LGC Newsletter – August 2015

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

The main news about Guantánamo was the announcement by the White House that it will present a plan to close Guantánamo to Congress in early September: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/pentagon-to-release-gitmo-closure-plan-after-august-recess/article/2569950

 

Although 52 of the remaining 116 prisoners have been cleared for release, including Shaker Aamer, no transfers have been made since June. In August, it emerged the delay is due to the new Defense Secretary Ashton Carter refusing to sign off their release. All previous releases had been signed by his predecessor Chuck Hagel. This is in spite of the fact that earlier in August the new envoy for the closure of Guantánamo Lee Wolosky stated that he had secured deals with around one dozen countries to accept at least half of those men.

www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/secretary-defense-blocking-transfers-cleared-guantanamo-detainees

For the remaining prisoners who are not facing trial and have not been cleared for release, the “forever prisoners”, it appears that Obama’s plan will not involve ending their 14 years of indefinite detention without charge or trial but simply shifting the physical prison at Guantánamo Bay to the US mainland, keeping the men in existing military prisons where they will remain under military control and will not be subject to potential trial in federal courts. The plan is not to close Guantánamo but to shift it and potentially franchise it. It has been reported that the Pentagon has already made visits to facilities in South Carolina and will visit others in Kansas and four other potential sites. Some media have reported that it is possible that a new Guantánamo will be built from scratch on military-owned land. There do not appear to be plans to release these prisoners. However, a potential block to the forthcoming plan is whether Congress will allow prisoners to be transferred to the US mainland.

The governors of South Carolina and Kansas have stated that they will block efforts to send the prisoners there and have threatened to sue if the plan goes ahead. Mistakenly calling the prisoners “terrorists”, it must be pointed out that there are no terrorists at Guantánamo Bay; the few prisoners who have been convicted have not been convicted of terrorism charges.

It has also been revealed that out of the remaining 116 prisoners, only 3 were captured on the battlefield by the US. This includes those accused of involvement and facing trial for the 9/11 attacks. The others, like the majority of Guantánamo prisoners overall, were sold to the US military by allied Afghan warlords, many of whom in practice bore little difference to the Taliban.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/25/guantanamo-detainees-captured-pakistan-afghanistan

On 5 August, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) published a new report “Towards the Closure of Guantanamo” which condemns the US for its human rights abuses at Guantánamo, the discriminatory nature of the detention of Muslim men and demands its closure without further delay:

http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Towards-Closure-Guantanamo.pdf

Pre-trial hearings for five men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks was cancelled yet again. A hearing scheduled from 24 August to early September was cancelled, meaning that no hearings have been held at all this year.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/08/16/us-usa-guantanamo-hearing-idUSKCN0QL0LS20150816

Afghan prisoner Mohammed Kamin, 37, had his hearing before the periodic review board on 17 August. He arrived at Guantánamo in 2004, was subject to charges that were later dropped and never pursued and has been described as “one of the most compliant detainees at Guantánamo”.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article31347917.html

In June, AlJazeera showed film footage on its Arabic channel, reportedly showing a raid by Slovakian police on the home of former Guantánamo prisoner Hisham Sliti, a Tunisian, who was released there last year. Although he is supposed to be resettled, he is at a centre for asylum seekers. The video, shot by another resident on a mobile phone, showed the police violently entering, sounds of shouting and later images of broken household items from inside, as well as Sliti being led away by the police. Slovak media have also alleged he was tortured. The police deny all the claims. Amnesty Slovakia has written to the government demanding an independent and thorough investigation of the incident.

http://spectator.sme.sk/c/20059481/galko-wants-explanation-for-footage-showing-former-guantanamo-inmate.html

Lawyers for prisoner Tariq Ba Odah, a 36-year old Yemeni, who was cleared for release years ago, have lost their legal case to have him released on medical grounds. He has been on hunger strike since 2007 against his detention and continually force fed. He currently weighs 34kg. Although his lawyers say he is poor health, the US military maintains that he is fine.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/08/release-hunger-striking-guantanamo-detainee-150815131417771.html

Extraordinary Rendition:

Former Bagram prisoner, Russian national Irek Hamidullin, was found guilty by a jury of all charges including providing material support to a terrorist organisation and trying to destroy US military aircraft in Afghanistan in 2009, where he was arrested. He was held without charge at Bagram until 2014 when he was transferred to the US and to the FBI to stand trial in a federal court for an attack in which his alleged Taliban co-defendants were all killed and no US personnel or tanks were harmed. During his trial, he did not speak. His lawyers claimed there was insufficient evidence to back up the evidence. He was found guilty on 7 August and will be sentenced later this year. He faces a life sentence.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/soviet-taliban-irek-hamidullin-found-guilty-in-us-over-afghan-terrorist-attack-10446492.html

LGC Activities:

The LGC August Shut Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 8 people in the pouring rain. The September demo will be on Thursday 3 September: https://www.facebook.com/events/1482180842105413/

The LGC will be holding its second campaigns meeting this year on Monday 14 September at 6pm in Friends House, Euston Road, NW1 from 6pm onwards. Please join us and get involved in our work to close Guantánamo. We will meet in the café. Please e-mail us for more details. All are welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/events/522022614615072/

LGC Newsletter – June 2015

BRITISH RESIDENTS:

During a private meeting of under an hour during the G7 summit in Germany, Prime Minister David Cameron raised Shaker Aamer’s case with Barack Obama and urged him to resolve Aamer’s case. Downing Street did not reveal the US President’s response, if any.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3114653/You-free-Shaker-Aamer-Cameron-tells-Obama-PM-urges-President-resolve-case-Briton-Guantanamo-talks-G7-summit.html

Following reports that Shaker Aamer and several other prisoners would be released within weeks and possibly by the end of June, this has not materialised. After the release of 6 Yemeni prisoners to Oman on 12 June, it emerged that no further cases had been put forward for clearance, meaning there would be no further releases in June. Nonetheless, the campaign for the release of Shaker Aamer, led by the Save Shaker Aamer Campaign, has kept up the pressure over the past month with a demonstration to mark the 800^th anniversary of the Magna Carta opposite Downing Street on 15 June, a parliamentary meeting on 23^rd June and weekly vigils opposite the Houses of Parliament.

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

On 2 June, Reuters published an account of the torture Guantánamo prisoner and former secret CIA prison detainee Majid Khan faced while held at such facilities: “Majid Khan said interrogators poured ice water on his genitals, twice videotaped him naked and repeatedly touched his "private parts" – none of which was described in the Senate report. Interrogators, some of whom smelled of alcohol, also threatened to beat him with a hammer, baseball bats, sticks and leather belts, Khan said.”

Following the release of the Senate report on CIA torture in December 2014, more details have emerged of the various forms of torture faced by prisoners: this 27-page account by Khan to his lawyers was cleared for public release in May.

Khan was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2003 and held at secret CIA sites until 2006 when he was taken to Guantánamo. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy, material support, murder and spying charges [note the first two are no longer offences that Guantánamo prisoners can be tried or convicted of]; he is currently awaiting sentencing.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/02/us-usa-torture-khan-idUSKBN0OI1TW20150602

French former Guantánamo prisoner Mourad Benchellali, released in 2004 without charge or trial, was prevented from boarding a flight to Montreal in Canada as the flight would have to pass through US air space and he is on a US no-fly list. He was due to address a peace conference.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/11/ex-guantanamo-prisoner-denied-france-to-canada-flight

In one of the most important pieces of news to come out of Guantánamo in a very long time, Yemeni prisoner Ali Hamza al Bahlul won his appeal against conviction in 2008 for a second time. He originally won his case in 2011 when all three of the convictions against him – material support, conspiracy and solicitation – were overturned. The US government sought a retrial which was granted. In July 2014, a panel of judges overturned the conviction on charges of solicitation and material support – leading to the quashing of other convictions, including that of Australian former prisoner David Hicks – but left the conspiracy issue to be appealed further. In the 2-1 decision on 12 June, judges decided that the military commissions did not have the jurisdiction to convict al Bahlul of a conspiracy charge as it is not a crime recognised under the international law of war.

