NEWS:
Guantánamo Bay:
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| LGC April demo |
Over the past month, 11 prisoners have been
released from Guantánamo Bay, bringing the prisoner population down to 80. On 3
April, 2 Libyan prisoners were transferred to Senegal on humanitarian grounds.
Libya is one of several countries to which prisoners cannot be currently
repatriated. The two men, Omar Khalifa Mohammed Abu Bakr, 43, and Salem Abdul
Salem Ghereby, 55, were captured in Pakistan in late 2001 and sold to the US
military who took them to Guantánamo. Both men are alleged to have been members
of anti-Gaddafi militant groups in Libya, a regime overthrown by the US and its
allies in 2011. One of the men is crippled and is
missing a leg. The government of Senegal said that it accepted the men, who
have been held without charge or trial for over 14 years, on humanitarian
grounds.
On 16 April, 9
Yemeni nationals were transferred to Saudi Arabia, with the country accepting
non-nationals for the first time. Four of the men were born in Saudi Arabia to
Yemeni parents and all have family there. The men will attend a rehabilitation
programme for Saudi Islamists, which was also attended by Saudi returnees. The
nine men include Tariq Ba Odah, who had been cleared for release for over a
decade, and due to a sustained hunger strike weighed 74lb on release. The men
released are Mansoor Muhammed Ali Qatta, 34, Ahmed Kuman, 36, Abdul Rahman al
Qyati, 40, Sabri, all born in Saudi Arabia and Ahmed al Hikimi, 44, Abdul
Rahman Nasir, 36, Mohammed al Hamiri, 34, Tariq Ba Odah, 38, and Ali al Raimi,
33, all of whom have family members in Yemen but were born in Yemen. Nearly all
of the men were sold to the US military by the Northern Alliance or the
Pakistani military. None had ever faced charges and the youngest arrived at
Guantánamo as a teenager.
There are
currently 26 prisoners who have been cleared for release and officials say they
expect to transfer all of them by the end of the summer.
Four prisoners came before periodic review board in April to decide whether or not they could be cleared for release. The first was Afghan Obaidullah, who was captured at his home in 2002. He was a teenager at the time. According to an Amnesty International report http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/amr510512013en.pdf he was picked up on an incorrect report that he was a member of Al Qaeda. He was captured just two days after the birth of his daughter and his lawyer stated that he does not pose a risk to the US and only wishes to return home to his family.
In the same week, Yemeni prisoner, Said Salih
Said Nashir, 46, had his case reviewed. Since his arrival at Guantánamo, he has
been largely compliant and peaceful and has earned the praise of teachers
leading courses he has attended during his imprisonment. His lawyer said that
he is prepared to undergo any rehabilitation or reintegration programme and looks
forward to getting on with his life and starting a family.
On 26 April, Yemeni Uthman Abdul Rahim
Mohammed Uthman, 36, came before the board. The US claimed he was one of Osama
Bin Laden’s many bodyguards and an Al Qaeda member, which he has always denied.
At Guantánamo, he has been largely compliant. His family lives in Saudi Arabia
and he would be interested in going into business if released.
Yemeni Bashir Nasir Ali al-Marwalah came before
the board on 28 April. He was arrested along with Said Salih Said Nashir in
Pakistan in 2002. In March, the board cleared another Yemeni national arrested
with them for release. His lawyer said that he expressed regret at having left
Yemen for Afghanistan and at the hearing it was revealed that the US has no
knowledge of any Al Qaeda or anti-US actions he was involved in planning.
In the same month, the board rejected the case made by Saifullah
Paracha, 68, the oldest prisoner at Guantánamo, in March for his freedom, citing
his past ties to Al Qaeda and declared him too dangerous to release. He has
never been charged with any crime and was arrested and rendered to torture by
the FBI in Bangkok, Thailand, after setting up a sting through an alleged
business meeting. His case will next be up for review in October.
The board also decided to continue the indefinite detention without
charge of Yemeni prisoner Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj, citing his former ties to
Al Qaeda leaders and stating that he “remains committed to engaging in violent acts against the
United States”. Al Hajj did not take part in his review and has thus been deemed
non-compliant.
At the end of March, the periodic review
board also decided not to clear Yemeni Suhayl al Sharabi, 39, for release, in
order “to protect against a continuing significant threat to the security of
the United States.”
It should be noted that this procedure is administrative and not legal
and none of the men who have had their status reviewed or determined have been
subject to trial.
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| LGC April demo |
Following reports of a possible cancer
cluster, and related illnesses and deaths among military and military
commission staff at Camp Justice, where Guantánamo military commissions are
held, an initial report revealed by the Miami Herald lists a series of
health concerns “including the presence of mercury in a
building once used as detention center headquarters that years earlier function
as a dental clinic; formaldehyde in indoor air samples; excess
bromodichloromethane and chloroform in two showers; arsenic in soil samples on
the site where some work court personnel and temporary visitors are housed in a
tent city and adjoining trailer park, and PCBs in and around a ramshackle
hangar where journalists and troops work and attorneys brief the media.”
As a result, staff working on the commissions
– up to a possible 200 people –have been informed that they can continue to
work there but not spend the night, while further tests are carried
out, which are likely to be ongoing until the autumn.
A sentencing hearing for Majid Khan which was due to take place on 11-12
May has been cancelled, although other May hearings are still scheduled to go
ahead.
The Center for Constitutional Rights claims that more military personnel
have come to it complaining about illnesses and symptoms. A factsheet on the
issue is available here: https://ccrjustice.org/home/blog/2016/04/28/what-do-we-know-about-guantanamo-cancer-cluster
Two weeks of hearings in the case of five prisoners allegedly linked to
the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were cancelled without reason by the judge.
