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 – June 2022

Guantánamo Bay

One of the very few “convicted” (through torture evidence and secret plea bargain) prisoners at Guantánamo, Majid Khan completed his 10-year sentence on 1 March. His lawyers are now suing the US government for failing to release him for more than three months, “arguing that the US has an obligation to resettle him somewhere, based on his cooperation with authorities”. One of his lawyers, Katya Jestin, said in a statement: “"The government's failure to transfer Majid after serving his sentence makes the military commissions system utterly pointless.

“Why have a trial and sentencing, let alone plead guilty and cooperate with the United States, if you aren't released at the end of your sentence? It's a failure of policy and may have larger programmatic consequences for the government.”

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-majid-khan-sues-us-imprisonment-beyond-scheduled-release

 

Iraqi prisoner Nashwan al-Tamir, aka Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, entered a plea bargain on 13 June before the military commission, pleading guilty to “war crimes charges for his role in al-Qaida attacks against U.S. and allied forces along with civilians in Afghanistan”. Held at Guantánamo for over 15 years and with pre-trial hearings in his case dragging on for many years with no clear progress, “He pleaded guilty to four of five charges against him, including conspiracy and several violations of the international laws of war as an al-Qaida commander early in the conflict in Afghanistan that formally ended with the U.S. withdrawal in August.

“He was facing up to life in prison but is expected to be eventually transferred out of Guantanamo and sent to a third country under the terms of his plea deal after he undergoes additional medical treatment at the base”.

“This is the first plea agreement in a Guantanamo case since the election of President Joe Biden, whose administration has been working to gradually reduce the number of prisoners at Guantanamo and move at least closer to being able to close it”.

https://www.voanews.com/a/iraqi-held-by-us-at-guantanamo-pleads-guilty-to-war-crimes-/6615588.html

 

Former Algerian prisoner Saber Lahmar, who was released to France in 2009 and has been joined by his family there, has been given a 10-year sentence in Bordeaux for spreading jihadist propaganda and reportedly inciting people to go and fight in Syria. His co-defendant was acquitted of all charges. He has consistently denied the charges and his lawyers have said they will appeal the sentence. He was never charged or tried at Guantánamo.

https://california18.com/france-lahmer-former-detainee-at-guantanamo-heavily-sentenced/5238452022/

 

Asadullah Harun Gul, one of the last two Afghans left at Guantánamo, has been released to his family in Afghanistan after more than 15 years and over 6 months after winning a habeas corpus petition in the US courts in which the judge ordered his release. There are now 36 prisoners at Guantánamo.

https://www.afghanistan-analysts.org/en/reports/rights-freedom/free-at-last-the-afghan-harun-gul-is-released-from-guantanamo-after-15-years/

LGC Newsletter – December 2019

Guantánamo Bay

Pre-trial hearings resumed in the case of Abd Al Nashiri - accused of involvement in attacks in 2000 on a US naval vessel in the Gulf of Aden - for the first time in almost two years, and with a new judge, after the case was paused in early 2018 following a number of technical and procedural issues and other issues related to the judge in the case which led to many of the decisions and motions he made being thrown out. During the hearing, prosecutors argued that the US government “should be allowed to continue withholding underlying source documents about CIA torture from defense attorneys representing the alleged mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, even though a judge ruled that the government process of summarizing those documents “produced deletions that could fairly be characterized as self-serving and calculated to avoid embarrassment.”” Full access for Nashiri’s lawyers to CIA records about his interrogation are a major issue in the case. His defence lawyers have argued that summaries of classified government documents provided to the defence differ “significantly” from CIA cables the National Security Archive at George Washington University obtained earlier this year. Prior to the hearing, the new judge agreed in part with the defence lawyers who then argued that a new procedure should be ordered for the handover of documents to the defence.