This ruling may be further appealed by the US government but remains a very important decision which further undermines any future military commission trials and convictions and paves the way for the appeal of existing convictions, such as that of Omar Khadr.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2015/06/12/uk-usa-court-guantanamo-idUKKBN0OS1QL20150612

On 12 June, 6 Yemeni prisoners were released to Oman, the second transfer of prisoners to the country, as they cannot be returned to their own country. All 6 men had long been cleared for release and never charged. There are currently 116 prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/13/guantanamo-bay-six-yemen-detainees-oman

Australian activist Dr Aloysia Brooks has won a 3-year Freedom of Information battle to have a series of documents and communication between the US and Australian governments over the repatriation and treatment of former Australian Guantánamo prisoner disclosed. The Australian Information Commissioner said he had no reason to block the disclosure of this information. The Australian government has 30 days to appeal this decision. Dr Brooks is also suing the CIA and the FBI in the US for the disclosure of further documents she has been unable to obtain in Australia.

http://www.theage.com.au/nsw/prime-ministers-office-forced-to-hand-over-sensitive-documents-on-david-hicks-20150620-ghqkw1

Following a series of moves in the US Senate and Congress to block and impede the release of Guantánamo prisoners, US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter stated that he is hopeful but not confident that Guantánamo will close before Barack Obama leaves office in early 2017.

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/carter-im-not-confident-guantanamo-will-close-during-obama-administration/

On 23 June, a Libyan prisoner, Omar Khalif Mohammed Abu Baker, who has never been charged in over 13 years and is suffering at Guantánamo due to untreated wounds he suffered prior to his kidnap in Pakistan in 2002, had a hearing before the prisoner review board to see whether he could be cleared for release.

http://www.salon.com/2015/06/23/review_board_weighs_release_of_injured_guantanamo_prisoner/

On 26 June, Saudi prisoner Abdul Rahman Shalabi, who has been on hunger strike for almost a decade, was cleared by the review board. Although this means he can be released, in practice it means he will remain where he is. He has never been charged.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jun/26/guantanamo-prisoner-hunger-strike-released-saudi-arabia

 

The US has appointed Lee Wolosky, a former National Security Council director, as the new envoy for the closure of Guantánamo. The post has been vacant since Clifford Sloan stepped down in December citing the slow rate of transfers. Wolosky will start work in July.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/state-department-announces-new-guantanamo-bay-envoy-1435697469

Extraordinary Rendition:

On 23 June, a group of civil rights organisations in the US sent a letter to the Department of Justice demanding it appoints a special prosecutor for torture and holds the CIA to account. http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/amnesty-international-aclu-and-human-rights-watch-urge-doj-to-appoint-special-prosecutor-for-torture

Another letter to the UN, signed by over 100 organisations, called for accountability for CIA torture in the war on terror.

https://www.aclu.org/blog/speak-freely/100-groups-around-world-un-demand-accountability-cia-torture

This was backed by the UN Special Rapporteur for Torture Juan Mendez

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/06/cia-torturers-should-be-held-accountable-119345.html#.VYsfckaZ6dE

On 23 June, the European Court of Human Rights heard a case brought in 2009 by Abu Omar, a Milan-based imam who was kidnapped and rendered to Egypt by the CIA in 2003, and his wife. The criminal prosecution in Italy is the only case in the world where CIA agents have been convicted of extraordinary rendition-related offences; Italian agents were also convicted in the case, although their convictions were later quashed. Abu Omar himself was convicted in a 2013 case on terrorism-related offences in a case that pre-dates his kidnapping in 2003. He now lives in Egypt and did not appeal the conviction. Italy denies that its agents were involved in the rendition and states that it was the actions of the CIA alone, even though Abu Omar was kidnapped in broad daylight in the street.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jun/23/italy-denies-role-cia-extraordinary-rendition-egyptian-imam

LGC Activities:

The LGC June Shut Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 5 people. The July demo will be on Thursday 2 July: https://www.facebook.com/events/1458025957831108/

The LGC marked UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture on Friday 26 June with a silent vigil in Trafalgar Square. Around 40 people joined as activists raised the issue of the right to rehabilitation of torture survivors.

http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/26-june-torture-victims-have-right-to.html  

LGC Newsletter – April 2015

BRITISH RESIDENTS:

In mid-April, media reports, mainly in the Washington Post and The Independent, stated that British resident Shaker Aamer is likely to be released in June along with two other prisoners who have long been cleared for release, Moroccan Younis Chekkouri and Mauritanian Ahmed Ould Abdel al-Aziz.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/uks-last-remaining-guantanamo-bay-detainee-could-be-released-within-weeks-say-us-officials-10203165.html

