Welcome to Andy Worthington

Celebrating the good news that, for the first time since 2010, a US judge has granted the habeas corpus petition of a Guantánamo prisoner. The prisoner is Asadullah Haroon Gul, who was associated with the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin militia, but the US Justice Department had continued to try to justify his ongoing imprisonment even though HIG reached a peace deal with the Afghan government in 2016.

My report on the latest news from Guantánamo: that two more men have been approved for release by Periodic Review Boards, bringing to 13 the number of men still held who the US no longer wants to hold, which is one-third of the prison’s current population.

Good news from Guantánamo, as torture victim Ahmed Rabbani, held in CIA “black sites” for 18 months from 2002 to 2004, and at Guantánamo, without charge or trial since September 2004, is approved for release from the prison via a Periodic Review Board, a parole-type system set up by President Obama in 2013.

My report about this week’s Supreme Court hearing in the case of torture victim and Guantánamo prisoner Abu Zubaydah, involving efforts by his lawyers to secure testimony from his torturers regarding what happened to him Poland. In oral argument, however, what emerged most forcefully was the Justices’ surprise that Abu Zubaydah himself has not been allowed to testify about what happened to him, and that he has had a habeas corpus petition pending for 14 years, as well as their concern that he is still being held at all, given the end of the war in Afghanistan.

My analysis of the significance of last week’s full en banc hearing, in the Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., in Al-Hela v. Biden, a case focused on whether the prisoners at Guantánamo have due process rights (a question that shouldn’t need asking after nearly 20 years), highlighting the obstructive role played by the Justice Department throughout the prison’s long history.

Marking 1,600 days since I began posting a photo a day, with an accompanying essay, on my Facebook page ‘The State of London’, drawn from my daily bike rides though London’s 120 postcodes, which I began in 2012. I also extend my thanks to the nearly 6,000 people following the project on social media.

Publicizing a petition calling on President Biden to close the prison at Guantánamo Bay, which, impressively, secured over 330,000 signatures. Initiated by groups including Daily Kos, MPower Change and Amnesty International USA, it was delivered to the White House on September 20, the 20th anniversary of George W. Bush telling Congress that the US had launched a “war on terror” in response to the 9/11 attacks.

A link to, and discussion of my interview yesterday, about the men still held indefinitely without charge or trial at Guantánamo, and the Biden administration’s slowness in releasing prisoners already approved for release, and moving towards the prison’s eventual closure, with Chris Cook, for his Gorilla Radio show in Victoria, Canada. Chris and I have spoken many times before over the years, and he is always an extremely well-informed host.

Here’s my latest quarterly fundraiser, in which I’m hoping to raise $2500 (£2000) to support my Guantánamo work, and my photo-journalism project ‘The State of London’, for the next three months, as a freelance journalist, activist and photographer.

Linking to, and discussing, my appearance on South African broadcaster Salaamedia’s show, “Reflections on 9/11: The Impact on Afghanistan and the Muslim World,” on Sept. 8, 2021, which included a discussion about Guantánamo.