Nonetheless military Judge Pohl issued a 17-page ruling on a motion brought by
defence lawyers in 2012 to exclude the death penalty for their clients. They
contended that comments by political leaders prejudiced the case against their
clients and led to the call for this penalty; the judge ruled that while such
comments have the potential to impact on the trial, Pentagon officials acted
without outside influence in authorising the death penalty in these cases. With
constant delays to pre-trial hearings it is unlikely that any trial will take
place in this decade.
In a more recent ruling on older motions made in the case, Judge Pohl
said he would lift restrictions on female guards dealing with the five
defendants in this case, however he would keep the ban in place for the next
six months due to “what he calls
"inappropriate" public criticism of his order by Defense Secretary
Ash Carter and Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs
of staff, during an October appearance before Congress.” The judge said, “These comments were entirely inappropriate. They crossed the
line. Senior military leaders should know better than to make these kinds of
comments in a public forum during an ongoing trial.” A lawyer for one
of the men said that the issue was not about women but the defendants’
religious and cultural sensitivities and could prevent them from meeting their
lawyers or attending court hearings. The 5 defendants are held at the top
secret Camp 7 and have restricted access to other people and have to be
escorted around by special teams.
The Pentagon has proposed new rules for military commissions at
Guantánamo Bay, which include holding hearings via Skype as a set of measures
to ease the process. Holding hearings by teleconferencing would prevent the
need for judges and legal teams to travel to Guantánamo for each hearing. Such
a method may deny the parties a right to a fair hearing and to question the
other side. Other suggestions include allowing civilian lawyers to represent
defendants instead of military lawyers and the main judge in the case being
allowed to appoint another judge to consider certain motions. These measures
are likely to cause further complications and delays to hearings that are
already ongoing. In response, lawyers from the Center for Constitutional Rights
issued the following statement: http://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/ccr-guant-namo-attorneys-denounce-proposed-new-rules-military
Rendition:
The Portuguese Supreme Court has ruled that
ex-CIA agent Sabrina de Sousa, one of 26 people convicted in absentia in Italy
for the 2003 rendition to torture of Milan cleric Abu Omar, must be extradited
to Italy to serve her sentence. She was arrested in Portugal in October 2015 on
a European arrest warrant and was aware she could be extradited to Italy if she
travelled to Europe. De Sousa was sentenced to 6 years in prison. She is to be
sent to Italy to be provided formal notice of her sentence and can serve it in
Portugal. However, de Sousa claims she had nothing to do with the rendition and
was only working as an interpreter for the CIA at the time. Now retired, she
had planned to fly onwards to India to visit her elderly mother.
Although her extradition seems likely, the
victim Abu Omar, now resident in Egypt, has written to the Italian president
Sergio Mattarella asking him to excuse de Sousa, pointing out her age and the
fact that she wishes to see her elderly mother: he stated in his letter that he
was in jail in Egypt (where he was rendered and tortured) when his own mother
died and was not allowed to contact his family and that is why he does not want
Ms de Sousa jailed. Such a response is the perfect antithesis to the US’
revengeful and bloodthirsty “war on terror” and its purported civilised rationale.
In an unprecedented move, a federal judge said
that he would allow a lawsuit against the two psychologists who designed and
implemented the CIA extraordinary rendition programme to progress. The case was
brought by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of three men, Gul
Rahman, Suleiman Abdullah Salim, and Mohamed Ahmed Ben Soud, who were tortured
under the programme against psychologists, James Mitchell and John “Bruce”
Jessen. The torture was detailed in the 2014 Senate CIA Torture Report. The two
men claimed they could not be prosecuted as the case is a “political question”
for only the executive and legislative to decide and as they were working as
government contractors. Earlier, the US government decided not to apply the
state secrets doctrine, but only that some information would be off limits. Lawyers
in the case now have 30 days to come up with a plan for the disclosure of
relevant information for the case to proceed.
LGC Activities:
The April Shut
Guantánamo demonstration was on Thursday 7 April. The May demonstration is on 5
May at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner,
Hyde Park, opposite Marble Arch https://www.facebook.com/events/1605760126411909/
Several activists from
the LGC attended a meeting in parliament on 19 April to raise awareness of the
case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, the author of Guantánamo Diary, who is
still held at Guantánamo. The meeting was well attended and addressed by his
lawyer Nancy Hollander and his brother Yahdih Ould Slahi. A report by the LGC
of the meeting can be read here: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/report-parliamentary-briefing-on-case.html
Two new petitions were
launched at around the same time ahead of Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s first
appearance before the Periodic Review Board on 2 June. Please consider signing
both:
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| protest outside US Embassy on 22 April |
Several activists from
the LGC joined the Guantánamo Justice Campaign (formerly Save Shaker Aamer
Campaign) at a protest outside the US Embassy and Downing Street on 22 April
calling for the closure of Guantánamo, to coincide with Barack Obama’s visit to
the UK. Letters calling for the closure of Guantánamo were sent to the US
Embassy and the prime minister ahead of the protest.
The LGC
(@shutguantanamo) is continuing to hold weekly #GitmObama Twitter storms to
raise awareness about Guantánamo prisoners every Monday at 9pm GMT. The pastebin
is available http://pastebin.com/zpx5F7ab
which is updated weekly with the latest information and tweets to raise
awareness about Guantánamo. Please join us online if you can!
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| protest opposite Downing Street on 22 April (during Obama visit) |
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