https://theintercept.com/2019/12/04/guantanamo-uss-cole-cia-torture/

On 11 December, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit heard oral arguments in the appeal case of Abdul Razak Ali v. Trump, on whether the fact that the detention facility has a periodic review system to clear prisoners for release exempts it from the due process clause in the US constitution, thus rendering ongoing detention for almost 18 years a violation of due process rights. Algerian Abdul Razak Ali has been held at Guantánamo without charge or trial for over 17 years. Currently, many prisoners are refusing to cooperate with the periodic review board as there appear to be few prospects for release.

https://www.justsecurity.org/67702/d-c-circuit-considers-limits-on-guantanamo-detention/

The Paris Court of Appeal ruled on 19 December to uphold the decision by investigating judges to dismiss a case brought by two French former Guantánamo prisoners, Nizar Sassi and Mourad Benchellali, to prosecute US officials for the torture they faced during their detention in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo by the US up to 2005. Their lawyer has stated that the case will be referred to the French Supreme Court. The two men accuse the US of “arbitrary detention”, “acts of torture” that include deafeningly loud music, flashing lights, sleep deprivation and violent interrogations, among others.

https://www.rtl.fr/actu/international/cuba-la-justice-confirme-le-non-lieu-dans-l-affaire-des-tortures-a-guantanamo-7799751988

The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2020, the US annual defence spending law, was signed into effect on 20 December and will keep Guantánamo open for at least another year, up to 31 December 2020. It bars the use of funds for the closure of Guantánamo, including to build alternative detention facilities in the US mainland, and prevents the transfer of prisoners to the US mainland for prosecution or medical care.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/12/26/new-law-will-keep-guantanamo-bay-detention-facility-open-least-another-year.html

Ahead of the resumption of pre-trial hearings in the case of five men accused of involvement in attacks on New York City in 2001 for two weeks in January 2020, the judge has ordered the prosecution to find a way “for defense lawyers to challenge in open court an opinion offered by the first commander of Camp 7, a classified prison — that the United States military ran the facility once Mr. Mohammed and the others were transferred to Guantánamo in 2006 from years in C.I.A. black sites” and that it was not run by the CIA. The issue came up in testimony provided at the previous 3-week hearing in November. The judge has said that he will otherwise exclude this opinion. The next hearing is expected to hear evidence from the two CIA contractor psychologists - James E. Mitchell and John Bruce Jessen - who are the architects of the CIA’s torture programme, although they have yet to face trial for crimes against humanity. “The testimony by the psychologists as well as the former prison commander is to help the judge decide whether the defendants voluntarily described their alleged roles in the attacks when they were questioned by F.B.I. agents in early 2007 at Guantánamo, months after their transfer from years in C.I.A. custody. Defense lawyers argue that any confessions the men made were tainted by torture, and they seek to call dozens more witnesses in the pretrial phase.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/26/us/politics/gitmo-911trial-ruling.html

Extraordinary rendition:

In early December, the International Criminal Court in The Hague heard an appeal against a decision by the Office of the Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda not to investigate war crimes in Afghanistan over a short time period in the early years of the war, including the CIA’s war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as illegal detention and torture at secret detention facilities it ran in the country. As well as cases brought by Afghan civilians, lawyers have brought cases by current Guantánamo prisoners such as Abd Al Nashiri.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/afghans-demand-justice-attempt-probe-war-crimes-icc-191204064625131.html

https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2019_07304.PDF

LGC Activities:

There was no monthly Shut Guantánamo demo in December as we joined the Guantanamo Justice Campaign at the “No to Trump, No to NATO” demo in Central London on 3 December.

There will be NO monthly demo on Thursday 2 January 2020 either as we will join the Guantanamo Justice Campaign in their event to mark 18 years of Guantánamo on 11 January 2020. Details TBC.

