NEWS:
British residents:
Shaker Aamer lost a habeas corpus petition brought by his lawyers in
April demanding his released due to the post-traumatic stress and other
physical and mental illnesses he is suffering in Guantánamo. A federal judge
made her ruling in a brief decision and the reasoning for the decision was not
disclosed. Shaker Aamer has never been charged or tried and was cleared for
release in 2007.
Guantánamo Bay:
There are now 149 prisoners held at Guantánamo Bay following the release
of five Afghan Taliban prisoners to Qatar on 31 May in a prisoner swap which
saw the Taliban in Afghanistan release a US soldier, Bowe Bergdahl, it had
detained for almost 5 years. Mr Bergdahl, now returned to the US, was the only
US serviceman held by the Taliban. The prisoner swap which has raised
considerable controversy in the US came shortly after Barack Obama outlined
plans to keep almost 10,000 US troops in Afghanistan until the end of 2016, in
spite of earlier plans to withdraw from the country by the end of this year.
The five Afghan prisoners released are unlikely to be returned to
Afghanistan soon, and are still considered high-ranking Taliban leaders by the
US even though they have spent over a decade in Guantánamo Bay.
Two of the prisoners sent to Qatar are implicated in attacks on
civilians in Afghanistan in the 1990s, leading to the deaths of hundreds of people.
Calls have been made to the US to prosecute them, but it does not have the
jurisdiction to do this.
Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, one of the five defendants accused of involvement in
the 9/11 attacks and facing trial at Guantánamo has asked to have his case tried
separately from that of the other 4 defendants, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed,
due to the on-going delays in the case. Al-Hawsawi faces separate, lesser
charges and is not involved in a series of issues that have held up the
pre-trial hearings. A similar application two years ago was rejected.
At this month’s pre-trial hearing, on 16 June, the judge heard arguments
that were raised at the last hearing concerning a possible FBI probe into
lawyers defending the five men, amid accusations that the FBI tried to turn a
defence team expert into an informant. The court also considered whether there
were other similar issues defence lawyers were not aware of. The pre-trial
hearing has now been adjourned until August.
In the case of Abd Al-Nashiri, currently facing the death penalty at
Guantánamo for alleged involvement in attacks on US military vessels in the
Gulf of Aden in 2000, the military judge at Guantánamo James Pohl upheld his
earlier ruling in April demanding the CIA disclose details of the torture
Al-Nashiri faced when he “disappeared” into secret CIA-run torture facilities
around the world following his arrest in the UAE in 2002. The ruling dismissed an
appeal by the US government and is reported to demand details of dates and
places. The disclosure could reveal considerable details about the CIA’s
extraordinary rendition programme. Al-Nashiri currently has two cases pending at
the European Court of Human Rights against Poland and Romania, where he is
reported to have been held and tortured, among other countries.
Abd al Hadi
al-Iraqi, a 53-year old Iraqi national who moved to Afghanistan in the 1990s,
has become the twelfth prisoner to be arraigned before a military commission at
Guantánamo on 18 June, over seven years after he arrived at Guantánamo Bay.
Al-Iraqi was “was arraigned on the noncapital charges of terrorism, denying
quarter, using treachery or perfidy, murder of protected persons, attacking
protected property, attacking civilians, attacking civilian objects, and
employing poison or similar weapons to force the United States, its allies, and
non-Muslims out of the Arabian Peninsula, Afghanistan and Iraq”. Considered a
senior member of Al Qaeda by the US military, his lawyers will argue that he is
actually an ordinary soldier of the Taliban, not an Al Qaeda member, making him
a lawful combatant who was defending his adopted homeland of Afghanistan. The
timing of the arraignment has raised questions as to whether it was to deflect
criticism from the release of five Afghan Taliban prisoners as part of a
prisoner swap for the release of one US soldier held by the Taliban in
Afghanistan.
He has requested
a civilian lawyer to help prepare his case. He has been assigned a military
lawyer but as his charges do not carry the death penalty, a civilian lawyer is
not automatically allocated and security clearance is required for any such
counsel.
