By Noa Yachot, Communications Strategist, ACLU at 1:33pm
Literary history was made today with the publication of the first-ever book by a still-imprisoned Guantánamo detainee. Mohamedou Ould Slahi's "Guantánamo Diary" was finally published with some redactions after years of litigation to declassify it.
By Chris Anders, Senior Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:51pm
On January 11, 2002, the first prisoners were slammed into hastily assembled cages at the Guantánamo Navy base, and men then streamed in from across the globe. Typically brought into custody without even the most basic due process review, the newly…
By Zak Newman, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:33am
This piece originally appeared in Foreign Policy on December 10, 2014.
On his first full day in office as president, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Nearly six years later, his administration…
By Chris Anders, Senior Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:00am
Top senators thought you wouldn't notice. Behind closed doors, they wrote up new indefinite detention and Guantánamo provisions in the annual defense policy bill, and then waited 11 days to quietly file the bill.
By Zak Newman, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 10:15am
The U.S. government took its first prisoners to Guantánamo Bay 12 years ago today.
In the 4,380 days since, we have seen indefinite detention without formal charge or trial, the use of torture and other abusive treatment, and unlawful and…
Grammy Award-winning jazz bassist, composer, and singer Esperanza Spalding today released We Are America, a new music video highlighting the injustice of prolonged indefinite detention at the prison at Guantánamo Bay. She discusses her motivations…
By Zak Newman, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 11:55am
The New York Times last week had good news for those looking to cut the exorbitant spending associated with the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay. According to the paper, the Department of Defense rejected a proposal from U.S. Southern Command for…
By Laura W. Murphy, Director, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 4:26pm
This piece originally appeared at the Guardian.
It had the air of Hollywood. On the night of 10 March 2004, James Comey, the nominee to lead the FBI for the next ten years, rushed to the hospital bedside of his terribly ill boss, Attorney General…
When Deputy Attorney General James Comey addressed the American people nine years ago, he told them what he called a "sobering story" about Jose Padilla. He described the then 33-year-old accused al Qaeda member's intent to detonate a dirty bomb as…
