LGC Newsletter – November 2023

 Guantánamo Bay

Two weeks of pre-trial hearings were held in the case of the four (previously 5) prisoners accused of involvement in attacks on New York in September 2001, although they were marred by weather conditions and attendees having Covid-19. Looking at the issue of how CIA torture contaminated later FBI interrogations, an Iraqi-American linguist for the FBI testified how he had translated and identified the suspects through coded transcripts he had worked on that were taken secretly during the defendants’ early days (they arrived at Guantánamo after years of illegal detention in secret CIA torture prisons in 2006) at Guantánamo and their discussions with other prisoners. The information related to this secret spying on prisoners was declassified and prosecutors are seeking to use it as evidence if the case goes to trial. “The move comes as prosecutors have considered new ways to counter claims by defense lawyers that torture by the C.I.A. contaminated subsequent F.B.I. interrogations of Mr. [Khalid Sheikh] Mohammed and his accused accomplices to produce confessions the government considers its most important trial evidence. It also shed light on an eavesdropping operation whose existence has until now never been formally acknowledged.” A lawyer for one of the defendants, Ammar al Baluchi, has said he will challenge the admissibility of these recordings, which were obtained not only secretly through conversations between prisoners held in isolation during their recreation time but more than 5 years after they were detained: “From 2006 to 2009, he said, the prisoners were held in solitary confinement and each one was allowed to speak only with one other prisoner, during an hour reprieve from their maximum-security cells. At the time, prisoners in the custody of a special unit known as Task Force Praetorian or Task Force Platinum were given recreation time in specifically designated pairs. They were confined to separate enclosures, meaning the prisoners could shout back and forth but not see one another.”.

No further hearings in any case are due to be held until 2024.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/us/politics/guantanamo-9-11-case-tapes.html

https://www.lawdragon.com/news-features/2023-11-16-in-final-hearing-of-2023-fbi-witness-testifies-on-secret-recordings-made-of-9-11-defendants

LGC Newsletter – January 2023

 Guantánamo Bay

At least ten of the remaining 35 Guantánamo prisoners are reported to have contract Covid-19 this month. Given the existing medical facilities and the ageing prisoner population, the outbreak is of concern, however the US military has no plans to draft in or provide any further facilities. Scheduled legal meetings have been cancelled for at least one week.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-covid-19-cases-rise-one-third-detainee-population-report-says

 

In mid-January, an appeal was heard in the case of former Algerian prisoner Saber Lahmar in France where he was convicted in 2022 and sentenced to ten years in prison for reportedly having incited individuals to go and fight in Syria and Iraq. His lawyers argued that he does not have the influence on Islamists the court claimed he does.

https://www.cnews.fr/france/2023-01-18/propagande-jihadiste-en-gironde-le-proces-en-appel-de-lex-detenu-de-guantanamo

 

The lawyer of Ammar Al-Baluchi, one of the defendants in the ongoing 9/11 capital case, has reported that he has been informed by a doctor at Guantánamo that he has a tumour on his spine. According to a report filed, based on MRIs and other diagnostic tests, although currently benign, it will "eventually affect motor or sensory nerves as it grows". “Brain scans also found that the Guantanamo detainee's psychological functioning had "seriously diminished" as a result of the torture, leaving him with a host of issues including traumatic brain injury, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.”

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-tumour-discovered-detainee-ammar-al-baluchis-spine-court-filings-say

LGC Newsletter – March 2020

Guantánamo Bay

On 24 March, the US military reported that a Navy sailor based at Guantánamo had contracted the Covid19 virus, the first of the 6000 military personnel stationed there. According to journalist Carol Rosenberg, this does not affect the prisoners at Guantánamo Bay or any personnel at the detention centre, and extensive measures have been taken to protect staff and prisoners, many of whom are at heightened risk after years of torture and abuse at the hands of the US military. Meetings with lawyers must also currently take place via video link or telephone and not in person due to the virus.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/489211-navy-sailor-at-guantanamo-tests-positive-for-coronavirus

A federal judge has ordered the US government to set up a Mixed Medical Commission, an independent medical panel, made up of one US military doctor and two doctors from third countries, to carry out a psychological assessment of Saudi prisoner Mohammed Al-Qahtani to see if he is receiving adequate psychiatric care at the facility. Al-Qahtani has suffered from schizophrenia since his childhood. His lawyers are calling for him to be returned to Saudi Arabia for psychiatric treatment. Although he admitted as much before he was detained in Afghanistan in 2001, the US detained him and subjected him to brutal forms of torture, including “beatings, exposure to extreme temperatures and noise, sleep deprivation and extended solitary confinement. An FBI official in 2002 observed al-Qahtani speaking to non-existent people, hearing voices and crouching in a corner of his cell while covering himself with a sheet for hours at a time”. The Pentagon has admitted that he was tortured and as a result he has never been charged in over 18 years of detention. The ruling is a first at Guantánamo where the military is secretive about medical records and procedures. In spite of awareness of his mental health illnesses, he is still considered a threat to US security.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2020/03/10/judge-orders-medical-panel-20th-hijacker-guantanamo.html

The Department of Defense has stated that it is considering reducing the number of staff at Guantánamo, the most expensive prison in the world with only two convicted prisoners, to make the facility more efficient and effective. There are currently 45 military personnel for each of the 40 remaining prisoners.

https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2020/03/12/SOUTHCOM-commander-DoD-to-right-size-staffing-at-Guantanamo-Bay/1401584045721/

The third judge in the case of five men accused of involvement in attacks on New York City in September 2001, US Air Force Colonel Shane Cohen, who only took over the case last year, has announced his retirement from the case after just nine months as he is retiring from active military duty in July. He said in a letter that his last day as judge in the case will be 24 April, although no further hearings are scheduled in the case until June. His departure is likely to make the start date for the trial of January 2021, which he set, more improbable. Last month a long-term lead defence lawyer also quit the case on health grounds; these are just the latest obstacles to the show trial going ahead.

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/25/821743555/judges-retirement-is-likely-to-delay-trial-of-sept-11-defendants-at-guantanamo?t=1585238210832

Extraordinary Rendition

Following a hearing in December 2019, the appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court in The Hague has authorised an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the US, Afghan and Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan post-2003. Allegations relating to British troops may emerge in the process. The ruling grants the prosecutor greater authority to act on her own initiative. The US has criticised this decision.

https://www.theguardian.com/law/2020/mar/05/senior-icc-judges-authorise-afghanistan-war-crimes-inquiry

https://www.justsecurity.org/69059/icc-appeals-chambers-afghanistan-decision-limits-judicial-review-of-prosecutorial-discretion/

LGC Activities

Owing to the social distancing and self-isolation measures currently in place to deal with Covid19, the London Guantánamo Campaign’s monthly Shut Guantánamo! demonstration will be held virtually at 12-2pm on Thursday 2 April. To take part, please email a photo/video of your banner to us at london.gtmo@gmail.com before 12pm on 2 April or share your picture/video to our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/London-Guantánamo-Campaign-114010671973111/ or via Twitter (or just a message) @shutguantanamo between 12 and 2pm on Thursday 2 April. More details here: https://www.facebook.com/London-Guantánamo-Campaign-114010671973111/