LGC Newsletter – December 2018

Guantánamo Bay

Yemeni prisoner, Moath al-Alwi, who was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2001 and has been held at Guantánamo since 2002 has filed a petition in the US Supreme Court seeking a judicial review into the grounds for his ongoing detention without charge or trial. Al-Alwi disputes his classification as an enemy combatant and is currently being held as a “forever prisoner”, indefinitely without charge or trial. Previously, he has brought court cases to challenge the basis of his detention – habeas corpus – after Barack Obama declared the war in Afghanistan over in 2014 and as the nature of the war and the factions being fought there have changed considerably since 2001, however these cases were dismissed and hence his case at the US Supreme Court. He has argued consistently that under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force Act, authorising detention at Guantánamo, the US government does not have the authority to detain him.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/document-guantanamo-detainee-files-cert-petition

 

Former teenage Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr appeared before a court in Edmonton, Canada, on 13 December, seeking to have his bail conditions changed so that he can have a Canadian passport and travel to Saudi Arabia to perform the Islamic pilgrimage and travel outside of his state without restrictions, as well as be allowed to communicate freely with his sister Zaynab over the telephone or Skype, as she lives outside of Canada. On 21 December, Judge June Ross ruled to maintain his bail conditions as “nothing has changed since the last time Khadr asked for eased bail conditions and there’s no evidence the current restrictions create hardship or are needlessly strict.” The bail conditions which were imposed following his US military court conviction, which he is appealing, were part of the conditions for his return to Canada and for him to serve his sentence in the community rather than in a maximum security prison, as he was held when he was initially returned to Canada. Khadr, who has married, works and is training as a first responder, has integrated well back into civilian life. Under the US sentence he was given in 2010, his sentence should have ended in 2018 and thus he should not be under any restrictions. In spite of Canada’s liberal credentials, its continued enforcement of a sentence obtained through torture evidence before a military tribunal and in secret circumstances that fall far below international standards for a fair trial, demonstrate that in spite of its large payment to Omar Khadr to avoid further embarrassment of its awareness and involvement in his torture and crimes against humanity he suffered, it is prepared to endorse and uphold such treatment of its citizens and defer to the illegal actions of the USA.

The decision to maintain Khadr’s bail conditions may also simply be a political manoeuver aimed at signalling Canada’s intentions and hard line with respect to Canadian nationals currently held as ISIS prisoners in Syria.

https://edmonton.citynews.ca/2018/12/21/omar-khadr-bail-conditions/

Many former prisoners face travel restrictions and the ability to obtain a passport in their countries upon release. Recently, former Mauritanian prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi has also criticised his government’s refusal to allow him to have a passport or leave Mauritania.

http://fr.alakhbar.info/14415-0-Mauritanie-Un-ex-detenu-a-Guantanamo-denonce-son-interdiction-de-voyager.html?fbclid=IwAR08ITdwWdKVrh_EcZ20dcDUKzJUlNx7EMXX90rXRTZhjV2XE0aDNirlUqI

 

Although only one prisoner has been released over the past two years of President Trump’s administration, Periodic Reviews of prisoner status have continued. On 11 December, the periodic review of Yemeni prisoner Sanad Ali Yislam Al Kazimi was held. He refused to take part and in short proceedings had his representative read out a statement that said he refused to engage in the process as he has “no chance under the current political climate.” He has never been charged or tried. Five men cleared for release by the board under the previous administration remain at Guantánamo with no prospect of release.

https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/alleged-bin-laden-bodyguard-boycotts-periodic-review-board-process

 

LGC Activities:

The LGC held its monthly Shut Guantánamo! demos outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms on Monday 10 December. The change in date was to reflect that 10 December is Human Rights Days and this year also marked 70 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, entrenching modern human rights. Articles 5 and 9 ban torture and arbitrary detention.

Our first demonstration of 2019 will be at 12-2pm on Thursday 3 January outside the US Embassy, 33 Nine Elms Lane, SW11 7US. Further details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/509161859605292/

Please note that for the first time since 2008 the London Guantánamo Campaign is not organising a specific event to mark the anniversary of Guantánamo Bay opening on 11 January. Events are being organised by the Guantanamo Justice Campaign and Cage. Please refer to these organisations for details.

