NEWS:
Guantánamo Bay:
A US navy nurse who refused to force feed hunger striking prisoners at
Guantánamo is continuing to face persecution from the US military. Although the
military decided not to court martial him for his actions, thereby not making
any details of the hunger strike and the feeding procedure public, as would
result from a trial, he faces disciplinary measures, which could include him
losing his job and his benefits. The nurse’s humane gesture came to light
earlier this year when a hunger-striking prisoner wrote to his lawyer praising
the nurse’s action.
On 15 September, pre-trial hearings started in the case of Abdel Hadi
Al-Iraqi who faces a life sentence for war crimes; he is alleged to be a senior
Al Qaeda commander and to have organised attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan in
2003 and 2004 that killed allied soldiers. He was one of the last prisoners to
be brought to Guantánamo in 2007, and had prior to that, after his arrest in
2006, “disappeared” into secret CIA torture prisons.
At the hearing, Al-Iraqi met his military lawyer for the first time. Although
his previous lawyer was dismissed, he is still also seeking a civilian lawyer
to work on his case, which he is not automatically entitled to, as he is not
facing capital charges. At the hearing, the prosecution asked for all details
relating to his interrogation to be kept secret. Although the prosecution
claims he was not subject to “enhanced interrogation methods”, such as
waterboarding, it said it was up to the CIA to say what could be disclosed.
Three prisoners,
Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim, Abdurrahman al-Shubati and Fadel Hentif, have
applied for an en banc rehearing of a case that was decided by a US federal
court of appeal at the beginning of August, ruling that military guards at Guantánamo Bay can carry out intimate physical
searches of prisoners, lifting a previous ban. The court had held that the
action was not unconstitutional. Counsel for the three prisoners is asking for
the case to be heard by all the judges at the same court and questions the interpretation
applied by the court.
Lawyers for Canadian former prisoner Omar Khadr headed to the Canadian
federal courts in early September to resume a case that was stalled in December
last year when the judge said that the lawsuit, first brought suing the
Canadian government for involvement in Khadr’s torture in 2004 when he was still
held at Guantánamo, had to be rewritten. It was resubmitted and Khadr’s lawyers
sought to expand the claims against the Canadian government to include
conspiracy by Canada with the US in the abuse of his rights and his torture. Lawyers
for the Canadian government said that under Canadian federal law, the US
government could not be brought into a civil claim and that this issue could be
dealt with under the existing claims. The judge reserved judgment on the case.
http://globalnews.ca/news/1541993/judge-reserves-decision-on-omar-khadr-suit-claiming-torture-abuse/
While Uruguay waits to receive the 6 Guantánamo prisoners it has said it
will take as refugees, the government of Peru has ruled out taking any Guantánamo
prisoners, following a US request. http://www.peruviantimes.com/19/peru-says-no-to-guantanamo-prisoners/22916/
The Chilean government has also said that taking Guantánamo prisoners “is not a
priority” for the country after weighing up a similar request.
Lawyers for the US government are seeking to keep proceedings secret in
a court hearing to be held in early October concerning the force feeding of
hunger-striking prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. The lawyers claim that it is a
matter of national security. The case brought by Syrian hunger striker Abu Wael
Dhiab concerns the methods used against the prisoners and the forced feeding
against their will to keep them alive. This is illegal, when carried out on a
rational prisoner, almost everywhere else in the world. Earlier this year, an
emergency injunction to halt his force feeding was soon overturned but the
government was asked to disclose tapes showing the force feeding. While lawyers
on both sides will be heard at the hearing, US government lawyers are seeking
to keep the public and the media out.
Extraordinary Rendition:
The US released 14 Pakistani prisoners from Bagram prison in Afghanistan.
Although it handed authority over the prison to the Afghan authorities last
year, the US has maintained control over up to 60 foreign nationals, mainly Pakistanis.
This is the largest group of prisoners, who have less rights than Guantánamo
prisoners, to be released in one go. Over the past year, 39 Pakistanis are known
to have been released from Bagram, in most cases only to face further
persecution once back in their own country. Two Yemenis and a Kazakh prisoner
were also released last month. The actual number of prisoners and the
conditions and reasons for their detention are highly guarded secrets by the US
military.
With the US officially ending its involvement in the war in Afghanistan
at the end of this year, even though it plans to keep 10,000 troops there, the
future of the remaining Bagram prisoners remains unknown. Transfer to Guantánamo
is unlikely but the US intends to maintain control over them.
LGC Activities:
The September “Shut
Guantánamo!” demonstration was attended by 8 people. The October demonstration
will be at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner,
Marble Arch on Thursday 2nd October: https://www.facebook.com/events/1446269325597802/
As part of a government consultation on anti-terrorism
laws, one of our activists recently corresponded with David Anderson QC, the
government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, about Shaker Aamer:
http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/david-anderson-qc-shaker-aamer-and-anti.html
Their correspondence and Anderson’s referral to sources that suggest practices
that would be illegal in this country, such as prolonged detention without
trial or charge, speak volumes about the government’s actual attitude to
Guantánamo prisoners such as Mr Aamer.
The IRCT in
Copenhagen, which coordinates the actions worldwide on International Day in
Support of Victims of Torture on 26 June, published its annual report of
actions and features our London action on pages 34-35:
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