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Guantanamo Military Jury Condemns US Treatment of Detainee

Majid Khan Publicly Describes Torture at Sentencing Hearing

For the first time, a United States military commission jury urged clemency for a Guantanamo Bay detainee, Majid Khan, at a sentencing hearing. The jury’s recommendation, noting the severe abuse Khan endured while in detention, highlights the profound…
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A Step Toward Justice for Guantanamo Detainee

Despite US Federal Court Ruling, Continued Detention Likely

In a small step toward justice, a United States federal judge ruled this week that because Haroon Gul, an Afghan held at Guantanamo Bay, was not a member of Al-Qaeda or an associated force, the US had no legal basis for detaining him. The US…
Afghan refugee Roman Khan at a refugee camp near Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar in September 2020, displays a photograph of his brother Asadullah Haroon, who is detained at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.
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CIA Contractor Details Torture of 9/11 Suspects

Guantanamo Testimony on Waterboarding, Black Sites

In his testimony last week in the pre-trial hearing of five men charged with plotting the September 11 attacks on the United States, Dr. James Mitchell vividly described his role in torturing detainees in the program he helped design…
The closed Camp X-Ray detention facility is seen in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba, April 16, 2019.
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The Absurdity of Guantanamo

Court Hears from Architects of CIA Torture Program

In the gallery at the back of the courtroom at Guantanamo Bay’s military commission hearing, I could open a copy of Enhanced Interrogation, James Mitchell’s widely available book chronicling his role in the United States Central…
In this photo reviewed by US military officials, flags fly in front of the tents of Camp Justice, April 18, 2019, in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.
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Trump’s Guantanamo Tweet was Uninformed and Ill-Advised

Keeping Facility Open Threatens US National Security

US president-elect Donald Trump’s tweet yesterday that everyone held at Guantanamo Bay is “extremely dangerous” is ill-informed. What’s worse, his proposed course of action – stopping all releases – shows a lack of understanding about the danger of…
A detainee paces around a cell block while being held in Joint Task Force Guantanamo's Camp VI at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba March 22, 2016.
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Dispatches: Guantanamo 9/11 Case Staggers On

Judge orders evidence destroyed related to defendants’ secret detention, torture

A trial of the five men charged with the 9/11 attacks is still years away – a fact that became obvious while sitting in on last week’s pre-trial hearings in the Guantanamo Bay military commissions. The co-defendants were arraigned in May 2012, yet…
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, (2nd R) the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks, addresses the judge during the third day of pre-trial hearings in the 9/11 war crimes prosecution as depicted in this Pentagon-approved courtroom sketch at the U.S. Naval
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Dispatches: Clock Ticking on Closing Guantanamo - Take Action!

Today marks another grim milestone for the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay – the 14th anniversary since the first detainees arrived there, hooded and shackled. On his first full day in office in 2009, United States President Barack Obama signed an…
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Dispatches: Guantanamo Justice Bogged Down Again

It’s been more than two years since the five men accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks were arraigned before military commissions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and still the case is not even close to trial, stymied by novel and often bizarre issues unlikely to…
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Dispatches: Opaque As Ever at Guantanamo

Nineteen minutes. That’s how long the review hearing for a Guantanamo detainee lasted this morning. Or, to be more exact, that’s as much of the proceeding as nine reporters and four representatives from nongovernmental organizations were permitted to…
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Dispatches: Avoiding the “T” Word at Guantanamo

The Guantanamo hearings ground to a halt today. Again. The prosecution asked for a mental competency exam for Ramzi bin al-Shibh, one of the five men accused of planning the 9/11 attacks, and the judge granted it. Months could pass before that competency…
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Dispatches: Who Owns Your Thoughts at Guantanamo?

Do your thoughts belong to you? Not if you’re one of the five 9/11 defendants facing charges at Guantanamo. But that may have changed with a new ruling at a secret hearing on Monday. Lawyers are still trying to puzzle it out. Of the many…
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Dispatches: Blowing a Tire at Guantanamo

On our way to a barbecue dinner where the ceiling fell in, we blew a tire. The two events here at Guantanamo Bay were not related, nor were they exactly big news in a week when a fresh set of hearings is getting underway for the five men…
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Dispatches: The Fight to Close Guantanamo, One Note at a Time

Two years ago, jazz bassist, composer and singer Esperanza Spalding shocked the music world by besting pop sensation Justin Bieber in the battle for top new artist at the Grammy awards. Today, she is taking on a different kind of battle, one to try and…
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Report Card on President Obama’s First 100 Days

As a candidate, Barack Obama signaled his clear intention to break with the Bush administration's abusive counterterrorism policies. Once sworn in as president, Obama immediately issued executive orders that set a course toward reform. Human Rights…
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Guantanamo Bay Interrogation Techniques Remain Mysterious

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…

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