LGC Newsletter – May 2017

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay

Pre-trial proceedings continued in May in the case of five men accused of involvement in attacks on New York in September 2001. As part of the proceedings, another prisoner, Abu Zubaydah, who was severely tortured as part of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme but faces no charges, was due to give evidence on 12 May of the abuses the men claim they face at the secretive high security Camp 7 where they are all held, away from other prisoners and most of the prison guards. He was the first person to be subjected to waterboarding by the CIA and has successfully prosecuted Poland before the European Court of Human Rights for its role in his rendition and torture. Lawyers for one of the defendants, Ramzi bin Al Shibh, have tried for over a year to get Abu Zubaydah to testify about life at the camp to support “al Shibh’s claim that somebody is intentionally harassing him with noises and vibrations to disrupt his sleep. The military denies any sleep-deprivation program is happening, but both the prison and captives consider Zubaydah a respected, well-behaved block leader.”

Abu Zubaydah decided not to testify as he would not be allowed to talk about the torture he faced in CIA custody for years before arriving at Guantánamo Bay in 2006. Had he testified, it would have been the first time he would have spoken in public since he was kidnapped in Pakistan in 2002. As he would not be given a fair chance to discuss the issues he wants or talk about the abuse he has faced, he decided there would be no benefit in testifying.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article151572317.html

As part of the pre-trial hearings, lawyers for the five defendants argued that the tribunal was not legitimate and that the case against them should be dismissed as it is contrary to the international law of war. A variety of claims were made against the legitimacy of the charges in a war situation and whether the court has jurisdiction to hear the case; the men face the death penalty if found guilty. Prosecution lawyers defended the legitimacy of the court and the judge has yet to rule on these motions which go to the very heart of the legitimacy of the court.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article151389447.html

Saifullah Paracha, 69, the oldest prisoner held at Guantánamo, has had his second bid to be cleared for release by the periodic review board rejected. The former international businessman offered to retire upon release and close his businesses; his plan is to return to Pakistan and spend his time with his family. Aged almost 70, his health is declining and he has never been charged since being kidnapped by the US in 2003. The board decided that his “continued refusal to take responsibility for his involvement with al-Qaida” was the reason for this continued detention. He is considered a very compliant prisoner but his lawyer argues that he cannot show remorse for things he maintains he did not do. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article151705882.html

The Spanish Supreme Court upheld the 11.5-year sentence given to former Moroccan prisoner Lahcen Ikassrien for having led a terrorist cell in Madrid that allegedly raised funds for ISIS. He was sentenced in September 2016 along with eight co-defendants.

http://www.iustel.com/diario_del_derecho/noticia.asp?ref_iustel=1165299

Former Moroccan prisoner Younes Chekkouri was given a five-year sentence by the Criminal Court in Rabat on 3 May on charges related to terrorism. He was charged upon his return to the country in 2015 and was only released from prison in Morocco on bail in February 2016. His lawyers plan to appeal the conviction and sentence.

http://www.medias24.com/MAROC/Quoi-de-neuf/173100-Cinq-ans-de-prison-ferme-pour-un-Marocain-ex-detenu-a-Guantanamo.html

Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar, a former Algerian prisoner arrested in Bosnia in 2001, who was released and allowed to settle in France in 2009 with his family, was one of six people arrested in the French city of Bordeaux on 29 May on claims of being part of a recruitment ring for the Islamic State militant group. He was later charged with association with a terrorist organisation and is being held on remand. Given that he is a former Guantánamo

prisoner, he is suspected of having influenced people to go and fight in Iraq and Syria.

Lawyers in the ongoing case of Yemeni prisoner Hamza Ali Al-Bahlul, who was convicted by a military commission in 2009 and later won his appeal to have his conviction quashed twice, have taken the case to the Supreme Court and are asking the court to settle the issue of the validity of the jurisdiction of the military commissions: whether or not they have the power to hear the alleged war crimes cases brought before them.