This comes as part of reported plans to release at least 10 cleared prisoners in the coming weeks and all of the 57 prisoners cleared for released before the end of 2015.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/facing-threat-in-congress-pentagon-races-to-resettle-guantanamo-inmates/2015/04/22/e001e328-e82a-11e4-9a6a-c1ab95a0600b_story.html

However, the Miami Herald reports that no steps have been taken to start the release procedure for any prisoners, which takes at least one month. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article19346010.html

In March, a Foreign Office junior minister told a House of Commons debate about Shaker Aamer that he still has to undergo security clearance prior to being approved for release. In 2009, the Obama administration cleared him for release only to his native Saudi Arabia, but he has insisted, as has the British government, that he be returned to the UK where his family lives. Although the media has reported Aamer may be released soon, there has been no indication that his release will be to the UK.

The reported desire to step up the release of prisoners comes ahead of a vote on a bill tabled earlier in the year by Senator Kelly Ayotte to prevent the transfer of any more of the 122 remaining prisoners before a new US president takes office in 2017. President Obama has said he would use his power of veto to block this bill if passed.

Former British resident, 36 year old, Jamal Kiyemba, was arrested in Kampala, Uganda, on 8 April, along with several other men suspected of murdering Prosecutor Joan Kagezi who was shot dead on 30 March ahead of the start of a trial into bombings allegedly by Al Shabab in 2010. Kiyemba, who had grown up in the UK, was released from Guantánamo in 2006. He was to be released to the UK; however he was refused entry and was sent to Uganda instead, where he was born. He was not arrested on charges of involvement in the murder of Ms Kagezi but on unspecified and unrelated charges. The US authorities were involved in the swoop which led to the arrests. There has been no further information since as to whether he has been released or charged. Held at Guantànamo for 4 years, Mr Kiyemba was never charged or tried there.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-32220368

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

Four of the six prisoners released to Uruguay last year as refugees have been holding a sit-in protest outside the US Embassy in Montevideo since 24 April demanding financial assistance from the US. The four, two Syrians, a Tunisian and a Palestinian, were accepted by the country as refugees and are receiving some aid in that capacity. However, they feel it is not enough and is only being provided for one year and have demanded that the US take responsibility for their situation after having imprisoned them for 12 years without charge or trial and effectively turning them into refugees. The Uruguayan authorities have asked the men to sign documents so that they can receive the assistance they are entitled to, however the men went to the US Embassy on Friday and when they were told that no one would be there until Monday continued their protest. They are demanding to meet officials from inside the embassy and want the US to take responsibility for them.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/29/former-guantanamo-detainees-protest-uruguay

In a statement the men released on Sunday 26 April, they stated that the US authorities “can’t leave their errors to other people, they should help us with houses and financial support. We think that it is the least they could do.”

Earlier in the month, Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez demanded that Obama gives the former prisoners financial assistance when he met him at the Americas Summit in Panama. Aid and housing is being provided by the UNHCR.

Pre-trial hearings in two separate military commissions at Guantánamo Bay have been cancelled indefinitely. The case of 5 men accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks in New York has been cancelled for the third time this year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daphne-eviatar/guantanamo-military-commi_b_7012000.html

Nonetheless, with respect to one of the defendants, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, on 10 April, the judge released a judgment refusing to order medical care for him, stating he did not have the power to do that. According to the Miami Herald, “While held at CIA secret prisons, he was subject to torture that amounted to rape and as a result has caused him long-term physical problems and continued bleeding, for which he has yet to receive adequate treatment, more than a decade later. When making the request in February, it was the first time his lawyers had spoken about the torture he suffered, following the release of the redacted Senate CIA torture report. His lawyer “specifically cited a reference to an investigation of allegations that CIA agents conducted medically unnecessary rectal exams with excessive force on two detainees, one of them Hawsawi, who afterward suffered an anal fissure, rectal prolapse and haemorrhoids.””

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article15621776.html

In the case of Abd Al Nashiri, accused of involvement in an attack on a US navy vessel in the Gulf of Aden, off Yemen, in 2000, the case has been adjourned pending two appeals in his case and an MRI scan, although the necessary machinery is not available at Guantánamo. If an MRI scan proves he has brain damage, he may be spared the death penalty.

