Nineteen years of Guantánamo!

Prisoners held at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp have been under lockdown for almost two decades! Out of a total of 780 men and boys known to have been held there, 40 remain, most of whom have never been charged or tried. They do not know why they are held there or the threat they are alleged to pose. All have been subjected to degrading treatment and/or torture and arbitrary detention.

Some of the men still held at Guantánamo

As a new president is due to enter the White House later this month, we call on you to join us on Monday 11 January to mark this anniversary with an online social media protest. Due to current tier 4 restrictions in London, this event will be held entirely online but you can join in wherever you are in the world.

Please take a photo/make a video/make a banner/share your comment with us via Facebook on our page https://www.facebook.com/London-Guantánamo-Campaign-114010671973111/

or Twitter @shutguantanamo with your message to Joe Biden to close Guantánamo when he takes office. If you do not use Facebook or Twitter, please email us your message and pictures: london.gtmo[at]gmail.com and we will share them for you. The London Guantánamo Campaign is not on Instagram but please feel free to get the conversation going there as well with your friends. Please use the hashtag #GitmoIs19

If you are on Twitter, please join us for a Twitter storm on 11 January at 8-9pm GMT (3-4pm EST). Suggested tweets will be available on our website shortly before on the day.

Suggested tweets for the #GitmoIs19 Twitter storm. Feel free to translate and/or add your own: 

- 780 men and boys, all of them Muslim, have been imprisoned over time at Guantánamo since January 2002. #GitmoIs19

 

- 22 or more Guantánamo prisoners were children when they arrived there. #GitmoIs19

 

- Trump has pardoned convicted murderers serving in the US military or working for private military contractors involved in massacres in Iraq and Afghanistan but has only released one Guantánamo prisoner. #GitmoIs19

 

- 86 percent of Guantánamo prisoners were sold to the United States during a time when the U.S. military was offering large bounties for capture; commonly, $5,000 offered per man. #GitmoIs19

 

- 740 men have been transferred from Guantánamo (including 9 deaths). #GitmoIs19

 

- 40 men remain detained at #Guantánamo: 28 are not charged with any crime or offense. Six of them have been cleared for release but remain imprisoned. #GitmoIs19

 

- More men (9) have died at Guantánamo than have been convicted (8) by the military commissions. #GitmoIs19

 

- 0 senior government officials have been held accountable for the wrongful detention and torture at Guantánamo. #GitmoIs19

 

- 19 years on - #Guantánamo is still not closed & 40 prisoners remain, largely without charge or trial. Will @JoeBiden finally close it? @amnesty new report amn.st/6013Hn2JL #GitmoIs19

 

- As millions of Usians queue for welfare and at foodbanks, remember it costs $13 million to keep each prisoner at #Guantánamo each year. Do you know why they are held there? #GitmoIs19

 

- How many US presidents does it take to close ONE illegal torture and arbitrary detention facility? #GitmoIs19

 

- .@joebiden already has an opportunity to hold the US accountable for the forced disappearances, secret detention and torture of former #Guantanamo prisoners - will he make a difference? http://chrgj.org/2020/12/30/seeking-justice-before-the-inter-american-commission-victims-hand-biden-administration-an-opportunity-to-end-impunity/ #extraordinaryrendition #GitmoIs19 @humanrightsnyu

 

- This is how they beat, rape, starve, humiliate a confession out of you at #Guantanamo https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/6/22/the-torture-of-majid-khan #MajidKhan #GitmoIs19

 

- Close #Guantanamo, end the US’ imperial wars and end the war on terror - #GitmoIs19

 

- The US knew #AbuZubaydah - CIA torture poster boy - was innocent by 2006 but they still tortured him horrifically and he remains at #Guantanamo today without charge or trial. Few people are allowed to see him... https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/nov/21/abu-zubaydah-tortures-poster-child/ #GitmoIs19

 

- Guantánamo opened in its current war on terror incarnation on 11 January 2002. Now in its twentieth year, it’s still a thing #GitmoIs19

 

