Military Commissions

Linking to the video of my recent interview on Al Jazeera about the release from Guantánamo of Majid Khan, who has been resettled in Belize, almost eleven months after his terrorism-related sentence came to an end. I was also pleased to have had the opportunity to highlight how 20 other men, also approved for release, are still held, and to explain how unacceptable this is, and that it is because their approval for release came about through purely administrative review processes that, shamefully, have no legal weight.

The latest good news from Guantánamo, as Majid Khan, whose terrorism-related sentence came to an end nearly a year ago, has been resettled in Belize. Sadly, I have to contrast his situation with that of the 20 other men still held at Guantánamo, never even charged with a crime, who have also been approved for release, but whose freedom isn’t being prioritized by the Biden administration, because the recommendations for their release were made via a purely administrative process, which has no legal weight.

Linking to, and discussing my recent interview about the 21st anniversary of the opening of Guantánamo with Scott Horton, with whom I’ve been discussing Guantánamo and the “war on terror” on a regular basis for over 15 years.

An update on the story of Ali Hamza al-Bahlul, who was given a life sentence after a one-sided military commission trial at Guantánamo in 2008, when he refused to mount a defence, and who, disgracefully, has been held ever since in solitary confinement. As his lawyers appeal to the court of appeals in Washington, D.C., I look at their submission, and review the history of his legal challenges against his conviction, which has, over the years, involved most of the charges on which he was convicted being overturned.

Introducing an update to my six-part definitive Guantánamo prisoner list, which I first put together in 2009, listing the 779 men held at the prison since it opened on January 11, 2002, and which links to my articles about the prisoners, drawing on the 2,500 articles I’ve written about Guantánamo since 2007. I’ve updated it several times since 2009, most recently in 2018, and this latest update adds links to all the articles I’ve written over the last four years.

An update on the latest positive news regarding Guantánamo: the appointment of a “special representative” in the State Department to deal with releases from the prison (of the 22 out of the 36 men still held who have been approved for release), and confirmation that the negotiation of plea deals is ongoing with those charged in the military commissions, to bring to an end a ten-year deadlock in which pre-trial hearings are caught in a kind of Groundhog Day, because of the use of torture on the accused, and the strict procedural safeguards required for capital cases.

My reflections on Guantánamo and 9/11 on the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attacks, which led to two failed wars, the CIA’s torture program, and, of course, the establishment of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, the enduring symbol of the US’s shameful and lawless response to the 9/11 attacks, where 36 men are still held, most of whom have never been charged with crime. Also included is a video of my discussion about 9/11 and Guantánamo with Inayat Wadee of Salaamedia in South Africa. Ironically, the men held who were allegedly responsible for the attacks have still not been successfully prosecuted, because of the torture to which they were subjected, while, alarmingly for the old men who still want to keep the “war on terror” alive, no one under 25 even remembers 9/11, and in many cases don’t even know what happened that day.

Looking at the problems faced by the US government in finding a third country prepared to offer a new home to Guantánamo prisoner Majid Khan, whose sentence for involvement in terrorism ended on March 1 this year. Khan is thoroughly repentant about his actions, and has cooperated with the authorities on other terrorism-related cases, but it remains uncertain whether another country can be found that will take him in. As a cooperating witness, he should, it seems to me, be resettled with his family under a new identity in the US, but that is currently illegal under provisions in the annual National Defense Authorization Act introduced by Republicans during the Obama presidency, and maintained ever since.

My report about the first plea deal reached at Guantánamo with a “high-value detainee” under President Biden — Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, a military commander in Afghanistan, who arrived at Guantánamo from a CIA “black site” in 2007, and was first charged in 2013. He is also one of the most physically disabled of the remaining 36 prisoners, suffering from a severe degenerative spinal condition.

The latest news in the case of Guantánamo prisoner Majid Khan, who has submitted a habeas corpus petition seeking his release, 100 days since his sentence for involvement with terrorism ended. While Khan should have the law on his side, I also compare his case to that of the 20 other men approved for release by administrative review processes, but also still held, for whom, shamefully, no legal mechanism at all exists to compel their release.