Guantanamo

[8115]

Still open. Pisses me off. 171 detainees according to Wiki. I know there are a lot of bad things in the world but even so. Oxfam had a big push about it a few years ago but they seem to have gone to ground about on that issue. Extra-legal is bad in my view. Essentially no ifs, no buts.

 

[teqniq]

funnily enough I was just reading this:

Recent opinions from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit are studded with redactions that call to mind the zany game, the one where players fill in blanks in little stories, sometimes to absurd effect.

Consider the case of a Yemeni man who was picked up near the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan in December 2001. The main question in his case was whether a decade-old intelligence report could justify his indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

In a recent dissent, Judge David S. Tatel of the appeals court explained why he thought the report, “produced in the fog of war,” should not be given nearly conclusive weight

“One need imply neither bad faith nor lack of incentive nor ineptitude on the part of government officers,” Judge Tatel wrote, “to conclude that [BLACKED OUT] compiled in the field by [BLACKED OUT] in a [BLACKED OUT] near an [BLACKED OUT] that contain multiple levels of hearsay, depend on translators of unknown quality, and include cautionary disclaimers that [BLACKED OUT] are prone to significant errors.”

Let your imagination run wild. Play with your kids. It is hard to fill in the blanks with words that inspire confidence in a system that places great weight on such a document......

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/13/u...-court-game-of-indefinite-detention.html?_r=1

 

[8115]

A trial judge had ordered the prisoner released, saying the report was not reliable enough to justify holding him for the rest of his life. The appeals court reversed that decision, ruling that the report was entitled to “a presumption of regularity.”

Double

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Obama promised to close it, this has proved difficult, so he vowed not to add to the numbers held. So when face with the prospect of capturing bin Laden, what did he do?

 

[8115]

Trial halted as interpreter recognised by detainees from sites where detainees tortured.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news/usa-...-hearing-halted-cia-black-site-claims-2015-02
http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2015/02/13/guan-f13.html

It's kind of a strange story.

 

[2hats]

Last UK Guantanamo Bay detainee released - Shaker Aamer arrives at Biggin Hill within the next half hour:

 

[hash tag]

locked up and tortured for 14 years, no trial, no contact with family...poor bastard. Very pleased to see he is finally back home with his family I hope.

 

[Azrael]

On practical grounds alone, it's baffling that this dumping ground was ever established. Those captured on the battlefield could've been subjected to a swift hearing to determine their status, followed, for those adjudicated illegal combatants, by a speedy trial, either in federal court, or by military tribunal.

Do that, and there'd have been no international outcry, no recruiting sergeant for terrorists, while keeping prisoners who could be used as a source of intel.

I suspect blame for Gitmo lies with whoever's responsible for convincing (or if they were already convinced, failing to dissuade) the Bush administration that torture's an effective means of gathering intel.

 

[DotCommunist]

Those captured on the battlefield could've been subjected to a swift hearing to determine their status, followed, for those adjudicated illegal combatants, by a speedy trial, either in federal court, or by military tribunal.

hearing the grievances in open court tends to bring to light things the victors wish to keep quiet.

 

[74drew]

Piece in the grauniad about the toll this place has taken on their prisoners.

Dr Emily Keram, a forensic psychiatrist, said: “Mr Aamer experiences prolonged psychological distress and physiologic reactivity on exposure to reminders of trauma. He feels irritable, sad, angry, hopeless, and helpless on exposure to these reminders.

“He was visibly agitated when discussing traumatic material. Mr Aamer is fearful of using the toilet. Because the opportunity to do so was routinely withheld from him during interrogations, he associates his ongoing painful urinary retention, constipation, and efforts to relieve himself with memories of being interrogated.”

Keram also noted that Aamer had angry outbursts, which he was trying to better control and “feels guilty about not parenting” his children. “He experiences chronic initial, middle, and terminal insomnia. He [has] impaired concentration and memory, hyper-vigilance, and exaggerated startle response.” Many of his problems were caused by a severe lack of stimulation, triggering a condition known as special-housing unit syndrome.

