The Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees
This 107-page report presents substantial information warranting criminal investigations of Bush and senior administration officials, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and CIA Director George Tenet, for ordering practices such as “waterboarding,” the use of secret CIA prisons, and the transfer of detainees to countries where they were tortured.
This 52-page report criticizes US and Yemeni proposals to transfer the detainees to a detention center in Yemen where they could continue to be held indefinitely, ostensibly for rehabilitation.
Over the past seven years, the US government’s consistent disregard for human rights in fighting terrorism has diminished America’s moral authority, set a negative example for other governments, and undermined the goal of reducing anti-American militancy around the world.
Detention Conditions and Mental Health at Guantanamo
This 54-page report documents the conditions in the various “camps” at the detention center, in which approximately 185 of the 270 detainees are housed in facilities akin to “supermax” prisons even though they have not yet been convicted of a crime.
This 43-page report describes the experiences of the two Tunisians returned home 11 weeks ago and urges the US government to set up a process that would give detainees advance notice of their transfer, and allow them the opportunity to contest it before a federal court if they fear torture or ill-treatment upon return to their home countries.
In this backgrounder, Human Rights Watch said that although Khadr was just 15 when he was arrested, the United States has completely ignored his juvenile status throughout his detention. The US government incarcerated him with adults, reportedly subjected him to abusive interrogations, failed to provide him any educational opportunities, and denied him any direct contact with his family.
The Story of Seven Men Betrayed by Russia’s Diplomatic Assurances to the United States
This 43-page report reconstructs the experiences of the detainees after being returned to Russia in March 2004, based on interviews with three of the detainees, their family members, lawyers, and others. Access to the ex-detainees is limited because three of them are in prison and the rest have either managed to leave the country or are in hiding.
On November 7, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, who is challenging the lawfulness of the U.S. government trying him for alleged war crimes before a military commission at Guantánamo Bay. The Court is expected to render a decision in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld in late June, 2006.
Findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project
This 27-page report presents findings of the Detainee Abuse and Accountability Project, a joint project of New York University’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First. The project is the first comprehensive accounting of credible allegations of torture and abuse in U.S. custody in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo.
Will It Keep Evidence Obtained through Torture or Cruel Treatment out of Commission Trials?
On March 24, 2006, the General Counsel of the Department of Defense issued Military Commission Instruction No. 10, “Certain Evidentiary Requirements,” in response to growing public concern that evidence acquired through torture might be admissible in military commission proceedings.
This report is the most detailed study to date of abuses by insurgent groups. It systematically presents and debunks the arguments that some insurgent groups and their supporters use to justify unlawful attacks on civilians.
`Abd al-Salam `Ali al-Hila, a Yemeni intelligence officer, disappeared in Cairo in 2002. Since then, he is believed to have been held without trial in Azerbaijan, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay.
The following is a compilation by Human Rights Watch of accounts by thirty-three former detainees at Guantanamo of their experiences there. Human Rights Watch interviewed sixteen of the detainees, reviewed press reports containing statements by former detainees interviewed by journalists, and used as well statements published by the detainees themselves.
The interrogation techniques used by U.S. personnel on detainees at the naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba remain shrouded in mystery. While U.S. policy is that the detainees be treated “humanely,” the Department of Defense has never revealed publicly how the detainees have been interrogated.
Brief outlines of the military commissions, the combatant status review panels, and the administrative review procedures adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) for use at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
