Re: Guantanamo Prisoners illegally imprisoned for no reason at all

LawsonE wrote:

> To the everlasting shame of the US and all of its citizens:
>
> http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20031130/ts_nm/security_guantanamo_dc
>
> U.S. to Free 140 Guantanamo War Detainees -Report
> Sun Nov 30, 5:01 PM ET
>
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to release 140 of the 660
> prisoners at its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison for suspects in the
> U.S.-declared war on terrorism, Time magazine reported on Sunday.
>
>
> Slated for release were "the easiest 20 percent" of detainees, a military
> official told the magazine. It did not identify its source, who said the
> military was waiting for "a politically propitious time to release them."
> A Pentagon (news - web sites) spokesman was not immediately available for
> comment.
> No charges have been filed against any of the 660 prisoners at the U.S. Navy
> (news - web sites) base in Cuba. Defense officials say many are suspected of
> being members of Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network or
> Taliban fighters from the war in Afghanistan (news - web sites).
> Human rights groups have criticized the United States for holding the
> detainees without charges. The U.S. Supreme Court (news - web sites), in a
> case involving two Britons, two Australians and 12 Kuwaitis, has agreed to
> decide if foreign nationals can use U.S. courts to challenge their
> incarceration at the base.
> According to Time, activities leading toward release of the 140 prisoners
> have accelerated since the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. It said
> U.S. officials had concluded some detainees were kidnapped for reward money
> offered for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters.
> Separately on Sunday, a British human rights lobbyist said five European
> nations were close to a deal to repatriate citizens held by the United
> States in Guantanamo Bay, possibly as soon as Christmas.
> Stephen Jakobi, director of Fair Trials Abroad, said his group had been
> tracking negotiations over the prisoners between Washington and Britain,
> France, Denmark, Sweden and Spain.
> Since the prison opened in January 2002, prisoners from 42 countries have
> been taken to Guantanamo Bay for detention and questioning. As of Nov. 24, a
> total of 84 prisoners had been transferred to their home countries for
> release and four were returned to Saudi Arabia for imprisonment.


Great post Lawson! Here's more:

The Guantanamo Inquisition
by Peter Cohen, November 28, 2003
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/1128-08.htm

Now that the supreme court is willing to look at the legal aspects of 
the Guantanamo "detainees" perhaps this arbitrary inquisition will get 
the attention it deserves.

Our treatment of war prisoners in Guantanamo Bay violates the Geneva 
Conventions and the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All 
Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment. These violations 
weaken the international law that protects all military prisoners. That 
law requires that each prisoner must appear before a judge to ascertain 
whether or not they are prisoners of war. This has not been done in 
Guantanamo.

Over 660 people, most of them taken on the battlefields of Afghanistan, 
are imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station. Some of them are 
civilians who have not taken up arms against the United States. Some of 
them were 16 years old or less when captured. Many have been held for 
eighteen months, extensively interrogated and allowed only two 15 minute 
exercise periods a week. Held without lawyers, they have been seen only 
by their guards, interrogators and the International Red Cross.

These prisoners come from more than forty countries. Secretary Powell 
has written the Pentagon requesting the prompt processing of the 
prisoners because their detainment is interfering with international 
cooperation for the prevention of terrorism. Preparations are now 
underway for the trial and possible execution of a small number of 
prisoners accused of war crimes. A courtroom is being built at 
Guantanamo for their trial by a special three judge military court. The 
rules of evidence are also special to this court. For example, the fact 
that evidence cannot be authenticated or is hearsay is not grounds for 
barring it and all communications between civilian lawyers and their 
clients may be monitored by intelligence agents. The more than six 
hundred prisoners against whom there are no criminal charges remain in a 
debilitating limbo.

The war between the United States and the government of Afghanistan is 
long over and whatever information may have been gained about terrorism 
is now outdated. There is no reason to continue to hold these prisoners 
in opposition to the rules of war and world opinion. The American people 
should be concerned because many millions of taxpayer dollars have been 
expended on housing , guarding and now trying these prisoners. The 
United States is setting an example of the arbitrary treatment of 
prisoners that will endanger our own service people should they be 
captured in the future.

But greater than these practical considerations is the corrupting effect 
that ignoring this cruelty has upon our nation. The International Red 
Cross now reports that this unlimited imprisonment is having a terrible 
effect upon the mental state of the prisoners, many of whom have 
attempted suicide.

The question is not whether Guantanamo is part of the U.S. and covered 
by the Constitution; the question is whether the reputation and honor of 
the U.S. can be sacrificed on the altar of fear. How can we profess to 
teach democracy to others when this illegal and cruel imprisonment 
violates every principle of the rule of law? Holding the Guantanamo 
"detainees" is a dark stain on our nation¹s history that will not be 
removed by anything that we may accomplish elsewhere.