According to experts, symptoms worsened when Aamer was held in isolation and improved when he was allowed interaction with other detainees. According to Keram, manifestations of the syndrome include “profound dysphoria, increased anxiety, and auditory hallucinations.”

Shaker Aamer will need years of therapy after release from Guantánamo

That poor man and his family

 

[likesfish]

They couldn't even keep locked up genuine bad guys.
although under obama's watch reoffending rates have dropped to 5%! better not let may read that

 

[Yuwipi Woman]

On practical grounds alone, it's baffling that this dumping ground was ever established. Those captured on the battlefield could've been subjected to a swift hearing to determine their status, followed, for those adjudicated illegal combatants, by a speedy trial, either in federal court, or by military tribunal.

Do that, and there'd have been no international outcry, no recruiting sergeant for terrorists, while keeping prisoners who could be used as a source of intel.

I suspect blame for Gitmo lies with whoever's responsible for convincing (or if they were already convinced, failing to dissuade) the Bush administration that torture's an effective means of gathering intel.

^Yep. I blame Rumsfeld and Cheney the most. W. was a jug-eared, sociopath who was too easily convinced.

 

[likesfish]

shaker aamer doing charity work in afghanistan really?.
seems very dubious just like his bezzer Begg.

but a decade of torture and dubious detention isnt the solution

 

[hash tag]

Well nothing was pinned on shaker despite years of detention and torture. It may be he was helping people with their studies.

 

[likesfish]

he was caught with a fake Belgian passport which tends to suggest he wasn't doing charity work.
Not sure how you can explain carrying a false passport.
although that doesn't excuse explain going hostel on him

 

[purves grundy]

On practical grounds alone, it's baffling that this dumping ground was ever established.

On the contrary, it's on such practical - read ideological - grounds that Guantanamo, detention centres and similar entities thrive.

 

[J Ed]

shaker aamer doing charity work in afghanistan really?.
seems very dubious just like his bezzer Begg.

but a decade of torture and dubious detention isnt the solution

We won't ever know what he did if anything, he has been locked up without charge for a decade and been forced to endure torture and rape which means that he will suffer with PTSD for the rest of his life, he's missed a decade of his kids' lives and not seen his wife for a decade either. The bloke is terrified of going to the toilet because of the torture.

As far as I'm concerned whatever he did before and does now gets a moral pass, if I had been through what he'd been through I'd probably want to join Al-Qaeda too.

 

[Azrael]

hearing the grievances in open court tends to bring to light things the victors wish to keep quiet.

Prisoner status hearings could've been held in chambers before a federal/military judge, and much of the trials could've been staged in closed court, or evidence excluded from open court under the state secrets doctrine. For all its defects, that would've been preferable to the dumping ground in Cuba, that's caused untold harm to America's standing, in return for vanishingly little.

On the contrary, it's on such practical - read ideological - grounds that Guantanamo, detention centres and similar entities thrive.

Practicality and ideology rarely make good bedfellows!

 

[frogwoman]

Fair play to him. I hope he gets some compensation after what hes been through.

 

[coley]

Fair play to him. I hope he gets some compensation after what hes been through.

Hope so, but also hope his lawyers remember who were responsible for his pain and incarceration.

 

[hash tag]

Opened 2002. Still 40 people detained there, just 31 without trail.
Many have lost the best years of their life, many have been tortured at a cost of $13M per prisoner per year.
An utter disgrace. Lets hope Biden will sort it out.

Guantánamo’s last inmates detect a glimmer of hope after 19 years inside

Closing the notorious prison facility on Cuba will be complex and politically thankless. Is Joe Biden prepared to take it on?

www.theguardian.com

Close Guantánamo

Guantánamo Bay is an illegal prison camp that should never have existed. Yet it remains open to this day.

reprieve.org

 

[NoXion]

An utter disgrace. Lets hope Biden will sort it out.

He won't.