Lawyers are also asking for clarity on this point in the case of Abd Al Nashiri, who is currently facing a military commission trial. His lawyers have already asked the court whether his offences can be classed as war crimes when they relate to alleged actions in the 1990s, before the war on terror started; the court replied that it was a legitimate question but one that should be considered after his trial is complete.

https://www.justsecurity.org/41548/supreme-court-guantanamo-military-commission-appeals/

LGC Activities:

The May Shut Guantánamo! monthly demonstration was on 4 May. In addition to our regular, monthly demonstration outside the US Embassy and Hyde Park, the LGC also joined a number of other actions to raise awareness of the ongoing plight of 41 men held at Guantánamo for over 15 years. We joined the London May Day march on 1^st May and the vigil on 17 May to welcome the release of Wikileaks whistleblower Chelsea Manning from jail in the US following her pardon.

LGC Newsletter – March 2016

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

Former Guantánamo military commander, retired US General Geoffrey Miller, failed to appear at a court hearing in Paris on 1 March, after he was summoned in February to answer questions about the torture and arbitrary detention of three French nationals at Guantánamo Bay, where they were held from 2002 to 2005. The summons and hearing followed investigations that showed there are potential charges to answer related to the abuse and torture of these men. Lawyers from the US NGO Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Berlin-based European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights are now seeking a warrant for his arrest to compel him to appear. They issued a joint statement after his no-show, which says: “Miller’s absence speaks volumes about the Obama administration’s continued unwillingness to confront America’s torture legacy. The administration not only refuses to investigate U.S. officials like Miller for torture, it apparently remains unwilling to cooperate with international torture investigations like the one in France. Geoffrey Miller has much to answer for regarding the treatment of detainees during his tenure.”

https://ccrjustice.org/home/press-center/press-releases/former-guant-namo-chief-being-investigated-torture-no-show-french

 

The Obama administration is pressing ahead with its 4-point plan unveiled in February with respect to Guantánamo.

At the end of March, Pentagon officials stated that it plans to transfer around one dozen Guantánamo prisoners who have been cleared for release in April to two countries that have agreed to take them. This includes Yemeni hunger striker Tariq Ba Odah who, as a result of his long-term hunger strike, weighs less than 40kg. 37 prisoners are currently cleared for release.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guantanamo-idUSKCN0WX01Q

Germany has said that it may consider taking some prisoners if asked by the US. It has already taken in two prisoners – a stateless Palestinian and a Syrian – in 2010 in addition to one German national.

In addition, a number of prisoners whose status has not been resolved have had dates set for them to appear before the administrative periodic review board, which decides whether prisoners can be cleared for released or must remain at Guantánamo. This procedure was introduced in 2011 and was supposed to have been completed for all prisoners whose status had not been resolved by the end of that year. Among those who will be brought before the review board is Mauritanian prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi who will have a review in June. As well as the author of the best-selling Guantánamo Diary, in 2015 he lost a court case to force the US military to give him a review of his status. According to lawyers from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “More than anything, Mohamedou wants to show the board that he poses no threat to the United States and should be allowed to return home to his family where he belongs.” The ACLU also states that “Slahi was one of two so-called “Special Projects” whose treatment then Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld personally approved. The abuse included beatings, extreme isolation, sleep deprivation, sexual molestation, frigid rooms, shackling in stress positions, death threats against him, and threats against his mother.”

https://www.aclu.org/news/imprisoned-author-guantanamo-granted-review-hearing

Three prisoners had hearings before the prisoner review board in March to consider their status and whether or not they can be cleared for release.

On 1 March, Yemeni Suhayl Abdul Anam al Sharab had his review. His lawyer submitted a statement of his behalf stating he wishes to be reunited with his family and get on with his own life:

http://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN569/160301_U_ISN569_OPENING_STATEMENTS_OF_DETAINEES_REPRESENTATIVES_PUBLIC.pdf

On 8 March, 68-year old Saifullah Paracha, the oldest detainee at Guantánamo had his status reviewed. A businessman, Paracha was kidnapped in Bangkok in 2003 while on a business trip and is alleged to have links to Al Qaeda. His lawyers are fairly confident that he will be released given his age and his worsening health, which rule him out as a threat to the US. http://www.dawn.com/news/1244538/gitmo-detainee-saifullah-paracha-gets-first-parole-hearing

Yemeni Sharqawi Abdu Ali Al Hajj also had his review hearing in March. The US has alleged that he has links to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.

http://www.humanrightsfirst.org/blog/alleged-al-qaeda-facilitator-gets-his-prb-hearing

Over the past 14 years, none of these men have faced charges in spite of the allegations made against them, which have not been substantiated.

