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Obama, the Courts, and Congress Are All Responsible for the Latest Death at Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington September 14, 2012

I felt sick when I heard that the man who died at Guantánamo this past weekend was Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni. I had been aware of his case for six years and had followed it closely. He had been cleared for release under George W. Bush (in December 2006) and under Barack Obama (as a result of the ... [click for more]

Eleven Years after 9/11, Guantánamo Is a Political Prison

by Andy Worthington September 6, 2012

Eleven years since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, the majority of the remaining 168 men in Guantánamo are held not because they constitute an active threat to the United States, but because of inertia, political opportunism, and an institutional desire to hide evidence of torture by U.S. forces, sanctioned at the highest levels of government. That they ... [click for more]

Ten Years of Torture: Marking the 10th Anniversary of John Yoo’s “Torture Memos”

by Andy Worthington August 3, 2012

Exactly 10 years ago, on August 1, 2002, Jay S. Bybee, who at the time was the assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, signed two memos (see here and here) that will forever be known as the “torture memos.” Also identified as the “Bybee memos,” because of Bybee’s signature on ... [click for more]

Extradition Gives America Jurisdiction over the Globe

by Wendy McElroy July 27, 2012

Since June 19, WikiLeaks whistle-blower Julian Assange has eluded the British authorities by secreting himself within the diplomatically shielded Ecuadorian embassy in London. On June 14, Assange's final appeal against his extradition to Sweden was rejected by the British courts, and he was ordered to surrender himself to the police on June 29. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa [click for more]

Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri: The Torture Victim the United States Is Desperate to Gag

by Andy Worthington July 26, 2012

A millionaire Saudi businessman, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is accused of being the brains behind the terrorist attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in 2000, in which 17 U.S. soldiers died. He is also a victim of the notorious torture program initiated by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks. No less a source than the ... [click for more]

Bagram: Still a Black Hole for Foreign Prisoners

by Andy Worthington July 19, 2012

In March 2009, three foreign prisoners seized in other countries and rendered to the main U.S. prison in Afghanistan, at Bagram airbase, where they had been held for up to seven years, secured a legal victory in the District Court in Washington, D.C., when Judge John D. Bates ruled that they had habeas corpus rights. In other ... [click for more]

U.S. Honors Deal to Release Convicted Bin Laden Cook from Guantanamo to Sudan

by Andy Worthington July 13, 2012

Getting out of Guantánamo is such a feat these days (with only three men released in the last 18 months) that it is remarkable that Ibrahim al-Qosi, a Sudanese prisoner who agreed to a plea deal at his war-crimes trial in Guantánamo in July 2010 guaranteeing that he would be freed after two years, has been repatriated as ... [click for more]

The United States in Talks to Return the 17 Afghan Prisoners in Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington July 6, 2012

Earlier this year, there was much discussion in the U.S. media about the possibility that, as part of negotiations aimed at securing peace in Afghanistan, the United States would release five high-level Taliban prisoners in Guantánamo to Qatar, where they would be held under a form of house arrest. Those plans came to nothing, but last week the [click for more]

Polish Senator’s Startling New Allegations about the CIA Torture Prison in Poland

by Andy Worthington June 29, 2012

In the long quest for accountability for those who ordered, authorized, or were complicit in the Bush administration’s torture program, every avenue has been shut down within the United States by the Obama administration, the Justice Department, and the courts. The only hope lies elsewhere in the world, and specifically Poland, one of three European ... [click for more]

Still No Accountability for Torture

by Andy Worthington June 22, 2012

Last week, the bad news from the Supreme Court was not manifested only in the Court’s decision to abdicate its responsibilities towards the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by turning down appeals submitted by 7 of the 169 men still held. That dreadful decision established that the D.C. Circuit Court could continue in its mission to [click for more]

The Supreme Court Abandons the Guantánamo Prisoners

by Andy Worthington June 15, 2012

On Monday June 11, when the Supreme Court decided to turn down seven appeals submitted by prisoners held at Guantánamo without providing any explanation, a particularly low point was reached in the prison’s history. The decision came just one day before the fourth anniversary of Boumediene v. Bush, the hugely significant 2008 ruling recognizing the prisoners constitutionally guaranteed ... [click for more]

“Pragmatism over Ideology”: Obama’s Failure to Close Guantánamo, and His Love of Drones

by Andy Worthington June 8, 2012

On May 29, a major article in the New York Times painted a grim portrait of how Barack Obama has taken over from George W. Bush as the “commander in chief” of a “war on terror” that seems to have no end, and that not only appears to be counterproductive but also, at heart, illegal. Understandably, critics have ... [click for more]