LGC Newsletter – November 2018

Guantánamo Bay

Abd Al Hadi Al-Iraqi, facing trial and a life sentence at Guantánamo, for allegedly commanding Al Qaeda forces that allegedly committed war crimes in Afghanistan, had to be removed from the war court in an ambulance just 30 minutes into the open session of his most recent pre-trial hearing on 6 November. In the past 18 months, he has had five operations on his spine as a result of the torture he suffered prior to being brought to Guantánamo. Al-Iraqi was seen by two people present in the court before being transferred to the detainee acute care unit after he suffered back spasms. Hearings were cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday. Past hearings have also been cancelled due to his poor health. At the court, he was unable to speak comfortably to his lawyers and focus. He could also not initially swallow the medicine he was given as he had difficulty breathing. It was the first hearing in which the new judge in the case, Marine Lt. Col. Michael Libretto, was present. Due to his medical problems, progress in Al-Iraqi’s pre-trial hearings has been disrupted since September 2017.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article221037960.html#storylink=cpy

https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/fit-court-another-medical-emergency-guantanamo

The judge ordered the hearing to be resumed on Friday. This time a hospital bed was brought into the courtroom, which Al-Iraqi used along with a specially adapted chair during the hearing. Reading a recent medical opinion about the defendant, the judge said “the accused may never improve beyond the current condition.” The hearing itself focused on staffing issues, such as the appointment and dismissal of lawyers.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article221425255.html

 

Al-Iraqi’s hearing was succeeded the following week with pre-trial hearings in the case of five men accused of involvement in the attacks in New York in September 2001. This pre-trial hearing was almost halted after mould was found covering computers, court filings, furniture and clothing in a room shared by six defence lawyers. Two members of the defence team needed medical attention. The hearing went ahead with the judge, Marine Col. Keith Parrella, apologising for a broken air conditioner in the unit that caused the problem. He ordered the US government to deal with the problem and ensure it does not happen again.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/guantanamo/article221528920.html

The hearing discussed whether lawyers for Khalid Sheikh Mohamed could call CIA chief Gina Haspel as a witness. On Thursday, the court looked at evidence of torture interrogation methods the prosecution had been ordered to share with the defence. The information included that “An alleged plot mastermind was taken nude from interrogation to a medical officer, who put fluids up his rectum then returned him nude to interrogation. Some captives were kept like “cowering dogs,” subjected to standing sleep deprivation, abdominal and facial slaps, in what one CIA agent called a “nightmare.”” The defence argued, however, that this disclosure did not go far enough for a fair trial whereas the prosecution argued that they already had enough information concerning what happened to their clients in secret CIA prisons to defend them. One of the prosecutors put it: “It’s really not a secret what happened to the accused in CIA custody. It’s a matter of how it’s shaded or flavored, if you will.” On the other hand, giving an example of the limitation of the evidence available, lawyers for Khalid Sheikh Mohamed stated that “A description of a 15-hour interrogation was condensed to a page-and-a-half summary, Nevin said. He offered an example: The prosecution provided evidence that Mohammed was “rectally rehydrated,” he said, but doesn’t describe how it was done. “Does somebody hold his legs apart? Is he naked? Was lubrication involved? How did they do it?””

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/guantanamo/article221699655.html?fbclid=IwAR2A8Le-3HXY-Z8pkc5_-YIQ2hpYKIvorHxdrv0ZMbWnyPtdqfVuheJ2Hjk

Extraordinary Rendition

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the CIA to find out where the body of Afghan Gul Rahman is; he was tortured to death in a secret prison in Afghanistan in November 2012.

The ACLU has filed two lawsuits under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to get more information about the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme. The first lawsuit aims to seek answers for Gul Rahman’s family concerning what happened to him. The second lawsuit will demand “information on the CIA’s unprecedented propaganda campaign on behalf of Haspel — who was acting CIA director during the confirmation process earlier this year — including her potential conflict of interest in controlling the classification of information related to her personal role in prisoner torture and abuse.”

