Blog of Rights
Ateqah
Khaki
12/16/2009
Guantánamo

Gitmo Education

By Ateqah Khaki at 4:20pm

In light of new developments about the future of Guantánamo Bay and the fate of the men who remain imprisoned there, several recently released books will be vital to the impending national debate about the prison camp. Written by those with first hand knowledge of Gitmo — the detainees and their lawyers — these books provide a unique inside view inside the notorious detention facility.

Read More»
12/15/2009
Rendition

Arguments in Extraordinary Rendition Case Today

By Ateqah Khaki at 11:45am

Today, at 10:00 a.m. PST, we'll be in federal appeals court in San Francisco to argue that our lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen DataPlan Inc. for its role in the Bush administration's unlawful "extraordinary rendition" program should go forward. The government has repeatedly misused the state secrets privilege in an attempt to have the case thrown out. To this day, not a single victim of the Bush administration's torture policies has had his day in court.

Read More»
12/10/2009
Rendition

State Secrets, Take 3

By Ateqah Khaki at 2:36pm

Next week, a panel of 11 judges from the 9th Circuit federal appeals court will hear the government’s appeal of an earlier ruling that allowed our lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen DataPlan, Inc. to proceed. In 2007, we sued Jeppesen for its role in the Bush administration’s unlawful extraordinary rendition program. Our lawsuit was filed on behalf of five men who were forcibly disappeared by the CIA and then tortured in U.S.-run secret overseas prisons or by foreign intelligence agents.

Read More»
12/01/2009

Hiding Torture Photos Weakens Democracy and Accountability

By Ateqah Khaki at 10:34am

Yesterday, the Supreme Court sent back to an appeals court in New York our Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit for the release of photographs depicting the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody overseas.

In 2008, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit ruled that the photos must be released to the public. However, Congress recently enacted legislation that permits the Secretary of Defense to exempt certain photos from FOIA, and earlier this month Secretary Gates invoked that authority with respect to the photos at issue in our case.

Read More»
11/16/2009

Secretary Gates Says Americans Should Not See Torture Photos

By Ateqah Khaki at 2:23pm

Late Friday night, the government filed a brief in which Secretary of Defense Robert Gates purportedly invoked his authority to block the release of photos depicting the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. The development came in our five-year-old lawsuit for the release of records, including photographs, related to the abuse of prisoners. Secretary Gates was granted the authority to exempt certain images from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) as part of the Homeland Security appropriations bill signed by President Obama last month.

Read More»
11/04/2009
Rendition

Accountable for Torture…In Italy

By Ateqah Khaki at 5:09pm

Today, an Italian court convicted 23 Americans for the “extraordinary rendition” of a Muslim cleric who was kidnapped in Milan in 2003. The case is the first of its kind to hold Americans accountable for the rendition of terrorism suspects overseas.

The three-year trial in Milan ended in the conviction of Americans — mostly CIA agents — in the kidnapping of Hassan Moustafa Osama Nasr, known as Abu Omar. Omar was seized on the streets of Milan in 2003 and held in U.S. military bases in Italy and Germany, before being transferred to Egypt, where he claimed he was tortured. After four years in detention, he was released without charge.

Read More»
11/03/2009

Government Hands Over More Torture Documents

By Ateqah Khaki at 2:32pm

On Friday, the government released more documents detailing the Bush administration’s torture program. The documents were handed over as a part of our ongoing litigation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for information related to the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody overseas.

Read More»
11/02/2009

Al-Marri Sentence Proves Federal Courts Can Handle Terrorism Cases

By Ateqah Khaki at 1:01pm
Last week, a judge sentenced Ali al-Marri, the last “enemy combatant” held on U.S. soil, to eight years in prison. Although he faced up to 15 years, the judge sentenced al-Marri to 100 months (a little more than 8 years), taking into account the time he has already spent in military and civilian custody in departing from the sentencing guideline ra
Read More»
10/30/2009

Stephen Colbert Signs Letter to Close Gitmo Now

By Ateqah Khaki at 4:28pm

Last week, a coalition of musicians filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to find out if their music had been used during the interrogation of detainees in U.S. custody. Last night, Rosanne Cash, one of the musicians who filed the request, appeared on The Colbert Report to go head-to-head with Stephen Colbert on the use of “torture music” at Guantánamo.

Read More»
10/28/2009
Rendition

Rendition Rewind

By Ateqah Khaki at 3:21pm

Yesterday, a federal appeals court announced that it will hear the government’s appeal of an earlier ruling that allowed the ACLU’s lawsuit against Boeing subsidiary, Jeppesen DataPlan Inc., to go forward. In 2007, we sued Jeppesen for its role in the Bush administration’s unlawful “extraordinary rendition” program. Our lawsuit was filed on behalf of five men who were forcibly disappeared and then tortured in U.S.-run secret overseas prisons or by foreign intelligence agents.

Read More»
Statistics image