LGC Newsletter – May 2024

 Guantánamo Bay

Former Algerian prisoner Saeed Bakhouch was sentenced to three years in prison on terrorism charges in Algeria on 13 May. He is the last prisoner to be released by the Biden administration in April 2023, having never been charged with any crime in his 21 years at Guantánamo. In spite of assurances from the US that he would not face further persecution following repatriation to Algeria, he was detained immediately and held in conditions that his lawyers described as “brutal” and has not been afforded a fair trial.

https://theintercept.com/2024/05/21/guantanamo-algeria-terrorism-prison-saeed-bakhouch/

 

The US Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by Canadian former child prisoner Omar Khadr against his military tribunal conviction, obtained through a plea bargain in order to be released back to Canada. “He had waived his right to appeal when he pleaded guilty in 2010 to charges that included murder. But his lawyers argued that a subsequent ruling by the federal appeals court in Washington DC called into question whether Khadr could have been charged with the crimes in the first place”. Khadr was released from prison in Canada in May 2015, where he was repatriated to serve the rest of his sentence, pending his appeal; “A Canadian judge ruled in 2019 that his war crimes sentence had expired.” Khadr is the only person in the world in over 80 years to be tried as an adult for offences allegedly committed as a minor. His trial was tainted by evidence obtained through the use of torture when he was a minor.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/20/supreme-court-guantanamo-appeal-rejected

 

A 20 May report by NBC states that the Biden administration was close to transferring 11 prisoners from Guantánamo to Oman in October 2023, but changed its mind after the 7 October incidents in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories: “The move was imminent and Congress had already been notified it would take place when it was called off.” This is according to 4 US officials who were aware of the planned schedule for this. No new date has been set for the transfer. The 11 men are reportedly either Yemeni or with ties to the country. It is also reported that the transfer deal is still being discussed and could happen in the future.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-ready-move-11-detainees-guantanamo-october-paused-seven-months-rcna152985

This corroborates a story earlier this year on planned transfers that were stalled: “To be clear, these aren’t JTF’s decisions. It doesn’t take these steps until after the State Department has reached an agreement with a country to repatriate or resettle the men; the Defense Department has provided Congress with details of the transfer (which, by law, the administration must do 30 days in advance of most transfers); and the transfer is imminent.

In other words, it appears these men are continuing to languish at Guantanamo not for lack of a country willing to receive them, but for some other reason. As with most things Guantanamo, Occam’s razor suggests that reason is politics. If so, and absent some other compelling justification (the need to focus on the situation in the Middle East would not be a compelling one, given it is unrelated to Guantanamo transfers and there will always be a crisis to manage) the administration’s decision is as misguided as it is disheartening.”

https://www.justsecurity.org/91153/another-lost-year-on-guantanamo/

The Biden administration has transferred 10 prisoners in the past 3 years, bringing the prisoner population down to 30, the majority of whom are cleared for release. The further persecution in Algeria of Saeed Bakhouch since his transfer to Algeria last year, however, suggests that, decades on, the US government remains sloppy and careless in its handling of transfers, even though by its own admission, upon release, the prisoners are innocent and any claims of risks and threats posed to the US are non-specified and thus objectively non-existent.

LGC Newsletter – January 2022

Guantánamo Bay

The periodic review board has cleared five prisoners for release, although this does not mean they are likely to leave Guantánamo Bay in the near future. The number of prisoners now cleared for release, from among the 39 remaining after 20 years of arbitrary detention, is 18. A further 9 prisoners face no charges or trial and are held as “forever prisoners”. The five men are: Somali Guleed Hassan Ahmed (also called Guled Hassan Duran); Kenyan Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu; and Omar Muhammad Ali al-Rammah, Moath Hamza al-Alwi, and Suhayl al-Sharabi from Yemen. Somali Guleed Hassan Ahmed is the first prisoner who was previously held and tortured at secret CIA sites and alleged to be a “high-value” (or most tortured) detainee by the US military to be cleared for release.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/12/us-approves-release-five-more-guantanamo-detainees

 

In a rare and strongly-worded statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has had rare access to the prisoners almost since Guantánamo opened in January 2022, called for the release of the remaining prisoners. To mark the 20^th anniversary of this engagement on 18 January, the ICRC put out the following statement calling on the US authorities to close the prison and release the prisoners: “The ICRC is gravely concerned that the remaining people held at Guantanamo Bay have been behind bars for so many years with little or no clarity as to what will happen to them. The ICRC notes that some detainees remain in Guantanamo Bay today despite the fact they were deemed eligible for transfer more than ten years ago.

