Guantanamo/Detainees

Report: Detainees a Real Threat

A report that reviews the terrorist threat posed by detainees at Guantanamo Bay counters assertions that many of those being held are lower-level terrorist sympathizers. The report concludes that 73 percent of the detainees are a “demonstrated threat” to U.S. or coalition forces and 95 percent are at least a…

Jul 25, 2007 8:15 PM CDT

Inside Gitmo Lawyer Creates a Stir

An Army reserve lawyer with an inside view of military tribunals at Guantanamo is scheduled to testify about his criticisms of the review process before a House committee this Thursday. Stephen Abraham is an unlikely critic, the New York Times reports in a profile. He is a lawyer in civilian…

Jul 23, 2007 4:23 PM CDT

Court to Review Classified Gitmo Evidence

A federal appeals court has ordered the government to disclose classified evidence against Guantanamo detainees to the court and the lawyers who are defending them. The ruling on Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit indicates the court intends to conduct full reviews of…

Jul 23, 2007 2:31 PM CDT

Suit by Afghanistan Detainee OK’d

A federal judge has refused to dismiss a petition for habeas corpus filed by a Yemeni detainee in Afghanistan. U.S. District Judge John Bates of Washington, D.C., said the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in an appeal by Guantanamo Bay detainees could determine the outcome in the Yemeni case. The ruling…

Jul 19, 2007 6:12 PM CDT

Suicidal Detainee Transferred

A Guantanamo Bay detainee who tried to kill himself nearly two dozen times is one of 16 men who have been transferred from the military facility to Saudi Arabia. Troubled detainee Jumah al-Dossari looked gaunt when he arrived in Riyadh yesterday, his brother told the Washington Post. “When I looked…

Jul 17, 2007 3:30 PM CDT

Gitmo Lawyer: U.S. Agents Seized Notes

A Canadian attorney representing an accused enemy combatant held at the Guantanamo Bay military prison says he was harassed and had his legal notes reviewed on Saturday by U.S. authorities. On his way home after meeting with his client, Omar Khadr, 20, Dennis Edney was singled out by U.S. customs…

Jul 17, 2007 12:56 AM CDT

Gitmo Panel Faces Likely Challenge

Two members of a special review panel to hear appeals in Guantanamo detainee cases had helped the Defense Department draft prior rules for military commissions struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. Former Attorney General Griffin Bell and former Transportation Secretary William Coleman helped draft the overturned rules, and Coleman…

Jul 9, 2007 8:24 PM CDT

Khadr, 20, Starts 6th Year at Gitmo Jail

Although he scored a big legal victory June 4, when the U.S. government–at least for now–was told by a military court that its terrorism charges against him are invalid, Omar Khadr’s day-to-day situation is still the same. Held since he was 15 years old at the U.S. military prison at…

Jul 3, 2007 5:37 PM CDT

Justices Court Kennedy

Supreme Court litigators often play to swing justices, crafting arguments designed to appeal to those whose votes will make a difference. Some justices appear to be learning the same lesson, aiming for the support of Anthony M. Kennedy, the justice in the middle, Linda Greenhouse writes in her Supreme Court…

Jul 3, 2007 5:29 PM CDT

Bill Would Transfer Detainees

The administration is discussing legislation that would move some Guantanamo detainees to military brigs on American soil where they would be held indefinitely. The idea is gaining support despite fears that legal challenges by detainees moved here will hamper the fight against terrorism, the New York Times reports. Aides are…

Jul 3, 2007 4:38 PM CDT

High Court Accepts Gitmo Appeals

Updated: The U.S. Supreme Court has reversed course and agreed to decide whether Guantanamo detainees may challenge their detention in federal court. The two cases raise a basic question, David J. Savage writes in the May 2007 ABA Journal story, “The Reach of the Writ”: Is habeas corpus protection limited…

Jun 29, 2007 5:22 PM CDT

Cheney Pushed ‘Robust Interrogation’

Fare more so than has been realized until now, Vice President Dick Cheney was a key architect of the Bush administration’s plan to evade the Geneva conventions and at least come close to torturing prisoners in Iraq and elsewhere. That essentially is what the Washington Post reports in a page-one…

Jun 26, 2007 1:57 AM CDT

Difficult Decisions Delay Gitmo Closing

Bush administration officials are deeply divided on how to deal with 375 detainees if a decision is made to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Yesterday Associated Press reported that a decision to close the prison is near. The Washington Post reports today that many issues still must be…

Jun 22, 2007 4:44 PM CDT

Gitmo Detainees Turn Poetic

A Guantanamo defense lawyer with a Ph.D. in English has compiled poems written by detainees that will be published in an 84-page book. Marc Falkoff, who represents 17 Yemeni prisoners, began the project after two of his clients mailed him poems, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. Falkoff asked…

Jun 20, 2007 3:44 PM CDT

Terrorists in a Different Legal Category

The Bush administration is claiming that the old legal categories don’t work for suspected terrorists. There are civilians, who can be prosecuted in ordinary courts, and soldiers, who can’t be prosecuted for fighting the enemy. But the administration proposed a new category in 2001, that of “unlawful enemy combatant,” according…

Jun 13, 2007 3:29 PM CDT