 

[hash tag]

Because he won't know what to do with them and no one will offer them a place of safety perhaps?
Of interest here Outlook - Becoming 'brothers' with my guard in Guantanamo Bay - BBC Sounds

 

[Dystopiary]

In extremely encouraging news from Guantánamo, three men have been approved for release from the prison by Periodic Review Boards, the high-level government review process established under President Obama.

The three men are: 73-year old Pakistani citizen Saifullah Paracha, Guantánamo’s oldest prisoner; Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani, another Pakistani citizen who is 54 years old; and Uthman Abd al-Rahim Uthman, a 41-year old Yemeni. All have been held without charge or trial at Guantánamo for between 17 and 19 years

Great News from Guantánamo As Three “Forever Prisoners,” Including 73-Year Old Saifullah Paracha, Are Approved for Release | Andy Worthington

For the 26 other men, however, who included Saifullah Paracha, Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani and Uthman Abd al-Rahim Uthman, the board’s refusal to approve them for release left them in a shameful limbo. Aptly described, by Carol Rosenberg (then with the Miami Herald, now with the New York Times) as “forever prisoners,”

..............

Despite the welcome news that these three men have finally been approved for release — and Shelby Sullivan-Bennis’s hopes that Saifullah Paracha will be released within a few months — it is important to remember that, even before these decisions were announced, six other men, out of the 40 prisoners still held in total, are still held despite being approved for release, and President Biden needs to take urgent action to appoint someone to deal with their long-delayed release from the prison, as well as the release of Saifullah Paracha, Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbani and Uthman Abd al-Rahim Uthman, most obviously by reviving the Office of the Special Envoy for Guantánamo Closure, which was established under President Obama, but dismantled under Donald Trump.


It also remains to be seen whether these decisions mark the start of a trend within the PRBs for board members to recognize the changing situation regarding Guantánamo under Joe Biden, in which, as noted above, prominent voices are increasingly calling for prisoners to either be charged or released, to bring to an end the fundamentally unacceptable policy of indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial.

 

[ska invita]

wtaf

The US Navy runs a gift store in Guantanamo Bay, where you can buy 'Straight Outta Gitmo' mugs, stuffed toys, and beer koozies. Here's what it's like inside.

The Cuban bay is best known as being home to the notorious US military prison. But residents there don't like talk about the prison.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[Dystopiary]

wtaf

The US Navy runs a gift store in Guantanamo Bay, where you can buy 'Straight Outta Gitmo' mugs, stuffed toys, and beer koozies. Here's what it's like inside.

The Cuban bay is best known as being home to the notorious US military prison. But residents there don't like talk about the prison.

www.businessinsider.com

JFC. Sociopathic.

Also

Most people who work in Guantanamo's shops are actually contract workers from Jamaica and the Philippines, Mirk added.

They are paid significantly less than their American counterparts"

 

[hash tag]

And then there were......39....
Biden administration transfers its first detainee out of Guantánamo

 

[not-bono-ever]

wtaf

The US Navy runs a gift store in Guantanamo Bay, where you can buy 'Straight Outta Gitmo' mugs, stuffed toys, and beer koozies. Here's what it's like inside.

The Cuban bay is best known as being home to the notorious US military prison. But residents there don't like talk about the prison.

www.businessinsider.com

Tbf there is a gift shop at the CIA and FBI HQ. The yanks don’t want to see a profit opportunity missed

 

[hash tag]

As the article says, the war is officially over now, or is it. 19 years ‘Enemy combatant’ held at Guantánamo petitions for release because war is over

 

[Dystopiary]

Some good news. The oldest Guantanamo prisoner has been released. Saifullah Paracha was held for nearly 20 years without trial, and is now 75 years old.

Thread by @Reprieve on Thread Reader App

But...

Ahmed Rabbani, Abdul Malik Bajabu and Khalid Qasim are still in Guantánamo, with no idea when they’ll be let out even though they’ve all been cleared for release.

Petition to President Biden: Guantánamo: Biden set them free