Guantánamo Dispatch

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

12/16/2008

Guantánamo

A Plea to Obama, from Guantánamo

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 11:35am

Yesterday marked the final military commission hearing before the eve of President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration. The question of what will become of Guantánamo was a subject of much speculation in the days before yesterday's pre-trial hearing in the case of Saudi national Ahmed Mohammed al Darbi. Al Darbi has been held in U.S. custody for six years and is charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism based on alleged connections to al-Qaeda.

07/18/2012

Military Commissions

Reporting From Guantanamo: “Why Not Get It Right the First Time?”

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 5:08pm

At the Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay this week, military commission proceedings have resumed in the capital case against Abd al-Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri, a 47-year-old citizen of Saudi Arabia, who is facing a possible death sentence for his alleged involvement in the bombing of the destroyer USS Cole over a decade ago. Apprehended in 2002, Mr. al-Nashiri was held by the CIA for four years in secret before his transfer to military custody. According to a 2004 CIA Inspector General report, he was waterboarded and threatened during an interrogation with a power drill and handgun.

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.

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.

10/25/2010

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.)

08/13/2010

Guantánamo

Reasonable Doubt

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 3:21pm

Opening statements began in the first trial under Obama's military commisions yesterday, and the prosecution called their first two witnesses against Canadian Omar Khadr. The youngest of Guantanamo's remaining 176 detainees, Khadr was captured in Afghanistan eight years ago, when he was 15 years old.

Khadr is accused of throwing the grenade that killed Delta Force Sgt. Christopher Speer. Sgt. Speer's widow, Tabitha Speer, observed the trial today, dabbing her eyes with a tissue when witnesses described her husband's mortal injury in the firefight that preceded Khadr's capture.

07/13/2010

Guantánamo Dispatch

A System Designed to Produce Convictions, Not Justice

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 4:40pm

On Monday pretrial hearings resumed in the case of Canadian Omar Khadr, captured at age 15 by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Accused of throwing a grenade that killed an American soldier and participating in a terrorist conspiracy beginning when he was only 10 years old, Khadr has spent a third of his life at Guantánamo. Unless a plea bargain is reached, Khadr's August military commission trial will be the first under President Obama.

05/08/2010

Guantánamo

Interrogator One

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 12:08am

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

Bombshell Testimony from Bagram Interrogator Convicted of Abuse, Reporters Banned from Gitmo for Reporting his Name

On Thursday, pretrial hearings continued in the case of Canadian Omar Khadr, who has spent a third of his life in U.S. detention since he was captured at age 15. Though the Obama administration has claimed it intends to erase the taint of torture and abuse from the Bush-era Guantánamo military commissions, the government is trying to use evidence coerced out of the teenage boy in an illegitimate trial eight years later.

04/29/2010

Guantánamo

Making It Up As We Go Along

By Jennifer Turner, Human Rights Researcher, ACLU Human Rights Program at 6:25pm

(Originally posted on Daily Kos.)

At least 30 journalists and human rights observers descended on Guantánamo this week to witness the pretrial hearings in the case of Canadian Omar Khadr. Now 23, Khadr was 15 when he was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan for allegedly throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. medic. Khadr will be the first person prosecuted in a military commission under President Obama, and the second person selected for military commissions trial who was a juvenile at the time of his alleged offenses.

05/31/2009

Guantánamo Dispatch

Heads: Detention, Tails: Detention

By Alexander Abdo, Staff Attorney, ACLU National Security Project at 8:57pm

It is difficult to divine the purpose of today's closed-door session and tomorrow's on-the-record hearing of the military commissions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Although President Obama called for the suspension of the Bush-era commissions shortly after taking office four months ago, and despite his recent announcement of his plan to "fix" the commissions, the mystery that is Guantánamo marches on, seemingly oblivious to state-side developments.

American Civil Liberties Union