Guantanamo

12/07/2007 -- SIOUX CITY, IA-- Former Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib interrogator Pedro "Pete" Mora campaigned in Iowa today on behalf of New Mexico Governor and Democratic Presidential candidate Bill Richardson. He called out the Bush Administration on recent revelations that the CIA destroyed tapes of harsh interrogations.

"The Bush Administration has allowed the use of abusive and illegal interrogation techniques that are against the Geneva Conventions, and the destruction of these tapes can only be considered a cover-up," Mora said. "It is a clear attempt to hide evidence from the world.    » read more »

12/5/2007 -- Today, the Supreme Court considered deeply troubling implications of the Military Commissions Act of 2007, a law I vigorously opposed when it was debated on the Senate floor. It was as clear then as it is today that this legislation is bad law and bad policy. It does little to advance our security interests abroad, and it undermines our values at home.    » read more »

Chief Justice Roberts Approves Immediate Oral Argument Release for Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S.

WASHINGTON -- On Wednesday, December 5, 2007, C-SPAN3, C-SPAN Radio and c-span.org will air the Supreme Court oral argument of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S. which the Court is scheduled to hear that day. The immediate release of the audio recording of the Court's argument was in response to a request by C-SPAN (Approximately 11:15 A.M.).    » read more »

September 12, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of a dangerous terror suspect to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Inayatullah, an Afghan national, was captured as a result of ongoing DoD operations in the struggle against violent extremists in Afghanistan. He has admitted that he was the Al Qaeda Emir of Zahedan, Iran, and planned and directed Al Qaeda terrorist operations. Inayatullah collaborated with numerous Al Qaeda senior leaders, to include Abu Ubaydah al-Masri and Azzam, executing their instructions and personally supporting global terrorist efforts.    » read more »

18 August 2007 -- Hungary has granted political asylum to 29 Cubans held at the Guantanamo U.S. naval base.

Hungary's MTI news agency quotes the Hungarian Foreign Ministry as saying the 29 were among 44 Cubans at Guantanamo caught by U.S. authorities at sea in recent years and prevented from reaching U.S. shores.

MTI said many of those detained were opposition figures in Cuba and would be persecuted if they were sent back. Seventeen of them held a three-week hunger strike until Friday to protest the conditions of their detention and to demand admission to the United States.    » read more »

August 09, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of six detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Five detainees were transferred to Afghanistan, and one was transferred to Bahrain. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes conducted at Guantanamo Bay.

Approximately 80 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these remaining detainees is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.    » read more »

July 16, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of sixteen detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Saudi Arabia. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes conducted at Guantanamo Bay.

` Approximately 80 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these remaining detainees approved for transfer or release is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.    » read more »

July 16, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today delivered a speech on the Senate floor in support of her amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill requiring President Bush to close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.

Senators Feinstein and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) introduced the amendment last week. The amendment requires that, within one year of the date of enactment:

* The President shall close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay.    » read more »

July 12, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) have filed an amendment to the 2008 Defense Authorization Bill requiring President Bush to close the Department of Defense detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.

The amendment is co-sponsored by Senators Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Barack Obama (D-IL), and Dick Durbin (D-IL).    » read more »

WASHINGTON, June 28, 2007 – Movement to resettle the detainees held at Guantanamo Bay could be counter-productive if done without first alleviating doubts about the legal framework under which they’re held, a defense official said June 26.

“Fairly or unfairly, (Guantanamo) has a taint and an international taint to it, and people believe that by closing Guantanamo you could remove that taint,” said Alan Liotta, principal director for the Defense Department’s Office of Detainee Affairs, during a call with online journalists.    » read more »

June 19, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of six detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Two detainees were transferred to Tunisia and four detainees were transferred to Yemen. These detainees were determined to be eligible for transfer following a comprehensive series of review processes at Guantanamo Bay.

Approximately 80 detainees remain at Guantanamo who the U.S. government has determined eligible for transfer or release. Departure of these remaining detainees is subject to ongoing discussions between the United States and other nations.    » read more »

The dismissal of two cases in Guantanamo Bay dealt a rightful blow to the administration's quasi-justice system for alleged terrorists.

By Jennifer Daskal -- "On Sunday evening, I climbed off a chartered jet full of journalists, cameramen, lawyers, military handlers and other independent observers, anticipating what was to be the start of the first full-blown trials here. After more than five years in U.S.    » read more »

June 06, 2007 -- The Department of Defense announced today the transfer of a dangerous terror suspect to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Abdullahi Sudi Arale is suspected of being a member of the Al Qaeda terrorist network in East Africa, serving as a courier between East Africa Al Qaeda (EAAQ) and Al Qaeda in Pakistan. Since his return from Pakistan to Somalia in September 2006, he has held a leadership role in the EAAQ-affiliated Somali Council of Islamic Courts (CIC).    » read more »

Military Commission Cases Should Move to Federal Court

(Guantanamo Bay, June 4, 2007) - The dismissal by military judges of two cases before military commissions should persuade the Bush administration to end its failed judicial experiment at Guantanamo Bay, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

NAVAL STATION GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, June 4, 2007 – Following suit from events earlier in the day, a military judge tonight dismissed the terrorism charges against Yemeni detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

Navy Capt. Keith J. Allred, the judge in Hamdan’s military commission case here, granted a defense motion to dismiss the charges based on a lack of jurisdiction. Allred’s ruling follows a decision earlier today by Army Col. Peter Brownback, who dismissed the charges against Canadian Omar Khadr for similar reasons.    » read more »