guantánamo global justice initiative center for constitutional news briefing rights may 2008 15 detainees currently face mili- has stated on numerous occasions that it In further developments in the Hamdan hear- tary commissions plans to try up to 80 detainees in the military ings, on April 30, 2008, the military judge commissions, but has moved slowly in filing presiding over the military commission, Lt. Guantanamo’s military commissions contin- charges. The vast majority of the approxi- Col. Keith Allred, ordered that Hamdan ued as 15 detainees have now been mately 275 men currently held at Guan- would be allowed to contact four of the so- charged before the commissions. No trials tanamo have never been charged with any called “high value detainees” – former CIA have been completed and 1 conviction, crime and have been held for over six years secret prisoners – via a written communica- resulting from the guilty plea of Australian in arbitrary detention without charge or trial tion bearing his signature, seeking their testi- David Hicks, have resulted. The military com- throughout that time. mony to support his defense. However, this missions, created by the October 2006 falls far short of what was requested by passage of the Military Commissions Act, Former CIA “ghost” detainee trans- Hamdan’s attorneys, including two-way provide far fewer protections than either ferred to Guantanamo communication between Hamdan and the standard courts-martial, which try soldiers in former ghost detainees, and a meeting with times of war, or the U.S. federal criminal On March 14, 2008, the U.S. military an- one of Hamdan’s military defense attorneys, court system, which historically has tried nounced that it had transferred Muhammad assuring the former ghost detainees of the cases involving charges of terrorism. For Rahim al-Afghani to Guantanamo Bay, and request’s sincerity. Hamdan is currently boy- example, the military commissions allow the that he had previously been held in secret cotting the military commissions process. The introduction of hearsay evidence and evi- CIA “ghost” detention. The CIA secret 2006 landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, dence obtained through coercion, require “ghost” detention program was allegedly Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, which invalidated an only 2/3 jury vote for conviction, and the emptied in September 2006, when 14 for- earlier military commissions process and jury is composed solely of members of the mer ghost detainees were transferred to affirmed the applicability of Common Article military. Guantanamo Bay; the military transferred 3 of the Geneva Conventions to Guan- another detainee in April 2007. Inside the tanamo detainees, resulted from Hamdan’s On March 31, 2008 charges were sworn secret CIA detention program, the use of so- earlier challenge of the military commissions. against detainee Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, called “enhanced interrogation techniques,” a Tanzanian man who was transferred to including cruel, inhumane and degrading Also on April 30, 2008, military judge Col. Guantánamo from secret CIA detention in treatment, as well as techniques amounting Peter Brownback, presiding over the military September 2006. Mr. Ghailani was in the to torture, including waterboarding (a torture commission of accused former child soldier, CIA interrogation program for over two technique that simulates drowning), have Canadian citizen and Guantanamo de- years and is accused of playing a role in been officially and explicitly allowed. The tainee Omar Khadr, ruled that the prosecu- the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in U.S. government accuses him of involvement tion of Khadr continued despite the fact that Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A Manhattan with Al-Qaeda. At the time the transfer was he was only 15 when seized by U.S. forces Federal court indicted him 10 years ago. announced, the CIA refused to state if it was in Afghanistan and brought to Guantanamo Rather than trying him in the federal courts, currently holding any other detainees in its Bay. By treaty, Khadr should be recognized the government opted instead to try him in secret prisons. as a child soldier entitled to protection, but the military commissions, where it faces an the military – and now the military commis- unfair advantage and where the secrets of Former military commissions chief sions courts – have refused to acknowledge its CIA detention program will continue to prosecutor testifies for the defense this status. Khadr’s attorneys have also ap- be hidden. The government plans to seek in Salim Hamdan commission; mili- pealed to a federal appeals court in Wash- the death penalty for Ghailani, as it has for tary judge allows prosecution of ington, D.C. to have his initial determination six other detainees facing military commis- former child soldier as an “enemy combatant” overturned due to sions. his juvenile status at the time. On April 7, 2008, charges were referred On April 28, 2008, former chief military Detainees Ahmad al-Darbi and Ibrahim al- against Afghan detainee Mohammad commissions prosecutor