“The detainees deemed eligible by the US government should be transferred today," said Patrick Hamilton, the ICRC's head of delegation in the United States and Canada. "After 20 years and well over 100 visits, we see that the more time passes for these detainees, the more they and their families suffer. The humanitarian rationale for enabling those to leave who are cleared to do so is obvious, and all the more so for those whose departures have been delayed for so long.”

https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-calls-transfers-eligible-guantanamo-detainees

 

A February hearing into the case of Abd Al-Nashiri, accused of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in the Gulf of Aden in 2000, has been adjourned due to the “heightened risk of Covid” at Guantánamo at present. The next scheduled hearing is due to take place from 28 February in the case of an Indonesian and two Malaysian prisoners accused of involvement in the Bali bombing in 2002. The three were arraigned in August 2021 but problems arose with the interpreters whom the defendants could not understand and who were accused of bias, thus they did not enter a plea at the time. A report into the case has shown that the military judge, Commander  Hayes C. Larsen, agrees with the defendants that the interpreters were biased and has given the government until February to find adequate and security-cleared interpreters for the case to proceed, with two for each language (Malay and Indonesian), and has ordered the government to analyse the problems with the Malay interpreting at the August 2021 hearing.

https://www.malaymail.com/news/malaysia/2022/01/26/report-guantanamo-bay-terror-trial-judge-agrees-with-two-malaysians-asserti/2037658

 

LGC Newsletter - September 2015

British residents:

On 25 September, the British government announced that it had been informed by the US that the last remaining British resident Shaker Aamer, a Saudi national whose British wife and four children live in south London, has been cleared for release to the UK. Previously he had only been cleared for release to Saudi Arabia, a country he does not want to return to. The British government has pressed for his release to the UK since 2007, after he was cleared for release by the US for the first time. Following clearance by multiple agencies, it is estimated that he should be released to his family in the UK by 25 October. His family have called for his release not to be delayed. Prime Minister David Cameron welcomed this news and has called for Guantánamo to close.

Held at Guantánamo since February 2002, Shaker Aamer has never been charged or tried.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/25/last-british-detainee-in-guantanamo-bay-to-be-released

 

NEWS:

Guantánamo Bay:

Prior to the summer recess, in July, Barack Obama announced that he would have a plan to submit to Congress in early September for the closure of Guantánamo before the end of his final term as president in early 2017. The plan never transpired and the media remained silent.

On the other hand, in early September, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter told the US navy that the plan to close Guantánamo is by transferring prisoners who have not been cleared for release to military prisons on the mainland. He also said that there is no plan to evacuate the base at Guantánamo and return it to Cuba.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article33729525.html

In early September, a number of possible locations – existing military prisons and land owned by the military to construct such a facility – were visited. Congress is likely to object to any transfers of prisoners to the US mainland and senators for the states visited have already expressed their objections. The LGC objects to any plans to franchise Guantánamo and anything short of the safe release of all the prisoners held there almost wholly without charge or trial. The LGC also believes this to be a stalling tactic as there is no plan, given that the Obama government is fully aware that Congress will pose a block to such “plans”. Furthermore, transfer to the US mainland is unlikely to confer any new constitutional rights on the prisoners and they may be held in worse conditions.

http://cjonline.com/news/2015-09-03/detainee-transfers-guantanamo-leavenworth-unlikely-result-new-legal-rights

Showing that there are no actual plans to close Guantánamo or release all the prisoners, a contract has been put out for tender by the government until 2025 to provide prosthetics for 5 prisoners who need them.

On 11 September, Omar Khadr had a bail hearing to have the conditions relaxed and so that he may be able to visit his family in Toronto, especially as his grandmother is ill. A number of conditions were lifted on the same day to allow him to attend night school and early morning prayers. On 18 September, the same judge also ruled to lift most of his bail conditions, as he had been compliant since his release in May this year but kept a few in place. He is allowed to visit his family before the end of this year provided he is accompanied by one of his lawyers.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/omar-khadrs-bail-decision-expected-from-edmonton-judge-today/article26419514/

On 25 September, Omar Khadr joined the audience at a screening of a new documentary about his life, Guantánamo’s Child, at the Calgary International Film Festival in Canada. After the showing, he answered questions from the public along with his lawyer Dennis Edney and the filmmaker journalist Michelle Shepherd.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/omar-khadr-appears-at-calgary-screening-of-documentary-on-his-life-1.3245330