On 29 April, following a request by his lawyers in March, the military commission judge refused to allow the full US Senate report into CIA torture to be disclosed to his lawyers. The public part of the report shows that Al Nashiri was waterboarded but his lawyers want further evidence of what he suffered at the hands of CIA interrogators when he “disappeared” for several years into CIA secret prisons in Asia and Europe.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article19895943.html

Abdul Shalabi, 39, a Saudi prisoner who has been on hunger strike for the past 9 years and is alleged to have been a bodyguard for Osama Bin Laden, had his periodic review board hearing on 21 April. He asked to be sent home.

According to information given by a prisoner to lawyer David Remes, at least 14 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are still on hunger strike and are being force fed by nasal feed on a regular basis.

On 24 April, Alberta federal judge June Ross granted former Guantánamo prisoner Omar Khadr bail pending the outcome of his appeal in the US of his military commission conviction there. A further hearing will be held on 5 May to decide the terms of his bail. His lawyer Dennis Edney QC has already offered him accommodation and a university in Edmonton, Alberta, has offered to allow him to enrol as a mature student. The Canadian government, however, has said that it will appeal this decision. For Khadr, this will be the first time since he was 15, in 2002, that he will be outside of a prison environment. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/omar-khadr-granted-bail-but-federal-government-to-appeal-1.3046775

Extraordinary Rendition:

As part of an ongoing investigation into torture flights passing through and refueling at Scottish airports, police in Scotland have said there is inconclusive evidence to say prisoners were on board any of the six flights under investigation, ruling out this line of investigation.

http://news.stv.tv/west-central/316985-police-find-no-evidence-scots-airports-used-for-cia-torture-flights/

The investigation will continue, however some say that the police have not been thorough   enough in their investigation. Police in Scotland have demanded access to the full CIA torture report to help in their investigations.

LGC Activities:

The LGC April Shut Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 3 people. The May demo will be on Thursday 7 May: https://www.facebook.com/events/950220665011369/

Aisha Maniar from the LGC gave a presentation to the St John’s Amnesty Group in Camden Town about Guantánamo Bay and extraordinary rendition on 16 April.

LGC Newsletter – March 2015

BRITISH RESIDENTS:

Shaker Aamer’s case was subject to a backbench debate in parliament, which activists have been calling for since at least 2013, on 17 March. During the debate on his plight, the motion ‘That this House calls on the US Government to release Shaker Aamer from his imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay and to allow him to return to his family in the UK’ was passed and a number of MPs made strong, clear statements about Shaker Aamer’s ongoing plight. However, junior Foreign Office (FCO) minister Tobias Ellwood speaking on behalf of the FCO did not answer questions about why Shaker Aamer is still in Guantánamo Bay, what the British government is currently doing or where negotiations stand between the US and British governments. Instead, he prevented any useful debate by putting down the answers to being “intelligence matters” he could not share with the MPs in public.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201415/cmhansrd/cm150317/debtext/150317-0003.htm#15031763000001

On the same day, through redacted documents obtained through freedom of information requests in the US, Shaker Aamer’s lawyers at Reprieve obtained documents showing that US officials discussed sending him back to Saudi Arabia while giving assurances to the UK government at the same time.

http://www.reprieve.org.uk/press/us-discussed-sending-guantanamo-brit-to-saudi-despite-promise-to-uk/

To coincide with the debate, a day of action was held with Amnesty International delivering a petition calling for Shaker Aamer’s release and return from Guantánamo to the UK, signed by over 40,000 people

http://www.amnesty.org.uk/press-releases/marathon-running-birmingham-doctor-go-downing-street-petition-guant%C3%A1namo-detainee

The Save Shaker Aamer Campaign held a colourful demonstration in Parliament Square and before lunchtime a rally was held inside parliament with speeches by MPs such as Caroline Lucas, John McDonnell and Jeremy Corbyn and by campaigners including Andy Worthington and Dr Dave Nicholls who delivered the Amnesty petition. The debate and rally were attended by Shaker Aamer’s three sons and other family members. He has never met his youngest son.

