Guantánamo
Bay
Dennis Edney KC, Scottish-Canadian lawyer of former
Guantánamo child prisoner Omar Khadr has died aged 77. He was Khadr’s lawyer
for over a decade and played a huge role in getting his client released from
Guantánamo Bay when the Canadian government dragged its feet over his
repatriation after a military commission plea bargain was reached, and then in
helping to secure his release from prison in Canada and improving prison
conditions when Khadr was held in solitary confinement and was subject to abuse
from other prisoners. After his release from Canadian jail in 2015 on bail,
Edney and his wife Patricia welcomed Omar Khadr into their home where he stayed
for several years as he rehabilitated back into society. Lawyer Nate Whitling,
who worked with Edney on Khadr’s case said, “Dennis was a great lawyer and
friend. In all my years in the legal profession, I've never met a lawyer more
dedicated to his clients”. A criminal lawyer, he also worked on numerous pro
bono cases. In 2014, the LGC hosted a speaking tour by Dennis Edney in the UK
to raise awareness about Omar Khadr’s case.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/lawyer-dennis-edney-dead-at-77-1.7072899
In a 2-week hearing in January, two Malaysian
prisoners held at Guantánamo since 2006, after being transferred there
following several years of illegal detention and torture in secret CIA
facilities around the world, entered a plea bargain and pleaded guilty to
conspiracy in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed over 200 people. The two men, Mohammed
Nazir Bin Lep, 47, and Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, 48, who will now not have to
reveal “evidence” through torture-tainted confessions obtained from them, will
instead give evidence against the alleged mastermind of the bombings, fellow
torture victim, the Indonesian prisoner known as Hambali. They pleaded guilty
to five of the nine charges brought against them; the other charges were
dropped as part of the deal. Lawyers for Hambali are seeking to have
torture-tainted evidence dropped in his separate case.
As part of the hearing, the men addressed the court
which was attended by family members of the victims, who read out some of their
own messages, and some of their own family members. The advised sentence of 23
years was accepted by the military jury and was later reduced to 5 years in
view of the time already spent at Guantánamo (illegal CIA detention not
included) of 17 years and the secret deal. The men are expected to be released
to Malaysia after that but are not expected to be freed from detention,
something that has not happened to any victim of the CIA’s extraordinary
rendition torture programme.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/17/two-malaysians-in-guantanamo-plead-guilty-to-conspiring-in-bali-bombings
Extraordinary Rendition
Lithuania has been found guilty a second time by the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg of complicity in the CIA’s
extraordinary rendition programme, this time in relation to Saudi prisoner
Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, whose case has recently been severed from that of the other
defendants in the 9/11 case due to the physical and mental impact his torture
and detention have had on him. The court held that in his secret detention and
torture in the CIA-run facility in Lithuania in 2005-2006 “that there had been
violations of the prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment or
investigation because of Lithuania’s failure to effectively investigate
Hawsawi’s allegations “and because of its complicity in the CIA secret detainee
programme”.” The court also “held that there were violations to articles
relating to the rights to a fair trial and life, as well as abolition of the
death penalty, […] because Lithuania assisted Hawsawi’s “transfer from its
territory in spite of a real risk that he could face a flagrant denial of
justice and the death penalty.”” Lithuania was ordered to pay Al-Hawsawi
€100,000 in compensation.
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2024/jan/16/echr-rules-lithuania-allowed-inhuman-treatment-of-alleged-911-suspect-by-cia