Following an investigation into the risk of cancer at the war court at Guantánamo Bay, which has already caused some casualties and at least seven illnesses in legal staff, the US navy has concluded that there is no need for a full investigation and that air samples and other tests had shown there is no major risk.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article34754715.html

Three prisoners were cleared for release by the prisoner review board this month. Libyan prisoner Omar Khalif was cleared for release on health grounds; he is considered too ill to pose a threat. He is an amputee with no right leg below the knee, is blind in one eye and has glaucoma as well as suffering from a psychiatric condition.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article35368926.html

The last Kuwaiti prisoner Fayiz Al-Kandari, who had his bid for release turned down by the board last year, has finally been cleared too.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article35602146.html  

Saudi prisoner Mohammed Shimrani, one of the first to arrive at Guantánamo was also cleared for release following a review. He had previously boycotted his review hearing in protest at genital searches by guards.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/guantanamo/article36450216.html

There are 29 prisoners who are ‘forever’ prisoner, who are subject to indefinite detention. 53 prisoners have been cleared for release.

There are currently 114 prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. The first transfer in over 3 months was made on 16 September when Moroccan prisoner Younes Chekkouri was returned to his country of origin. However, he remains detained there; Chekkouri was held incommunicado for two days after which the authorities stated that he was being held on remand at the notorious Salé prison pending an investigation into terrorism-related charges. He was never charged or tried at Guantánamo. Following a meeting with his Moroccan lawyer, it emerged that the US had blindfolded and shackled him on his return journey to Morocco, traumatising him. He has, however, been allowed to meet his family for the first time in 14 years. His lawyers believe that the US has confidential information which if released to Morocco could see Chekkouri released.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/sep/17/guantanamo-bay-moroccan-prisoner-released-younis-abdurrahman-chekkouri

On 22 September, Saudi prisoner Abdul Shalabi was returned to Saudi Arabia where he will be enrolled in a rehabilitation programme. An alleged close associate of Osama Bin Laden, he was never tried for any offences. He is reported to have been on hunger strike since 2005.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/22/us-usa-guantanamo-release-idUSKCN0RM2L720150922

Extraordinary Rendition:

According to lawyers of rendition victim and current Guantánamo prisoner Abu Zubaydah, the Senate Torture Report, a redacted part of which was published in December 2014, provides evidence that Lithuania hosted a CIA torture prison. The report also makes hundreds of references to Abu Zubaydah’s case. He was one of the parties who won a case against Poland for torture at the European Court of Human Rights earlier this year. A similar case is pending against Lithuania, which reopened an inconclusive investigation it had earlier closed, claiming there was no evidence.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/17/us-usa-cia-torture-lithuania-idUSKCN0RH2YL20150917

Lawyers for one of the 9/11 defendants Mustafa Al-Hawsawi have also filed a case with prosecutors in Lithuania to find out more about what happened at alleged torture sites in the country.

https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/2015/09/02/legal-case-demands-details-about-how-cia-used-windowless-warehouse-in-lithuania-as-secret-prison/

Police in Canada have brought charges against a Syrian colonel, Georges Salloum, for his role in the torture of Canadian-Syrian citizen Maher Arar who was rendered to Syria in 2002 and was tortured and held illegally in prisons there. An Interpol notice for Salloum’s arrest has gone out. Arar has sought his arrest and prosecution since 2005. In 2007, he received CA$10,000,000 from the Canadian government and has also had an official apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Canada was complicit in his torture. The US has never apologised.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/maher-arar-rendition-development-rcmp-1.3211088

LGC Activities:

The LGC was joined by the family of American-Palestinian prisoner in Iraq Shawki Ahmed Omar at the September demonstration. The October Shut Guantánamo demo will be on Thursday 1 October: https://www.facebook.com/events/444096722441447/

The London Guantánamo Campaign, along with Free Omar Khadr Now, held a Twitter storm on 8 September when Barack Obama’s plan to close Guantánamo failed to materialise. Encouraged by the success of this action, the LGC has held two other #GitmObama Twitter storms since then. Tweets that can be used during the action with this hashtag are provided in a pastebin (click on it and copy & paste the tweets) and everyone everywhere (who is on Twitter) is welcome to join in. The next Twitter storm will be on Monday 5 October at 9pm BST/ 4pm EST / 1pm PST. Please check our Twitter @shutguantanamo for further details and the pastebin to take part.