The Guantanamo Bay detainment camp - Articles - Zimbio

Judge allows laptops for Gitmo detainees - United Press International

Sun, 13 Oct 2008 16:37:24 GMT

posted by jeffwend

Judge allows laptops for Gitmo detainees
United Press International - 38 minutes ago
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Oct. 13 (UPI) — A US military judge says five alleged al-Qaida terrorists imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, can use their laptop computers 12 hours per day.
Judge denies terror suspects' request for Internet access at Gitmo USA Today
Al Qaeda defendants get laptops at Guantánamo, judge rules The Miami Herald
The Associated Press - JURIST - PRESS TV
all 86 news articles

Original post by Google News - Sci/Tech and software by Elliott Back

Is There Truly Hope For The "Forgotten And Faceless"

Tue, 8 Oct 2008 23:00:00 GMT

posted by mentarch
I previously wrote about these poor, unfortunate souls, especially about how they have become "no land's men". Well, there is at last hope that they may finally be freed from the unjust imprisonment that they suffered throughout the last seven years or so:

Federal judge orders release of Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay

In what the AP calls “a landmark decision,” a federal judge has ordered the release of a small group of Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay into the United States. The detainees, who the Bush administration no longer considers enemy combatants, had been held for almost seven years. NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reports that the Bush administration doesn’t want the detainees coming to the U.S. because “that sets a legal precedent.” Watch it:

Before the ruling, the Bush administration argued that the judge, Ricardo M. Urbina, did not “have the authority to release the men into the United States and that they should not be sent back to China where they likely would be tortured.”

Of course, the Bush administration is obfuscating yet again on this matter in order to cover its own incompetence - why am I not surprised?

At least, the light of hope is finally shining at the end of the long and dark tunnel of these unfortunate souls whom have been so unjustly treated over the last seven years of so.

(Cross-posted at TWWL)

Omar Khadr Video Round-up

Tue, 16 Jul 2008 04:10:27 GMT

posted by lawiscool

Early yesterday morning, the Canadian government, in compliance with court orders, released a video of Omar Khadr’s interrogation by Canadian Security and Intelligence Service agents at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The video, which is the first ever seen of CSIS agents in action, is already making waves internationally. Within hours of the release, front-page headlines were sparked everywhere from The New York Times to the BBC to Al Jazeera.

I can only hope that all of this international coverage will bring more pressure to bear on the Canadian government to step up and do something to protect this young man from the torture he faces in Guantanamo Bay. Canada must request Omar Khadr’s repatriation so that he can face trial in this country.

Below I have collected a number of videos relating to Omar Khadr:

The Interrogation Video

“Before the rage, the resignation and the tears, came the trust. Teenaged prisoner Omar Khadr seemed sure that his countrymen from Canada had come to Cuba to help him and spoke freely when they asked questions. On the second day, the reality almost visibly dawned on his face.

… Much of the material released shows Mr. Khadr — who is wearing an orange uniform — sobbing and repeatedly saying, in a moan, “Help me, help me.”

(The Globe and Mail)

Here is a short segment of the 8-minute interrogation video that has been released to the public so far. The full 7-hour video of the interrogation is scheduled for later release by the Canadian government. The audio quality is quite poor, but if you click the link to view the video at YouTube, you will find captions of the exchange.

There is no evidence of torture on the videotape, but it is reported that:

“Documents made public last week show that Mr. Khadr was subjected to weeks of sleep deprivation by U.S. military officials before being interviewed by Canadian officials, and that the Canadians were aware of the sleep deprivation.” (The Globe and Mail)

Opposition Parties Demand Action

On May 26, 2008, the NDP MP from Windsor-Tecumseh, Joe Comartin, challenged the government to respect the findings of torture by the Supreme Courts of Canada and the United States and to demand Khadr’s return:

On June 13, 2008, the Liberal MP from Davenport, Mario Silva, questioned the government as to how much longer it would sit on its hands and do nothing to repatriate Khadr:

Romeo Dallaire Weighs In

Arguments at the Supreme Court of Canada

In May of this year, the Supreme Court ruled on the (il)legality of withholding disclosure from Khadr’s defence team. The SCC’s ruling in Khadr is what precipitated the release of the interrogation video above.

In Canada (Justice) v. Khadr, 2008 SCC 28, the court ruled that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has some limited application outside the borders of this country. A thorough analysis of the judgment can be found at The Court, Osgoode Hall’s blawg.