- Trump pardons #warcriminal murderers but allows 40 men to remain at #Guantánamo for almost 20 years, most without charge or trial https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/dec/27/eddie-gallagher-trump-navy-seal-iraq https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/23/trump-pardons-blackwater-contractors-jailed-for-massacre-of-iraq-civilians #GitmoIs19

 

- Vaccines for Covid19 developed in under a year. Justice at #Guantánamo not even being contemplated after two decades #GitmoIs19

 

- Dear @JoeBiden Obama said he wanted to close #Guantanamo too and today we are marking 19 years of Guantanamo where 40 prisoners remain. What will you do to make a difference or is this just talk? #GitmoIs19

 

- #Guantanamo "justice": the kangaroo court where torturers get to justify #CrimesAgainstHumanity & #WarCrimes https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/20/guantanamo-psychologists-cia-torture-program-testify #GitmoIs19

 

- Will @joebiden be the fourth US president to fail to close Guantanamo or one who will make a difference? https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/13/guantanamos-last-inmates-detect-a-glimmer-of-hope-after-19-years-inside #GitmoIs19

 

- US can't protect its citizens against Covid because billions of $$$ in funds diverted to hold 40 men largely without charge or trial at #Guantanamo for almost 2 decades. Such are its priorities #GitmoIs19

 

- Dozens of states around the world were complicit in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme and the detention of 100s of Muslim men and boys at #Guantanamo Bay #GitmoIs19 https://www.justiceinitiative.org/publications/globalizing-torture-cia-secret-detention-and-extraordinary-rendition

 

- Who are the 40 men still at #Guantanamo? Most are held without charge or trial almost two decades on #GitmoIs19 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oxz3qdeUyOE&feature=youtu.be

- States around the world are silent today on the continuing operation of #Guantanamo Bay as a torture and arbitrary detention camp run by the US. That silence is bought by their complicity #GitmoIs19

#GitmoIs19 - No more anniversaries! Guantá-no-more!

LGC Newsletter – July 2018

Guantánamo Bay

Air Force Colonel Vance Spath, the judge in the Abd Al-Nashiri case, who suspended hearings in the case indefinitely earlier this year and convicted a US national for contempt of court (Marine Brigadier General John Baker from Al-Nashiri’s defence) for the first time ever at Guantánamo is retiring as of November 2018. He has served on the USS Cole case at Guantánamo, in which Abd Al-Nashiri is facing the death penalty for his role in an attack on a naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden in 2000, since 2014.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/latest-news/article214354414.html

On 11 July, lawyers for 8 prisoners held indefinitely, as “forever prisoners”, without ever being charged at Guantánamo brought a case before the federal courts asking for a ruling to have them freed as the “forever war" they were held under no longer exists. Some prisoners have been held for almost 17 years by the US without knowing the grounds for their detention, which is as long as sentences served by convicted criminals in serious cases. The judge agreed that the men were trapped in a sort of “no-man’s land” and when he asked the US Justice Department lawyer about the limits of Law of War detention at Guantánamo, the lawyer replied, “we could hold them for 100 years if the conflict lasts 100 years”, indicating that the US government plans to continue holding the men indefinitely and possibly until they die, even though there has never been a lawful basis for their detention. Lawyers for the men argued that the war on terror “is not a traditional war that could end in al-Qaida's "unconditional surrender."” The nature of the war in Afghanistan has changed and the Trump administration has no plans to release anyone, including the five prisoners who have been cleared for release. Lawyers argued that there must be some limits in place governing the detention of these men and that if the men ever had any actual connections to Al Qaeda, that would be a very different organisation to the one existing currently.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article214645535.html

https://www.justsecurity.org/59491/https-www-justsecurity-org-59491-we-hold-100-years-conflict-lasts-100-years-the-government-admitted/

Majid Khan, at a hearing ahead of his 2019 sentencing (he was “convicted” in 2012 on the basis of torture evidence), told the war court judge about problems between his lawyers and prosecutors. He called the military commission process a “cluster covfefe”, using Donald Trump’s neologism to describe the “stagnant”, slow-moving process. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to act as a government witness, however as no case has been brought to trial that requires his testimony, his sentencing has been postponed twice. He also complained about the high turnover of court staff and legal representatives.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article215159130.html

