Depending on who you ask, the sentencing yesterday of Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri to eight years in prison is either evidence that the civilian federal judicial system can successfully handle terror cases, or evidence that it’s a dismal failure.
Yesterday, Jonathan Hafetz, the American Civil Liberties Union lawyer More…
The Obama administration just won a round in the lawsuit brought by five alleged torture victims against Jeppesen Dataplan, the Boeing subsidiary that allegedly helped the CIA transport detainees to countries where they’ were interrogated under torture, a practice known as “extraordinary rendition.”
Winning his freedom was a big step for Mohammed Jawad, reportedly the youngest prisoner at Guantanamo Bay until he was released in August. But Jawad, who two U.S. judges have said was tortured in U.S. custody, is still suffering from the effects of his treatment during seven years More…
This post has been corrected. Previously, the post was incorrectly based on an earlier version of the bill.
The Military Commissions Act amendments to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 (H.R. 2647) were approved in Congress yesterday and are en route to the President for his signature. More…
A federal court today ruled that the government can continue to suppress transcripts of former CIA prisoners now being held at Guantanamo Bay talking about abuse and torture they suffered in CIA custody. The ruling came in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil More…
Portugal has agreed to take two Syrians held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Al Jazeera reported yesterday. The deal was apparently reached last week, but didn’t get a whole lot of attention.
Portugal is the third European Union country to accept Guantanamo prisoners More…
There are few light moments in the habeas corpus cases of Guantanamo detainees, given that most of these men have been holed away in cells or cages for years without charge or even a chance to see the evidence against them. Generally, not so funny.
Which makes this exchange More…
Most commentators and reporters have assumed that when it comes to Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s record, there’s little to suggest how she might rule on critical matters of executive power and national security that are sure to be among the most controversial issues before the court in the next few years. More…
After losing its argument before a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that the “state secrets privilege” requires the dismissal of a lawsuit by alleged torture victims, the Obama administration today has asked the full Ninth Circuit to re-hear the case, which was the first challenge to More…
Perhaps to make the point that it can be done without risking U.S. lives, the Obama administration announced it will transfer Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian man indicted more than a decade ago on charges that he helped plan the 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Tanzania. Ghailani was More…
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