More on this day of action:

http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2015/03/18/uk-government-backs-parliamentary-motion-to-secure-release-of-shaker-aamer/

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/29797-shaker-aamer-hostage-to-the-special-relationship

The cross-party parliamentary group for Shaker Aamer met twice in March. It now has over 40 members, since being set up by John McDonnell MP in November 2014, from all parties. It is currently planning a delegation to visit the US after the general election in May.

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

On 9 March, the US Supreme Court dismissed two appeals by Guantánamo prisoners. In the first case, a Syrian-Kurd Abd al-Rahim Abdul Razak al-Janko, whose release was ordered in 2009 and had been captured while being held prisoner by the Taliban, had his appeal to sue the US government for unlawful detention and torture dismissed and a 2014 judgment in favour of the US government upheld, stating that he cannot sue the US for damages. In the second case, Saudi prisoner Mohammed al-Qahtani, who is still held at Guantánamo, lost a case brought on his behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights for photos and documents of his torture to be released and made public. The reason was that their disclosure would harm “national security”.

http://rt.com/usa/239085-scotus-rejects-gitmo-appeals/

Although the case of five prisoners alleged of involvement in the 9/11 attacks in New York has been adjourned until 20 April, on 10 April, in the case of one prisoner, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, Judge James Pohl, overseeing the case, released a two-page order stating, following a request by his defence team, that the court cannot intervene to order medical care for him. While held at CIA secret prisons, he was subject to torture that amounted to rape and as a result has caused him long-term physical problems and continued bleeding, for which he has yet to receive adequate treatment, more than a decade later. When making the request in February, it was the first time his lawyers had spoken about the torture he suffered, following the release of the redacted Senate CIA torture report. His lawyer “specifically cited a reference to an investigation of allegations that CIA agents conducted medically unnecessary rectal exams with excessive force on two detainees, one of them Hawsawi, who afterward suffered an anal fissure, rectal prolapse and haemorrhoids.”

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article15621776.html

On 5 March, Yemeni Saeed Sarem Jarabh, 36, became the latest prisoner to be cleared for release by the periodic review board, bringing the total number of prisoners held but who have been cleared for release to 58 out of 122 remaining prisoners. However, the administrative extra-legal review board ruled that his compatriot Khaled Qasim was not cleared due to his non-compliant behaviour at Guantánamo. A new review has been scheduled for 6 months’ time.

http://news.yahoo.com/yemeni-eligible-release-guantanamo-panel-194628491.html

Omar Khadr, who is currently held at the medium-security Bowden Institution in Innisfail, Canada, had a bail hearing on 23-24 March in Edmonton. His lawyers have applied for bail pending the outcome of his military tribunal conviction appeal in the US and his lawyer Dennis Edney QC and his wife Patricia have offered to take Omar into their own home. Questions about security and legality were raised in the case which is the first of its kind anywhere, where bail is applied in the enforcement of a sentence handed down in another country. If successful, lawyers for Khadr and the Canadian government will return to court to agree bail conditions. The judge reserved judgment and did not give an indication of when she is likely to make her decision. The hearing was very well attended by supporters of Khadr, so much so proceedings were moved to a larger courtroom. Omar Khadr attended on both days too.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/bail-decision-for-omar-khadr-in-hands-of-judge-after-two-day-hearing/article23625092/

Extraordinary Rendition:

The US military released 43 Pakistani prisoners from Bagram this year, who have all now returned home. Only 6 foreign nationals remain there, in US detention - two Tunisians, two Tajiks, an Uzbek and an Egyptian. Their fate will be decided by the Afghan authorities. It is not clear why they remain detained. The identities of the six men have been confirmed by the US.

http://tribune.com.pk/story/854223/us-releases-43-pakistani-detainees-from-bagram-jail/

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/3/16/how-obama-handed-afghanistan-a-prisoner-dilemma.html

On 20 March, a federal judge ordered the release of over 2000 photographs showing the US military abusing prisoners, including at Abu Ghraib in Iraq, in a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union. The US government has 60 days to appeal and had previously argued that the disclosure of the images could put US military personnel at risk.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/mar/21/abu-ghraib-detainees-photos-federal-judge-rules

http://rt.com/usa/242845-us-detainees-treatment-photos/  

LGC Activities:

The LGC March Shut Guantánamo demonstration was attended by 4 people. The April demo will be on Thursday 2 April: https://www.facebook.com/events/680328588755840/