tagged w/ Guantanamo Prisoners
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• Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts
• Children, elderly and mentally ill among those wrongfully held
• 172 prisoners remain, some with no prospect of trial or release
More than 700 leaked secret files on the Guantánamo detainees lay bare the inner workings of America's controversial prison camp in Cuba.
The US military dossiers, obtained by the New York Times and the Guardian, reveal how, alongside the so-called "worst of the worst", many prisoners were flown to the Guantánamo cages and held captive for years on the flimsiest grounds, or on the basis of lurid confessions extracted by maltreatment.
The 759 Guantánamo files, classified "secret", cover almost every inmate since the camp was opened in 2002. More than two years after President Obama ordered the closure of the prison, 172 are still held there.
The files depict a system often focused less on containing dangerous terrorists or enemy fighters, than on extracting intelligence. Among inmates who proved harmless were an 89-year-old Afghan villager, suffering from senile dementia, and a 14-year-old boy who had been an innocent kidnap victim.
The old man was transported to Cuba to interrogate him about "suspicious phone numbers" found in his compound. The 14-year-old was shipped out merely because of "his possible knowledge of Taliban...local leaders"
• Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts
• Children, elderly and mentally ill among those wrongfully held
• 172 prisoners remain, some with no prospect of trial or release
Obama's inability to shut Guantánamo has been one of the White House's most internationally embarrassing policy failures. The files offer an insight into why the administration has been unable to transfer many of the 172 existing prisoners from the island prison where they remain outside the protection of the US courts or the prisoner-of-war provisions of the Geneva conventions.
The range of those still held captive includes detainees who have been admittedly tortured so badly they can never be successfully tried, informers who must be protected from reprisals, and a group of Chinese Muslims from the Uighur minority who have nowhere to go.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/25/guantanamo-files-lift-lid-prison• Innocent people interrogated for years on slimmest pretexts
• Children,... more
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President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will create a formal system of indefinite detention for those held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who continue to pose a significant threat to national security. The administration also said it will start new military commission trials for detainees there.President Obama signed an executive order Monday that will create a formal system of... more
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Barack Obama's pledge to shut down Guantanamo Bay will not be honored until at least a year after the President's self-imposed deadline – and may not be completed in his administration.Barack Obama's pledge to shut down Guantanamo Bay will not be honored until at... more
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A serving US Army officer who told a court he feels that the Guantanamo Bay prison camps should be closed down has been removed from a jury hearing allegations of war crimes against an alleged child soldier. Among the seven jurors remaining on the panel are officers who have lost close friends or colleagues fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.A serving US Army officer who told a court he feels that the Guantanamo Bay prison... more
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An attorney for Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr expressed outrage this week over a ruling by a U.S. military judge allowing Khadr's confessions to interrogators to be used as evidence against him in his murder and terrorism conspiracy trial at Guantanamo.An attorney for Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr expressed outrage this week over a ruling... more
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McClatchy Newspapers reports that a federal judge has put Yemeni citizen Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini on the path to freedom after eight years imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.McClatchy Newspapers reports that a federal judge has put Yemeni citizen Mohammed... more
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As one of his very first acts as president, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the military prison for terror suspects within a year. The one-year mark came and went last week, but the prison remains open. Obama has not offered a new deadline. In Washington, DC, 42 activists with Witness Against Torture were arrested while protesting the missed deadline.As one of his very first acts as president, Barack Obama signed an executive order to... more
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The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing a recommendation that 47 Guantanamo Bay inmates should be held indefinitely without trial. The recommendation came as the deadline President Obama had set on his second day in office for closing the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay passed.The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing a recommendation that 47 Guantanamo... more
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US government officials may have conspired to conceal evidence that three Guantánamo Bay inmates could have been murdered during interrogations, according to a six-month investigation by journalists.
The joint investigation for Harper's Magazine and NBC News concluded that all three may have been suffocated during questioning on the same evening and their deaths passed off as suicides by hanging.US government officials may have conspired to conceal evidence that three... more
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