Guantanamo

13 June 2008 -- "The Carter Center and I welcome the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, restoring the constitutional rights of habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees. This hallmark decision represents a victory for the rule of law and will improve the United States' image as a champion for human rights and freedom across the world, as well as ensure that individuals in Guantanamo will be afforded an adequate treatment as guaranteed by our nation's Constitution.

It is my hope that this decision will mark an end to an era of indefinite detentions, torture, coerced evidence, and other egregious violations of civil rights in the name of the war on terror, and that compliance with the ruling will be expedited."

Source: The Carter Center

June 12, 2008 -- Chicago, IL - "Today's Supreme Court decision ensures that we can protect our nation and bring terrorists to justice, while also protecting our core values. The Court's decision is a rejection of the Bush Administration's attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantanamo - yet another failed policy supported by John McCain.

Barack Obama mural, Brooklyn: Photo by Shira Golding (CC)    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, DC— Anthony Coley, spokesman for Senator Edward M. Kennedy, today issued the following statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush.

“When Congress passed the Military Commissions Act in 2006, Senator Kennedy called the Act ‘fatally flawed’ and said ‘its evisceration of the writ of habeas corpus for all non-citizens is almost surely unconstitutional.’ Today, the Supreme Court agreed, and rejected the Bush Administration’s blatant attempt to create a legal black hole beyond the reach of the rule of law.”    » read more »

June 12, 2008 -- Washington, DC – Former Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement today after the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Boumediene v. Bush, which held that Guantanamo Bay prisoners have the right to contest their detention in federal courts:

Guantanamo Bay protest outside US Supreme Court: Photo by takomabibelot (CC)

“Today, our nation’s highest court again rejected the Bush Administration’s expansive view of executive power.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- “The Inspector General credits the FBI for maintaining a higher standard in the interrogation of detainees. In a majority of circumstances, agents at the FBI appear to have adhered to a clear policy in the treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I still wish that Director Mueller had been more forthcoming when I asked him about these matters at our May 2004 hearing. Had he done so, he might have helped paved the way for Congress to investigate allegations of abuse sooner. The Republican majority refused to subpoena documents relating to the interrogation and treatment of detainees. The Bush administration has delayed four years in providing them. This remains a sorry chapter in our nation’s history.    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- (Washington, DC) - Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) said he is seeking answers to questions raised in a report issued today by the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released a report entitled, "A Review of the FBI's Involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan and Iraq." He released the following statement in response to the report’s release:    » read more »

May 20, 2008 -- WASHINGTON – Senator Carl Levin, D-Mich., today released the following statement regarding the report released by the Department of Justice Inspector General entitled “A review of the FBI’s involvement in and Observations of Detainee Interrogations in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq.”

Bush protesters, March 2007: Photo by Andrew Ciscel (CC)

“Some have suggested that the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody was simply the result of a few bad apples acting on their own. The report released today by the Department of Justice Inspector General is proof that that is simply not true.    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008 – Saying that the capital trials of six Guantanamo detainees should comply with well-established guidelines for death penalty cases, American Bar Association President William H. Neukom has offered, in a letter to President Bush, to “engage the most able legal minds to ensure that these cases comport with the rule of law, so precious to our democracy."    » read more »

Death Penalty in Flawed Military Commissions Should Not Be an Option

Washington, DC, February 11, 2008 – The trials of six Guantanamo detainees being charged for their role in the September 11, 2001 attacks should be moved from the Guantanamo military commissions to US federal courts, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

February 11, 2008 -- The Defense Department announced today that charges have been sworn against six detainees at Guantanamo, alleged to be responsible for the planning and execution of the attacks upon the United States of America which occurred on Sept. 11, 2001. Those attacks resulted in the death of nearly 3,000 people. The charges allege a long term, highly sophisticated, organized plan by al Qaeda to attack the United States.    » read more »

Contrary to US Claims, Human Rights Watch Opposes Khadr Prosecution

Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, February 5, 2008 – The US government fundamentally misrepresented Human Rights Watch’s position to justify its prosecution of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen facing charges for war crimes allegedly committed when he was just 15, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

11 January 2008 -- The human rights group Amnesty International staged protests around the world Friday to mark the sixth anniversary of the first arrival of detainees at the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The group is demanding the prison be shut down. Meanwhile, a U.S. appeals court in Washington has ruled against four British men who allege they were tortured during their detention at Guantanamo.    » read more »

19 December 2007 -- Three British-linked terrorism suspects have been released from the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and sent back to Britain. At the same time a French court has convicted five former Guantanamo inmates of terrorist links.

Jordanian-born Jamil el-Banna, Algerian-born Abdenour Sameur, and Omar Deghayes from Libya were all long-time legal residents in Britain before they were detained at Guantanamo.

The three men were among more than a dozen British citizens or residents sent to the prison camp. The British citizens were all released by January 2005.    » read more »

December 12, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of fifteen detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Thirteen detainees were transferred to Afghanistan and two to Sudan. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes.    » read more »

December 11, 2007 -- "Today we consider our treatment of detainees at Guantanamo Bay and how best to secure our nation while holding on to those rights and values that make us American. I thank Senator Feinstein for holding this important hearing.    » read more »