Guantánamo Bay
Following the longest pre-trial hearing thus far at Guantánamo in September
in the case of five men accused of involvement in attacks on New York in September
2001:
the hearing resumed on 28 October for a further two weeks, also to
hear evidence from FBI and other witnesses involved in the interrogations of
the defendants and to ascertain whether the FBI’s role in interrogations of the
men after they arrived at Guantánamo – and questions they put to the CIA when
the men were held at secret CIA torture facilities – is tainted by CIA torture
and their evidence thus potentially inadmissible.
A federal judge, Emmet G Sullivan of the US District Court for the
District of Columbia has dismissed a claim by Abdul Hadi al Iraqi, currently
facing non-capital charges at Guantánamo, that he has not received satisfactory
medical treatment at Guantánamo as part of a case to have the charges against him
dropped; the judge consequently decided that he would consider the rest of his
claims (a further three) after his military commission trial is complete. Over
the past few years he has had a number of operations on his back for conditions
he suffered from prior to his detention. Nonetheless he has continued to face a
number of difficulties, some of which have prevented him from attending
hearings and leading to delays in his case.
Extraordinary Rendition:
Ahead of Turkey’s military invasion of northern Syria, the US
seized two British ISIS prisoners from its former Kurdish allies, the SDF, Alexanda
Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, members of the notorious “Beatles” quartet, in an
apparent extraordinary rendition. The US was planning to seize up to 40
prisoners but the Kurds refused to allow any of the others to leave. The
legality of their detention by the Kurds, and thus the SDF’s ability to put
any of its alleged ISIS prisoners on trial, is questionable. The two men are
reported to have been moved to a US military base in Iraq and may be moved to
the US for trial, where they may face the death penalty. This is in spite of
an ongoing appeal brought by the mother of one of the two men at the UK Supreme Court to
prevent them being put on trial in the US and to be tried in the UK instead.
MPs Dan Jarvis (Labour) and David Davis (Conservative) are joining
NGO Reprieve in taking legal action to order the government to hold a judge-led
inquiry into "the truth of the UK's role in post 9/11 abuses". The
government announced in parliament in July that it will not be seeking such an
inquiry in response to two 2018 reports by the parliamentary Intelligence and
Security Committee (ISC), even though this is necessary under the UK’s European
and international legal obligations.
LGC Activities:
The November Shut Guantánamo! demo will be on 7th
November at 12-2pm outside the US Embassy, Nine Elms Lane, SW11 (nearest
underground: Vauxhall): https://www.facebook.com/events/3059213874093495/