Below is a video (unfortunately, quite short) of some of the arguments made before the Supreme Court in that case:

Callous Canadians complicit in Torture at Guantanamo

Tue, 16 Jul 2008 01:12:49 GMT

posted by moinansari

Guantánamo video shows interrogation of sobbing Canadian youth

Video grab showing 16-year-old Omar Khadr being interviewed by intelligence agents at Guantánamo Bay, in February 2003. Photograph: PA

The first footage showing an interrogation at Guantánamo Bay was released today by the lawyers of Omar Khadr, a Canadian teenager detained by US forces.

The video shows Khadr, at the time aged 16, interviewed by intelligence agents in 2003. During the footage he sobs uncontrollably, removes his shirt to complain about his medical treatment and tells the agents: "You don't care about me."

Left alone in the interrogation room, Khadr cries, holds his head and rocks back and forth. The audio is not clear, but he reportedly repeats the phrase "help me".

The video, at times distressing, is the first footage from inside an interrogation room at the controversial US detention camp to be made public.

Khadr, the son of Ahmed Said Khadr, who had ties to al-Qaida's elite, was captured in July 2002 in Afghanistan when he was just 15. Now 21, he remains in Guantánamo Bay along with around 270 so-called "enemy combatants".

The Pentagon forbids public release of photographs or recordings of the US detention camp and the Canadian government had declined requests by Khadr's lawyers, Nathan Whitling and Dennis Edney, to view the video footage.

But in May, Khadr's legal team won a US supreme court ruling for disclosure of footage - in total lasting several hours - as well as previously classified documents relating to his case.

The edited clip video released today shows Khadr interrogated by a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agent, a Canadian foreign affairs official Jim Gould, and an unidentified female CIA official - their faces have been blacked out.

The full-length videos, understood to have been recorded from a camera hidden in a ventilation shaft, is expected to be posted online later today.

The video clip opens with Khadr removing the top half of his orange jumpsuit to show his interrogators his injuries resulting from two bullet wounds. He says: "You say this is healthy? I can't move my arm."

The CSIS agent replies: "They look like they're healing well to me. You know, I'm not a doctor but I think you're getting good medical care." Khadr replies: "No I'm not. You're not here."

After Khadr complains further, the agent states: "I understand this is stressful, but by using this as a strategy to talk to us - it's not going to be any more helpful. I mean we've got a limited about of time and, you know, we've heard this story before."

Responding to complaints from Khadr that his interrogators "don't care" about him, the CSIS agent replies: "Well, I do care about you, but I want to talk to the honest Omar I talked to yesterday."

At times Khadr appears confused and despondent, and repeatedly breaks down. In another exchange, the agent says: "You want to go back to Canada? Well, there's not anything I can do about that."

Dennis Edney told the Toronto Star: "I hope Canadians will be outraged to see the callous and disgraceful treatment of a Canadian youth. Canadians should demand to know why they've been lied to."

The video follows documents released last week that revealed senior Canadian officials were aware that Khadr had been subjected to weeks of sleep deprivation, even though they stated publicly that the teenager had been treated humanely. For three weeks, Khadr had been made to move to a new cell every three hours, the documents revealed.

Gould, who has said he was only present during the interrogation to assess Khadr' s wellbeing, reported to Canada's foreign affairs department that Khadr was "a thoroughly screwed up young man".

"All those persons who have been in positions of authority over him have abused him and his trust, for their own purposes," Gould said.

Khadr, who the US accuses of killing a soldier with a grenade, is set to face a military trial later this year for five war crimes. Amnesty International has described him as the first person to be put on trial anywhere in the world for war crimes allegedly committed when he was a juvenile

Embassy bomb plot charges dropped

Sat, 2 Nov 2008 14:37:23 GMT

posted by pcorp2008

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Nov. 2 (UPI) --

Charges cited by U.S. President George Bush in a State of the Union speech that six detainees plotted to blow up a U.S. embassy have been dropped, lawyers say.

The capture of six Algerians in Bosnia in 2002 was cited by Bush in his January 2002 speech, when he said, Our soldiers, working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were plotting to bomb our embassy in Sarajevo. But those charges against the men, who are being detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been dropped, the Washington Post reported Sunday.

Other terror charges against the men have dissolved as well and the government is justifying the detentions on the far narrower grounds of alleged plans to travel to Afghanistan to fight U.S. forces, their lawyers told the newspaper.

Attorneys for the Algerians say habeas corpus rights granted the Guantanamo Bay detainees by the U.S. Supreme Court has forced the government to admit it has no real evidence of a plan to blow up the U.S. embassy in Bosnia.

A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment to the Post, but the government has indicated other, secret evidence has been filed against the Algerians.