Guantanamo media

Promoting the second meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantánamo Detention Facility in the Houses of Parliament on Monday June 26, attended by former prisoners Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Mansoor Adayfi (on his first UK visit), followed by an event at Amnesty International’s UK headquarters in London on Wednesday June 28, at which Mohamedou and Mansoor will discuss writing in prison, and I will be moderating.

Photos from, and my report about the eleven coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo that took place on June 7, 2023 in locations including London, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis, Detroit, Brussels, Copenhagen, Mexico City, Morocco, Serbia and the Netherlands. The ongoing vigils take place on the first Wednesday of every month, and, as well as calling for the closure of the prison, also highlight the plight of the 16 men (out of the 30 still imprisoned) who have been approved for release but are still held — as of June 7, between 257 and 4,884 days since the US authorities first decided that they no longer wanted to hold them.

Promoting the next monthly coordinated global vigils for the closure of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, taking place next Wednesday, June 7, in London, across the US, and at other locations around the world. Hoping you can join us!

A major article examining the cases of the 14 men still held at Guantánamo — “high-value detainees” and torture victims — who have not been approved for release, and what the US authorities can and should do with them, given that many have significant physical and/or mental health problems relating to their torture, or to the inadequacy of medical care at the prison. Following recent, highly critical reports by the UN and the ICRC, I look at the possibility of plea deals to resolve the deadlock in the trials of those who have been charged, and who may end up remaining at Guantánamo, but in a new facility providing “rehabilitation from torture, and adequate medical care”, and also suggest that other men not charged may also have to be provided with a similar, but non-penal facility providing the same level of care.

My report, with photos, of the inaugural meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Closing the Guantánamo Detention Facility, attended by former prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi and his former guard Steve Wood, and the three screenings of ‘The Mauritanian’ that followed, in Buckinghamshire and Brighton, at which I joined Mohamedou and Steve for Q&A sessions.

My report about what I describe as “the single most devastating condemnation by an international body that has ever been issued with regard to the US’s detention policies in the ‘war on terror’, both in CIA ‘black sites’ and at Guantánamo” — an opinion issued by the the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention about Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program. The condemnation is not only of the US government, but also the governments of Pakistan, Thailand, Poland, Morocco, Lithuania, Afghanistan and the UK, although the most severe criticisms are directed at the US government, which is ordered to release him and to pay him compensation. The Working Group also expresses “grave concern” that the very basis of the detention system at Guantánamo — involving “widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law” — “may constitute crimes against humanity.”

Promoting the next coordinated global vigils for the closure of Guantánamo, taking place on April 5, 2023 in seven locations worldwide — London, Washington, D.C., New York, Mexico City, Los Angeles, Raleigh, NC and Cobleskill, NY. Also included: a poster showing the 17 men still held who have been approved for release, and an infographic showing how long they have been held since they were told that the U.S. government no longer wanted to hold them.

Linking to, and discussing my recent interview with former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou, about Guantánamo past, present and future, for his new show ‘Whistleblowers,’ looking at how I got involved in researching and telling the stories of all the prisoners held at Guantánamo, how, shamefully, the law has persistently failed them, and how the prison might eventually be closed.

Photos and a report about the first coordinated protests calling for the closure of Guantánamo, and for the release of the 20 men approved for release from the prison, in London and Washington, D.C. on February 15, 2023. More coordinated protests, involving other locations. will be taking place on Wednesday March 8.

My report about the significance of the first ever visit to Guantánamo by a UN Rapporteur, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, and the additional news that, after a letter from Fionnuala Ní Aoláin and another Rapporteur, a Trump-era ban on prisoners leaving Guantánamo with their artwork has just been dropped.