Guantanamo prisoners

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Defense Lawyers Let Inside Secret Gitmo Camp

First-ever visit to undisclosed locale 'helpful:' defense attorney

(Newser) - Defense lawyers were allowed for the first time into a section of the prison at Guantanamo Bay so restricted that even its location on the US base is secret. The pair of military attorneys for an alleged Sept. 11 plotter went to Camp 7 to gauge the effects of the...

To Close Guantánamo, US Must Go Through Yemen

Officials reluctant to send prisoners back to unstable nation

(Newser) - As the new administration decides how to make good on its promise to close Guantánamo Bay, the little nation of Yemen is proving to be big trouble. US officials began sending detainees to be held in their home countries in 2005, but have kept all 100-odd Yemenis over fears...

Assaults on Our Freedom Come From Left and Right

Long bipartisan history of infringing on rights of Americans

(Newser) - Those who blame the current administration for assaults on US constitutional freedoms should take a longer view, writes Alexander Cockburn in the American Conservative. “No doubt the conservatives who cheered Bush on as he abrogated ancient rights and stretched the powers of his office to unseen limits would have...

Gitmo Detainees Begin Court Challenge

Six Algerian prisoners are first to contest detention by US

(Newser) - A federal judge opened the first habeas corpus hearing for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, five months after the Supreme Court ruled that they may challenge their detention in court. The judge closed the court after opening statements were made, saying that the evidence was classified, the New York Times...

Trial Begins for Accused al-Qaeda Moviemaker

Prosecutors say propaganda director created terror recruitment videos

(Newser) - The trial of a man accused of creating videos for al-Qaeda is under way at Guantanamo Bay, the Miami Herald reports. Prosecutors say Ali Hamza al Bahlul, a Yemeni, made recruitment videos for the terror group, including one that glorified the bombing of the USS Cole, prosecutors argue. He faces...

Bush Committed to Gitmo Gulag

Come hell or Supreme Court, administration believes in controversial lock up

(Newser) - Despite his stated desire to the contrary, President Bush and his most hawkish aides are determined to keep prison facilities operating at Guantánamo Bay, reports the New York Times. Bush made up his mind following a Supreme Court ruling in the summer granting 250 detainees the right to challenge...

9/11 Suspects Denied Internet Access for Defense Prep

Granted battery power but no 'state-of-art' office technology

(Newser) - A judge has denied Internet access to five suspects being held at Guantanamo Bay for their involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks, reports the Miami Herald. Three of the five are their own attorneys and requested access to help prepare their defense. The government was ordered to provide enough battery...

Appeals Court Halts Release of 17 at Gitmo

Goverment seeks to reverse decision to free Chinese Muslims

(Newser) - An appeals court has blocked the release of 17 Chinese Muslim detainees at Guantanamo Bay after the Bush administration filed an emergency motion. A lower court had ruled that the men, members of the Uighur minority who have been imprisoned for 7 years, must be released. That decision also said...

Judge Orders 17 Gitmo Inmates Freed

Major blow to White House as judge refers to nation's 'founding principle'

(Newser) - In a huge blow to the Bush administration a federal judge has ordered the immediate release of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for seven years, reports the Washington Post. He said the men must be released to volunteer Uighur families by Friday for possible resettlement...

Was Qaeda Cabbie Flunky or Warrior?

Hamdan's sentence depends on which image is convincing

(Newser) - Now that Salim Hamdan has been found guilty of driving Osama bin Laden around Afghanistan, sentencers must now decide if that makes him a warrior or a flunky, USA Today reports. Testimony from a psychiatrist describing Hamdan's path from impoverished Yemeni orphan to chauffeur for the world's most wanted man...

Bin Laden Driver's Soft Spot: McDonald's Fries

FBI agents discovered he liked them during interrogations

(Newser) - Osama bin Laden’s driver warmed up to interrogators after he was given McDonald’s french fries, Reuters reports. He "even appreciated that McDonald's fries are not good cold," an FBI agent testified yesterday at Salim Hamdan’s war crimes trial. In another instance, he perked up when...

Gitmo Trial Describes al-Qaeda Inner Circle

Driver was key member of organization: prosecutor

(Newser) - Arguments in the trial of Salim Hamdan gave a view of al-Qaeda's inner circle today, as prosecutors opened by painting Osama bin Laden's driver as a key member of the organization, the Miami Herald reports. The lead prosecutor depicted Hamdan as a constant presence in high-level al-Qaeda operations and argued...

Gitmo Trial Will Proceed After Judge Threatens Delay

Defense lawyers win access to alleged 9/11 mastermind

(Newser) - Federal prosecutors will give lawyers for Osama bin Laden's ex-driver access to accused 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed this weekend, ensuring that the first Guantanamo tribunal will begin Monday as scheduled, the Miami Herald reports. The judge in the case apparently forced the hand of the government lawyers prosecuting Salim...

Trial of Bin Laden's Driver Can Begin, Judge Rules

Tosses effort to stall; trial will begin Monday

(Newser) - The first war crimes trial at Guantanamo Bay can begin Monday, a federal judge ruled today, saying civilian courts should let the military process play out as Congress intended. A US District judge rejected an effort by Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, to postpone his trial.

Video of Gitmo Interrogation Hits Web

Sobbing 16-year-old Canadian detainee claims torture

(Newser) - A videotape of Canadian officials interrogating a sobbing 16-year-old detainee at Guantanamo Bay surfaced on the Internet today. The clip, made public under a court order obtained by the suspect's lawyer, is the first such footage from the detention center to reach the public, the CBC reports. It shows an...

Gitmo Inmates May Testify for bin Laden Aide

Prosecutors seek to block testimony as threat to national security

(Newser) - Fellow Guantanamo Bay inmates may testify at the upcoming terror trial of Osama bin Laden’s former driver, the Washington Post reports. Lawyers for Salim Ahmed Hamdan hope the testimony will prove their client was not a high-level terror operative. The military officer in charge of the case said he...

'Insane' Gitmo Rules Frustrate Lawyers

Red tape strangles proceedings

(Newser) - Lawyers for the five Guantanamo prisoners facing military tribunals find themselves drowning in red tape, with security rules undermining even the most basic proceedings, Reuters reports. From office supplies to legal backup for the three detainees representing themselves, support is hard to come by. "You have from the sublime...

Judge Demands Speedy Trial for Gitmo Prisoners

After 7 years, it's 'time to move cases forward'

(Newser) - A federal judge coordinating 200 Guantanamo Bay cases has ordered the Justice Department to set aside all other work to give the detainees their day in court as soon as possible. "The time has come to move these forward," he ruled. A Justice Department attorney asked for eight...

Gitmo 'Torture' Modeled on Chinese Grilling of US POWs

Communist methods became US training manual

(Newser) - Guantanamo Bay interrogators learned their techniques from Chinese Communists who used them on American POWs in the Korean War, the New York Times reports. A 1957 Air Force chart labeled Communist Coercive Methods for Eliciting Individual Compliance detailed methods like prolonged standing and exposure to cold, and was used as...

Court Likens Gitmo Case to Absurd Poem

Lewis Carroll cited in mocking decision to void detention

(Newser) - In ruling that a Gitmo detainee has been improperly held for 6 years, a federal appeals court deemed the government's standard of evidence on par with an absurdist poem of the 19th century. The DC Court of Appeals voided the detention of Huzaifa Parhat last week, but yesterday it released...

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