Saturday, June 29, 2019

LGC Newsletter – June 2019

Guantánamo Bay
The US Supreme Court rejected an appeal by Yemeni prisoner Moath Al Alwi, held since 2001, for a ruling on whether the US can hold him indefinitely. Al Alwi is a “forever prisoner”, originally accused of fighting for Al Qaeda against the US in Afghanistan, but for which there is no evidence and he has never been charged or tried. Nonetheless, one of the judges, Justice Stephen Breyer, said the court should at some point decide “whether, in light of the duration and other aspects of the relevant conflict, Congress has authorized and the Constitution permits continued detention”. One of the longest-held prisoners, Al Alwi has argued since 2015 in the court that he should be released because the US war in Afghanistan has “effectively ended”. He brought his case after President Obama declared the end of hostilities in Afghanistan in 2014; peace talks with the Taleban are currently ongoing. His claim has been repeatedly rejected and he faces spending the rest of his life, without trial or charge, at Guantánamo.

The draft bill for the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2020, the annual military spending law, is currently being negotiated in Congress and the Senate and for the first time could include provisions that allow Guantánamo prisoners to be transferred to the US mainland in emergency medical situations. The House of Representatives’ draft contains a provision prohibiting the transfer of new prisoners to Guantánamo and extends the list of states to which prisoners cannot be transferred, including Cuba and North Korea, but does not include the United States mainland.

Air Force Col. Shane Cohen is the new judge in the long-running case of five men accused of involvement in attacks on New York City on 11 September 2001. He was assigned to the case on 3 June. Lawyers for the men had an opportunity to question the new judge who told them that he does not intend to leave the case for at least the next two years. Neither the prosecution nor the defence challenged the appointment of the new judge. It is the first time that Cohen, who has been a judge for five years, is presiding over a death penalty case as well as a case with multiple defendants.

Majid Khan, who was convicted through a plea bargain before the military tribunal at Guantánamo in 2012, is still awaiting sentencing for his crimes. The evidence against him was obtained through years of torture at secret CIA torture facilities around the world before he arrived at Guantánamo, including being “hung from his wrists, naked and hooded, for two straight days, causing wild hallucinations”. Torture such as “In 2004, his second year of C.I.A. detention, the agency “infused” a purée of pasta, sauce, nuts, raisins and hummus up Mr. Khan’s rectum when he went on a hunger strike” was reported in the 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture. As part of his sentencing hearing, his lawyers plan to argue that the torture he suffered needs to be taken into consideration in his sentencing “and are asking the military judge in the case to grant Mr. Khan time off his prison term as a form of credit for what the C.I.A. did to him”. The judge has agreed to hear arguments from both the prosecution and defence in this regard during his hearing in July before making a decision to grant the request. If granted, it would be a major decision with a serious impact on other cases based on CIA torture evidence and an opportunity to hold those responsible to some form of account as well as shed more light on it. Furthermore, if granted, Khan’s lawyer can file a clemency petition after sentencing.

On 26 June, UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) released a new report on medical care for Guantánamo’s remaining prisoners. Deprivation and Despair: The Crisis of Medical Care at Guantánamo looks at the medical needs of prisoners and how these have been responded to, problems with medical records which do not include “physical and psychological trauma histories” and a lack of equipment and medical expertise.

LGC Activities:
There was no Shut Guantánamo! demo in June as the LGC joined the Guantánamo Justice Campaign to form a ‘Close Guantánamo’ bloc on the Together Against Trump demonstration on 4 June. The July shut Guantánamo! demo will be on 4 July (US Independence Day) at 12-2pm outside the US Embassy, Nine Elms Lane, SW11 (nearest underground: Vauxhall): https://www.facebook.com/events/1257579677743125/