Col. Mo Davis took Qosi, also charged before the military com- Kamin, who was charged with “providing the stand and testified for the defense in a missions, have, to date, refused to partici- material support for terrorism” during the pretrial hearing for the military commission pate in what they have termed “sham” pro- U.S. war on Afghanistan. Twelve other de- of Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmad ceedings. tainees currently face military commissions, Hamdan. Davis argued that the commissions including six detainees against whom the process is fundamentally flawed, and cor- Bush vetoes anti-waterboarding government is seeking the death penalty, rupted by political involvement and de- measure accusing them of involvement with the at- mands for convictions on the part of high- tacks of September 11, 2001. The military ranking military and administration officials. On March 9, 2008, President George W. (continued on pg. 2) Center for Constitutional Rights www.ccrjustice.org Bush vetoed a bill passed by Congress tary of State Colin Powell, as well as CIA Representative William Delahunt, mem- that would have prohibited the CIA from Director George Tenet and Attorney ber of Congress, held a field briefing in using waterboarding and other forms of General John Ashcroft, who all directly Boston on March 26, 2008, focusing on torture against detainees. The intelli- participated in approving the CIA’s use Guantanamo’s refugees. The briefing, gence authorization bill, which permits of cruel, inhumane and degrading treat- held on behalf of the House Subcommit- U.S. government spending on intelligence ment against detainees. tee on International Organizations, Hu- agencies and related expenses, prohib- man Rights, and Oversight, addressed ited U.S. intelligence agencies, including Also, on April 1, 2008, the legal memo the plight of dozens of Guantanamo the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), from March of 2003 by former admini- detainees who cannot return home due from using techniques not allowed by a stration attorney John Yoo that purported to fear of persecution. procedures manual for U.S. military per- to authorize the use of torture was de- sonnel, the Army Field Manual. The man- classified. The memo was widely at- Emi Maclean, attorney at the Center for ual prohibits harsh interrogation tech- tacked within the legal community for Constitutional Rights, as well as attorneys niques such as waterboarding and other attempting to provide a legal safeguard Sabin Willett and Michael Mone, who forms of torture and cruel, inhumane and for torture and protect government offi- represent refugees held at Guantanamo degrading treatment. cials from prosecution for authorizing Bay, addressed the briefing, detailing the torture. Many organizations, including needs of refugees at Guantanamo to find Waterboarding is a form of torture that the Center for Constitutional Rights, safe havens. induces drowning in a victim; the drown- called upon Boalt Hall Law School at the ing is stopped before the point of death University of California – Berkeley, Yoo’s An estimated 50 detainees cannot return by the use of a rag, plastic wrap, or an- current employer, to fire or sanction him home for fear of torture. At least two of other obstruction placed in the victim’s for unethical conduct regarding this those men had been designated refu- mouth. Its use against detainees by the memo. gees by the United Nations High Com- CIA has been confirmed. Bush’s veto missioner for Refugees before they ar- confirms his continued position that the Attorney Gives Classified Brief- rived at Guantánamo. So far, neither the president has the authority to allow the ing to Senate Intelligence Com- United States nor European countries, CIA to use waterboarding and other mittee on Details of CIA Torture where some detainees have relatives, forms of torture, despite clear prohibitions Program have been willing to give them safe ha- in U.S. and international law. Gitanjali Gutierrez, an attorney at the ven. In fact, the U.S. has already sent Center for Constitutional Rights represent- almost 40 detainees back to countries Reports: Bush Administration ing former CIA “ghost” detainee Majid that are known for human rights abuses, officials directly approved tor- Khan, who was held in secret CIA pris- including Uzbekistan, Libya, Tunisia, and ture program ons for three years before his transfer to Egypt. Guantanamo Bay, spoke with the Senate On April 9, 2008, news reports revealed Intelligence Committee on March 28, Former detainee Murat Kurnaz that the highest-level Bush administration 2008. releases new book officials were deeply involved in discus- sions and authorization of torture against Gutierrez briefed staff members on the Former Guantanamo detainee Murat secret CIA “ghost” detainees. In an inter- torture and abuse of Khan while he was Kurnaz released his new book, “Five view, President Bush also acknowledged held in the secret CIA prisons. Gutierrez Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in that he knew about these discussions and is the first attorney to speak with Con- Guantanamo” in English in April 2008.