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/torture/were-suing-cia-find-body-torture-victim

Earlier in November, through another successful FOIA request, the ACLU obtained a 90-page document that revealed the role of CIA doctors in the torture interrogation process as well as plans to test a “truth serum” and other drugs on detainees. It also details some of the plans and techniques used on prisoners, including Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Nashiri.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/torture/secret-cia-document-shows-plan-test-drugs-prisoners

Pakistani neuroscientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui, currently serving an 86-year sentence in the US after having been convicted of attacking US military personnel in Afghanistan, where she appeared in US custody in 2008 after having “disappeared” in Pakistan into CIA custody with her three children in 2003, has written to new Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan asking him to intervene in her case and to have her returned to Pakistan to serve the rest of her sentence. The previous Pakistani government, in spite of numerous court cases, refused to take action; it was complicit in her “disappearance”. The new Pakistan government has since pledged to take action and has discussed her case formally with Washington. The Pakistani Senate also passed a resolution seeking her release.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/1842612/1-washington-promises-review-dr-aafia-siddiquis-imprisonment/

LGC Activities:

The LGC held its monthly Shut Guantánamo! demos outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms on Thursday 1 November. Our last demonstration for 2018 is exceptionally being held on Monday 10 December at 12-2pm to mark both Human Rights Days and the 70^th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, entrenching modern human rights. Articles 5 and 9 ban torture and arbitrary detention. Please join us in solidarity with the prisoners at Guantánamo and other victims of human rights violations: https://www.facebook.com/events/736634930034090/

 

LGC Newsletter – October 2018

Guantánamo Bay

On 12 October, the US Court of Military Commissions Review backed the former judge in the USS Cole trial, where Abd Al-Nashiri is being tried for the 2000 bombing of a US naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden, by ruling that his defence lawyers did not have the authority “to quit the case over ethics questions raised by their discovery of a secret microphone in their meeting room” after they quit the case last year. The pre-trial hearings in the case have been suspended since February and can resume, although no date has been set for that and what the three lawyers concerned plan to do is unknown. The ruling also held that the “chief defense counsel, Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, did not have the authority to let the civilian lawyers quit the case a year ago”; he was fined $1000 by the judge and “confined to his quarters for 21 days in a conviction that was subsequently overturned”.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article219918265.html

 

US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has appointed Col. Douglas K. Watkins, 56, as the new chief judge at the Guantánamo war court after Army Col. James J. Pohl, the chief judge for over the past 9 years, retired in September. A military judge with experience of terrorism cases going back to the 1980s, Watkins is already handling hearings in the case of Majid Khan, who was convicted in a secret plea deal in 2012, and is due to be sentenced in 2019. He will oversee the case of five defendants accused of involvement in the September 2001 attacks in New York.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/10/20/mattis-names-army-colonel-guantanamos-chief-war-court-judge.html

Extraordinary Rendition

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has dismissed appeals by Lithuania and Romania who were found guilty earlier this year of running secret torture facilities for the CIA – claims the two states still deny – and ordered to pay the plaintiffs, current Guantánamo prisoners Abu Zubaydah and Abd Al-Nashiri, respectively, €100,000 in damages.

https://www.france24.com/en/20181009-european-court-rejects-appeal-lithuania-romania-cia-prisons

The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture, a citizen-led initiative looking at the state’s involvement in the CIA’s rendition programme over the past few years has produced an 82-page report on torture flights and North Carolina’s role in the CIA rendition and torture program http://www.nctorturereport.org/ and particularly the liability of Aero Contractors Ltd., a local private company whose aircraft were used to transport rendition victims in breach of international laws the US is party to. The report calls for the accountability and prosecution of key players.

https://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/article219562335.html

An American-Saudi prisoner, who was detained in Syria and later transferred to Iraq after being captured by Kurdish forces in Syria and handed over to the US military in 2017, has been released to a third country. The American Civil Liberties Union won an important court case to have his constitutional rights upheld in court after the US government “kept his detention secret, denied his requests for a lawyer, and attempted to forcibly transfer him to a dangerous war zone.” In doing so, the Trump administration made it unnecessary for the court to rule on the legality of the detention of prisoners by the US in Iraq and Syria without charge, trial or due process rights.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/detention/us-citizen-detained-without-charge-trump-administration-year

LGC Activities:

The LGC held its monthly Shut Guantánamo! demos outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms on 4 October at 12-2pm. Our next monthly demo for November is on Thursday 1 November at 12-2pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/235710460476481/ and is just days before the US mid-term election.