In addition, the review board rendered three decisions with respect to earlier hearings. It decided to continue the detention of Yemenis Yassim Qasim Mohammed Ismail Qasim http://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN522/160303_U_ISN522_FINAL_DETERMINATION_PUBLIC.pdf  and Mohammed Al-Ansi

http://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN029/160323_U_ISN029_FINAL_DETERMINATION_PUBLIC.pdf. The two men’s cases will be eligible for further review in 6 months’ time. The board cleared Yemeni Ayub Murshid Ali Salih

http://www.prs.mil/Portals/60/Documents/ISN836/160323_U_ISN836_FINAL_DETERMINATION_PUBLIC.pdf

The Indonesian government has stated that it does not want Riduan Isamuddin, a.k.a. Hambali, an Indonesian national held at Guantánamo, back if the prison closes. Hambali was rendered in Thailand in 2003 and “disappeared” into secret CIA prisons before being taken to Guantánamo in 2006 as a high-value prisoner. Alleged to have links to the 9/11 hijackers and the mastermind behind the 2002 bombing in Bali, and described by former Australian prime minister John Howard as “almost certainly the ultimate mastermind” of the latter attack in 2003, he has never faced any charges at Guantánamo. He was named in the 2014 Senate report into CIA torture.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/10/us-senate-rejects-cia-claims-torture-key-capture-bali-bombings-suspect

Although the Indonesian government alleges that his release to the country would give a boost to domestic terrorist organisations, it may also wish to avoid questions about its role in the rendition and torture of its own citizens.

One month after Barack Obama unveiled his 4-point plan on the future of Guantánamo Bay the issue was discussed for the first time with the House Foreign Affairs Committee in Washington by Paul M. Lewis, the US Department of Defense’s special envoy for Guantánamo closure, and Lee Wolosky, the State Department’s special envoy for Guantánamo closure. They stated that closing Guantánamo was a matter of national security. Lewis said that Obama’s 4-point plan will ““continue to transfer [detainees], accelerate the [Periodic Review Board] process, look for individual dispositions and, most importantly, work with Congress to find a location to transfer everybody from Guantanamo safely and securely.”

http://www.defense.gov/News-Article-View/Article/702963/pentagon-envoy-says-closing-guantanamo-is-national-security-issue

A two-week pre-trial hearing in the case of five men accused of involvement in 9/11 attacks in New York in 2001 due to start on 4 April was abruptly cancelled by the military judge just days before after receiving a secret filing in the case from the Defense department which may impact the hearing. There have been no hearings for the past two months due to cancellations. This case is due to be heard next in early June, although two other military tribunal cases are scheduled for hearing in May.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/02/us/politics/judge-cancels-pretrial-hearing-at-guantanamo-in-sept-11-case.html?_r=0

LGC Activities:

The March Shut Guantánamo demonstration was on Thursday 3 March and was exceptionally held in the evening to protest Barack Obama’s 4-point plan on the future of Guantánamo which does not include an end to indefinite arbitrary detention. The April demonstration is on 7 April at the usual time of 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, opposite Marble Arch https://www.facebook.com/events/1099833546704485/

 

The LGC (@shutguantanamo) is continuing to hold weekly #GitmObama Twitter storms to raise awareness about Guantánamo prisoners every Monday at 9pm GMT. The pastebin is available http://pastebin.com/zpx5F7ab which is updated weekly with the latest information and tweets to raise awareness about Guantánamo. Please join us online if you can!