Three prisoner
status reviews were held this month: Kuwaitis Fawzi Al-Odah and Fayiz
Al-Kandari, had their detention status reviewed on 4 and 12 June respectively.
Neither man has been charged or tried; while 10 other Kuwaiti prisoners have
long been released, they have remained and been held indefinitely. A $40
million rehabilitation centre built by the Kuwaiti authorities to house and
monitor the two men if returned to the country has remained unused for several
years. Lawyers for the two men said they would agree to remain at such a centre
and undergo other monitoring by the authorities and that their intention is to
return home and live ordinary civilian lives. Both had travelled to Afghanistan
for charitable purposes and worked with established NGOs.
A Saudi prisoner had his status reviewed a week later.
Lahcen
Ikasrrien, a former Guantánamo prisoner released to Spain in 2005, where he is
a naturalised citizen, was arrested with 7 other men on 16 June on suspicion of
recruiting militants to fight in Syria. He is suspected of being the leader of
an ISIS cell in Spain. Several dozen arrests have been carried out across the
country over the past month. Ikasrrien, who was never charged or tried, and
tortured in Afghanistan, has been monitored by the Spanish authorities since
his release almost a decade ago.
Lawyers for 6 prisoners Uruguay offered to resettle several months ago
have written to the Obama administration asking it to speed by the process; the
deal has been awaiting the signature of Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel since
March. The Uruguayan authorities have also urged the US to act quickly. The six
men have been cleared for release but are all from Arab states to which they
cannot return and are effectively refugees.
Extraordinary Rendition
Following revelations in the US Senate torture report about the use of
the island of Diego Garcia in British-administrated territory in the Chagos
Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to transfer and detain rendition victims, a
cross-party panel of MPs has demanded greater oversight and control over US use
of the military base there. In the 1960s, the British government forcibly
removed the residents of the island to make way for a US military base. In
2008, the Foreign Secretary was compelled to admit in parliament that the territory
had been used twice for torture flights, having previously denied this. More
recently, NGOs have called on the government to reveal everything it knows
about the use of the territory in the CIA’s extraordinary rendition programme.
The US senate is still deciding which parts of its report to disclose.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jun/19/cia-diego-garcia-chagos-control-combat-detainee-commons
On 18 June, activists from Irish human rights and peace organisation
Shannonwatch, who have logged torture flights refuelling and stopping over at
Shannon Airport in the west of Ireland were invited to give evidence to a
parliamentary committee to consider their petition “asking
for the [Irish] Government to set up an investigation into US Military and CIA
use of Irish airspace and Shannon Airport in particular”.
In spite of criticism from the UN, the EU, NGOs and Irish civil society,
the Irish government has failed to investigate or monitor US military use of
the civilian airport. “Shannonwatch made a number of
recommendations to the Oireachtas Committee, including that the government
should establish an independent and impartial inquiry into the use of Shannon
in the CIA's illegal renditions programme.” This inquiry should examine the
reasons for the failure to inspect suspect rendition aircraft. And the outcome
of the inquiry should be made public" said John Lannon who was part of the
Shannonwatch delegation that addressed the Oireachtas Committee.”
Police in Scotland are currently carrying out investigations into
torture flights through Glasgow Airport. Six flights are currently being
investigated, including one stop-over carrying Khaled Sheikh Mohammed to a
torture facility in Poland. Other flights may be investigated too but that has
yet to be confirmed.
LGC Activities:
The June “Shut
Guantánamo!” demonstration was attended by 8 people. The July
demonstration will be
at 12-1pm outside the US Embassy and 1.15-2.15pm outside Speaker’s Corner,
Marble Arch on Thursday 3rd July: https://www.facebook.com/events/554058481369760/
Over 50 people joined
a solidarity vigil we held in Trafalgar Square on 26 June to mark International
Day in Support of Victims of Torture. Joined by several other campaigns, activists
held a “See No Evil, Speak No Evil” vigil to highlight this year’s theme of
fighting impunity, particularly relevant to the UK. A report of the successful
action can be read here: http://londonguantanamocampaign.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/see-no-evil-speak-no-evil-solidarity.html
