Guantánamo Dispatch

Updates and analysis from ACLU attorneys in Cuba observing the proceedings of the Guantánamo Bay military commissions.

05/07/2012

Guantánamo

The Shame of Guantánamo: A Close-Up View of Injustice

By Anthony D. Romero, ACLU at 4:21pm

As I watched the arraignment Saturday of five accused conspirators in the 9/11 attacks, I was reminded of Yogi Berra. Sadly, it was a case of déjà vu all over again.

04/13/2012

Military Commissions

Reporting from Guantánamo: "Trust Us"

By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 5:08pm

This week, I've been in Guantánamo Bay observing a hearing in the first capital case before this latest iteration of military commissions, that of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri. As the hearing has progressed over the last few days, a recurring theme has surfaced: the military commission system will not provide basic legal protections inherent in every other American courtroom. But, the prosecution says, in essence, not to worry: even with these protections swept aside, you can trust us to do the right thing. As I wrote yesterday, the prosecution — and perhaps the judge — does not believe the Constitution applies to Guantánamo prisoners. Chief Prosecutor Brig. Gen. Mark Martins emphasized in a press conference yesterday that the Guantánamo military commissions will be held consistent with our country's values — but apparently just not our constitutional values. In court, Judge James Pohl similarly seems to follow a loose notion of "fundamental fairness" but has so far refused to ground that notion in constitutional law. But trust us.

04/12/2012

Military Commissions

Reporting from Guantánamo: Leaving the Constitution on the Mainland

By Anna Arceneaux, Staff Attorney, ACLU Capital Punishment Project at 4:15pm

This week I am in Guantánamo Bay observing a hearing in the case of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri (pronounced al-NAH-shiri), the first death penalty case to be tried by military commission. Mr. al-Nashiri faces charges for his alleged participation in the attack on the destroyer USS Cole over 11 years ago. Apprehended in 2002, he was held by the CIA for four years in secret before his transfer to military custody. U.S. officials brutally tortured Mr. al-Nashiri: he was waterboarded, and threatened with a power drill and handgun next to his head. Sadly, this week's pretrial hearing in his case continues to erode the commission's purported commitment to fairness, transparency, and justice and instead affirms a commitment to Guantánamo's shameful legacy of injustice.

01/19/2012

Guantánamo

Report from Guantánamo Hearings: When Due Process is a Matter of Life and Death

By Devon Chaffee, Legislative Policy Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:39pm

After two lengthy days of arguments, the al-Nashiri case seems hardly closer to coming to trial. Defense counsel suggested the trial wouldn't even begin until 2015.

11/10/2011

Military Commissions

The Machinery of Death: Witness to Al-Nashiri’s First Guantánamo Hearing

By Zachary Katznelson, Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 1:25pm

Yesterday, the man accused of planning the 2000 U.S.S. Cole bombing appeared before the world for the first time, nine years after his capture, at a military commission hearing at Guantánamo. I was there to observe the proceedings for the ACLU.

The arraignment of Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri (pronounced al-NAH-shiri) was the beginning of what will likely be a years-long death penalty trial before a military commission. Mr. al-Nashiri wore a white smock and trousers (similar to a doctor's scrubs, just a bit thicker and baggier).

02/19/2011

Guantánamo

Still Prosecuting the Little Fish at Gitmo

By Sarah Mehta, Fellow, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 9:01pm

At 5 p.m. on Friday, a jury of military officers sentenced Sudanese detainee Noor Uthman Muhammed to 14 years in prison. Shortly afterward, a military judge announced that under Muhammed's plea bargain agreement, he will serve almost three more years at Guantánamo, on top of his nearly nine years of detention (8 1/2 at Guantánamo). The jury's 14-year sentence is entirely symbolic, as Muhammed will serve the three-year sentence worked out in his plea deal, just like Gitmo detainees Ibrahim al-Qosi and Omar Khadr, who cut plea deals in July and October. (In al-Qosi's case, though the jury sentenced him to 14 years, he is serving only two additional years at Gitmo, and though the jury sentenced Khadr to 40 years, he will return to Canada within a year, where he will serve up to seven more years if he's not paroled earlier.) Under military commission rules, Gitmo detainees cannot get credit for their pretrial detention.

02/17/2011

Guantánamo

Sentencing an Al-Qaeda Lackey

By Sarah Mehta, Fellow, Immigrants' Rights Project, ACLU at 1:19pm

Yesterday opened with the selection of jurors (the process called "voir dire") who will sentence Noor Uthman Muhammed, the Sudanese detainee who accepted a guilty plea Tuesday morning. Noor pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorist networks, on account of his involvement at a training camp in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2000. Reports have suggested that under a sealed plea deal, Muhammed will serve three more years at Guantánamo, in addition to the over eight years he has already spent in U.S. detention.

10/29/2010

Guantánamo Dispatch

The Victims

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 5:07pm

Yesterday was an emotional day of testimony from widow Tabitha Speer and Omar Khadr. As a reminder, on Monday, Khadr pled guilty as part of a plea agreement to all of the charges against him, including throwing a grenade that killed Sgt. Christopher Speer eight years ago. We are now in the sentencing phase of the case.

10/26/2010

Guantánamo Dispatch

Escape from Guantánamo by Plea Deal

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 11:22am

Yesterday, Canadian detainee Omar Khadr pled guilty to all five charges against him, in an 11th-hour plea deal that averted the scheduled resumption of his military commission trial. Imprisoned since his capture in Afghanistan at age 15, Khadr has spent a third of his life in U.S. detention.

10/25/2010

Guantánamo Dispatch

Khadr Accepts Plea Deal, Trial Averted

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 3:44pm

Earlier today, Omar Khadr pled guilty to all charges against him, averting a full-blown military commissions trial that was slated to restart today. A sentencing hearing will commence tomorrow. (But like Ibrahim al-Qosi before him, his actual sentence — reportedly one more year at Gitmo, and seven more to be served in Canada — has already been negotiated; the sentencing hearing will only matter if the jury delivers a sentence shorter than the one negotiated.)

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