As pre-trial hearings continued in the case of five men accused of involvement in the September 2001 attacks on New York, it has emerged that the Attorney General Jeff Sessions called Defence Secretary Jim Mattis in October to complain about exploratory talks aimed at a plea deal in the case which would have removed the death penalty from the case, according to defence lawyers who want both men to be ordered to testify before the commission. In February, Mattis then fired the overseer of military commissions, Harvey Rishikoff, who had been secretly exploring the possibility of guilty pleas. Defence lawyers are now seeking that meddling by the Trump administration in the plea negotiations should either result in the case being dismissed entirely or at least the case becoming non-capital.

https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/article215247415.html

During the hearing, defence lawyers also argued that remarks made by political leaders all the way back to the Bush administration have undermined the possibility of “finding an impartial jury of U.S. military officers in the death-penalty case.” This includes remarks made by new CIA director Gina Haspel during her Senate confirmation hearings. They asked for charges to either be dismissed or the death penalty being withdrawn “because of alleged unlawful influence”.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article215486270.html

Pre-trial hearings in this case will now resume in September.

Saudi prisoner Mohammed al-Qahtani had a periodic review board hearing on 24 July, his "first full review since the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia compelled the Department of Defense (DoD) to conduct an independent medical examination of him." He has been diagnosed as suffering from schizophrenia, deep depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). His lawyers stated that he cannot receive adequate medical treatment at Guantánamo, falling in breach of the standards applied there, and asked for him to be transferred to Saudi Arabia so he can be treated effectively there. They stressed that he does not pose a threat to the USA. Already suffering from mental health problems, he was tortured in US detention which has exacerbated his situation.
https://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/al-qahtani-requests-transfer-receive-adequate-medical-care

The new commander in charge of Guantánamo prison operations, Rear Admiral John Ring, said that he has not received any orders to prepare for new prisoners. He also said that there is no policy on how to handle future prisoners. For example, it is currently up to the existing prisoners whether they wish to participate in interviews. The New York Times has reported that around 1000 ISIS captives from around 50 countries are being held in Syria but there are no plans to move them to Guantánamo. He also stated that “interrogations by a prison intelligence unit are primarily meant to gather intelligence on what is going on in the cell blocks, rather than find out something new from captives who got here between 2002 and 2008.” He also stated that the plans to build a new $69 million prison with specialist medical facilities for ageing prisoners would not proceed in the immediate future as insufficient justification was provided for it and that the current facilities are capable of meeting the existing demand.

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/article215636865.html

Extraordinary rendition

Proving that it has learned nothing from the mistakes made in cooperating with the US over the detention of British nationals and residents at Guantánamo, the British government has recently come under fire after a “secret and unilateral” change to its position on the death penalty concerning two alleged ISIS members captured in Syria who were stripped of their British nationality. The UK has said that it would not oppose the death penalty being applied to them. The change was signalled in a letter sent by Home Secretary Sajid Javid to the US with the knowledge of Prime Minister Theresa May. It has also been criticised by Conservative Party members and is apparently not the first time that the UK has not sought assurances in a death penalty case.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/23/uk-will-not-oppose-us-death-penalty-for-isis-beatles

Following legal action by the mother of one of the men to prevent the UK sharing intelligence with the US on the case unless assurances are provided that they will not face the death penalty, and pending the outcome of her judicial review of this policy change, the government has currently suspended cooperation (mutual legal assistance) in the case.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/26/home-office-suspends-cooperation-with-us-over-isis-pair-death-penalty-threat

 

LGC Activities:

The LGC held its monthly Shut Guantánamo! demos outside the US Embassy in Nine Elms on 5 July at 12-2pm for our next monthly demonstration. Our next monthly demo for August is on Thursday 2 August at 12-2pm: https://www.facebook.com/events/631527333900535/  All are welcome to join us.

The London Guantánamo Campaign joined the Guantánamo Justice Campaign and hundreds of thousands of other protesters at the Together Against Trump demonstration in London on 13 July. While sending a message to the UK and US governments to act to close Guantánamo, it was also an important opportunity to remind the public and the media that Guantánamo Bay is indeed still open. Our protest was covered in the Daily Mirror and Independent newspapers.