31.12.24
My report about the welcome repatriation of Ridah Al-Yazidi, the last Tunisian prisoner at Guantánamo, who was on the first flight into Guantánamo, nearly 23 years ago, but was never charged with a crime. After eight years of imprisonment without charge or trial, he was one of 156 men approved for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force, a multi-agency review process established by President Obama to review the cases of the 240 men inherited from George W. Bush. The Task Force’s report was published in January 2010, but Al-Yazidi was one of only three men, out of these 156, who were not freed, and who have been waiting to be released ever since, an intolerably long wait that was blamed by State Department officials on long-standing difficulties in negotiating with the Tunisian government, but which was also complicated by Al-Yazidi’s refusal to accept representation by an attorney or to negotiate with the US authorities.
28.2.24
The third article in my ongoing series about the 16 men approved for release from Guantánamo, noting how long they have been held since those decisions were taken, telling their stories, and tying publication of these articles into significant dates in their long ordeal. This particular article highlights the three especially unfortunate men who were approved for release over 14 years ago.
13.4.21
84 days into Joe Biden’s presidency, I look at how his lack of prompt action regarding Guantánamo — in the first instance, by not reviving the Office of the Special Envoy for Guantánamo Closure in the State Department — has left six men approved for release between 2009 and 2020 still languishing at the prison. It is also impacting on the lives of men already released, who, as under Donald Trump, have no one within the administration to communicate with when they face life-threatening problems, which, in the case of Lutfi bin Ali, a Tunisian, recently led to his death.
20.11.18
Please support my work as a reader-funded journalist! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the next three months of the Trump administration. If you can help, please click on the button below to donate via PayPal. I wrote the following article, […]
29.12.17
Please support my work as a reader-funded journalist! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the next three months of the Trump administration. Just before Christmas, in an article entitled, “Men due to leave Gitmo under Obama seem stuck under Trump,” the […]
8.8.17
Please support my work! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the next three months of the Trump administration. Back in February — as part of a ongoing effort to cover the stories of former Guantánamo prisoners, as well as maintaining pressure […]
28.2.17
Please support my work! I’m currently trying to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo and related issues over the first two months of the Trump administration. I wrote the following article for the “Close Guantánamo” website, which I established in January 2012, on the 10th anniversary of the opening of […]
21.12.16
Please support my work! I’m currently trying to raise $3000 (£2400) to support my writing and campaigning on Guantánamo into the new year. Excellent news from Guantánamo yesterday, as Charlie Savage, in the New York Times, confirmed what those of us seeking the prison’s closure had hoped — that the majority of the 22 […]
4.6.15
Ever since it was first announced, over a year ago, that six Guantánamo prisoners would be resettled in Uruguay, I have followed the story closely. Uruguay was a fascinating choice for resettlement, with its humble, left-wing president who had also been a political prisoner, and in December, when the six men were freed, there was […]
23.5.15
Vice News broke the news on Thursday that Asim Thabit Abdullah al-Khalaqi, a Yemeni, and a former prisoner at Guantánamo, died in Kazakhstan, just over four months since he was freed, after spending 13 years in US custody without charge or trial. The 46- or 47-year old, identified in Guantánamo as ISN 152, was one […]
Investigative journalist, author, campaigner, commentator and public speaker. Recognized as an authority on Guantánamo and the “war on terror.” Co-founder, Close Guantánamo and We Stand With Shaker, singer/songwriter (The Four Fathers).
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