the men as ordinary
refugees whereas the US may demand security assurances, as it does with other
states.
The Guantánamo hunger strike is currently in
its 15th month. Although the US military stopped providing
statistics on hunger strikers long ago, at least 17 prisoners are reported to
still be involved and are being force-fed against their will.
Prisoners brought a court case to prevent the
military authorities from destroying newly-discovered videos of force-feeding
procedures, as part of a lawsuit to stop the military from force-feeding the
prisoners altogether. The prisoners won the case and the judge ordered hundreds
of such videos to be preserved. Further
filings in the case after the judge made this ruling revealed that one prisoner,
Pakistani Ahmed Rabbani, contracted a chest infection due to the incorrect
insertion of the tube on many occasions leading him to cough up blood.
On 16 May, one hunger-striking
prisoner won a very temporary relief when a federal judge ordered that
military authorities do not tube-feed Syrian prisoner Abu Wa’el Dhiab or remove
him from his cell for this purpose until a hearing the following Wednesday
(when the above ruling on the videos was made). However, a week later, the same
judge reluctantly removed the order, even though it causes the prisoner “agony”,
due to the risk that he could die, as he would still refuse food. She
criticised the military’s actions “"Thanks to the
intransigence of the Department of Defense, Mr Dhiab may well suffer
unnecessary pain from certain enteral feeding practices and forcible cell
extractions. However, the Court simply cannot let Mr Dhiab die."” Abu Wa’el Dhiab, who was cleared for
release in 2009, will continue to be force-fed until further progress is made in
the case.
The trial in the case of Abd Al-Nashiri,
accused of attacks against US military vessels in Yemen in the early 2000s, for
which he faces the death penalty, is unlikely to start until February 2015,
having been set back further by the judge. Preliminary procedural issues
continue to be argued in pre-trial hearings that continued this month. One of
the main reasons for the latest delay is an order by the Guantánamo military judge
last month ordering the military to hand over full details – names, places,
dates – of what happened to Nashiri in the four years between 2002 and 2006
when he was kidnapped in the UAE and “disappeared” into the CIA’s network of
illegal torture prisons over 3 continents. This is currently the subject of
cases before the European Court of Human Rights. In spite of the judge’s order,
the prosecution is refusing to hand over this information as it argues that the
judge does not have the power to force the disclosure of such government
information. This was one of the issues brought up at this month’s pre-trial
hearings.
The wife of the US military officer former Canadian
Guantánamo child prisoner Omar Khadr is alleged to have killed and a US soldier
he is alleged to have injured have filed a case against him in a Utah court
seeking damages of over $45 million. The case has yet to be accepted by the
court, but if admitted, could prove highly problematic for both the US and
Canadian authorities with Khadr’s on-going cases in Canada and appeal of his
conviction in the US, in addition to asking the court to accept evidence
acquired through the use of torture. Omar Khadr’s lawyers have said that they
have not been formally informed of any case.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2639821/Blinded-soldier-widow-sue-former-Gitmo-prisoner.html
Extraordinary Rendition
On 14 May, 10 Pakistani prisoners were released to Pakistan from Bagram
Prison in Afghanistan, where some had been held for a decade without charge or
trial. The released men include Yunus Rahmatullah, who was “rendered” to the US
military by British soldiers in Iraq in 2004, when he visited the country for a
religious pilgrimage. The men “disappeared” upon return to Pakistan and their
lawyers brought a court case to force the government to admit they had been
detained. They remain in detention and will soon meet their families and
lawyers. Other Pakistani prisoners released at the end of last year had charges
pressed against them after return to the country and face trial, even though
the US deemed them innocent when it released them from Bagram.
LGC Activities:
The May “Shut
Guantánamo!” demonstration was attended by 4 people. The June
demonstration will be
at the regular time of 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside
Speaker’s Corner, Marble Arch on Thursday 5th June: https://www.facebook.com/events/1510888775798741/
Over 70 people joined
a lunchtime protest we held in Trafalgar Square on 23 May as part of a Global
Day of Action to Close Guantánamo, marking the anniversary of Barack Obama’s latest major pledge to close Guantánamo Bay. Protesters held up
placards stating “Not another day in Guantánamo” and an inflatable Shaker Aamer
drew awareness to the plight of the last British resident held there. The LGC
thanks everyone who joined us for a successful action that was well received by
the public. Here is our report of the action in London with pictures, links to
other media on the event and our letter published in The Guardian
newspaper on the day:
The London action was
one of over 40 actions worldwide in 7 different countries: Australia, Canada,
Poland, Mexico, Germany, the US and the UK. Hundreds of people took part
worldwide. A comprehensive round-up of the international actions: http://onesmallwindow.wordpress.com/2014/05/27/no-more-broken-promises-global-day-of-action-to-close-guantanamo/
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