Guantánamo's “Forever Prisoner”: Muaz al-Alawi

"It is, I believe, impossible to argue with the logic of Muaz al-Alawi, a Yemeni prisoner in Guantánamo," says analyst Andy Worthington . . .

[Al-Alawi] recently told his lawyer, Ramzi Kassem, that, when attempting to make sense of Guantánamo, only one analysis is necessary: “It is all political,” al-Alawi told him. “It is all theater, it is all a game….”

Held mostly without charge or trial for 12 and a half years, they [prisoners] have discovered that being cleared for release means nothing, as 78 of the 149 men still held have been cleared for release—all but three since January 2010, when a high-level task force appointed by President Obama issued its recommendations regarding the disposition of the remaining prisoners.

Muaz al-Alawi

Al-Alawi, on the other hand, is one of 61 other prisoners recommended for ongoing imprisonment without charge or trial by the task force, or for prosecutions that are no longer going ahead, who are slowly having their cases reviewed by Periodic Review Boards. These review boards have so far recommended three men for release, but they have not been freed….

In February 2013, al-Alawi responded to this seemingly endless injustice by embarking on a hunger strike, as part of the prison-wide hunger strike that took place last year, and was force-fed every day. Moreover, he has continued on a hunger strike, and is still force-fed, and, although reliable figures for the current number of hunger strikers are hard to come by, because the authorities stopped reporting them at the end of last year, the legal team for another force-fed prisoner, Abu Wa’el Dhiab, recently stated that they believe there are currently 34 hunger strikers, and that 18 are being force-fed.

Read the full commentary: “It Is All Theater, It Is All A Game,” Yemeni “Forever Prisoner” Says from Guantánamo on Andy Worthington's website.

401 Days Have Passed Since President Obama’s Renewed Promise to Close Guantánamo: Only 17 Men Released as of June 27, 2014

• 149 men remain imprisoned. 141 of them haven’t been charged.
• 78 men have been cleared for release, most of whom have been imprisoned without charge for more than 11 years.
• An unknown number of men are on hunger strike and are being force-fed.

Force-feeding is in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A mass hunger strike began on February 6, 2013. At its height, in June 2013, 106 men were reportedly participating in the hunger strike. On December 3, 2013, the U.S. military stopped daily reporting on the number of hunger strikers.

Torture Connection: From Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib

When you think "Iraq," one of the things you probably think about is Abu Ghraib.

And when you think "Abu Ghraib," you'll be right to ask, "Why does this seem so much like Guantanamo?"

From the Center for Torture Accountability:

As commanding officer responsible for interrogation of "high-value" prisoners at Guantanamo, Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller implemented policies aimed at combining degrading detention conditions with interrogation methods, [using] dogs… and daily doses of degradation in prison routine, aimed at breaking prisoners mentally and emotionally.

When legal officers confronted him about the illegality of his procedures…Miller responded that these detainees would never be brought to trial, not "after what we've done to them."

In September 2003, upon orders from Donald Rumsfeld, Gen. Miller led a mission to "reform" interrogation methods at prisons in Iraq, including Abu Ghraib…

He met with some resistance from officers…But within a few months, officers and contractors more comfortable with Gen. Miller's approach were assigned to Abu Ghraib, and dogs, hoods, and other implements of Miller's torture methods soon became widespread in Iraqi detention facilities. The infamous Abu Ghraib photos were taken about two months after Miller's visit.

In April 2004, Maj. Gen. Miller moved from Guantanamo to Iraq and formally took over command of prisons and interrogations. When news of Abu Ghraib broke, however, he denied involvement, insisting that the abuse there preceded his posting to Iraq. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who had supervised the prison when Miller first showed up to urge "gitmo- ization" and who had attempted to resist the new methods, was cited for losing control of the prison and removed from command. Eventually, the officer who investigated the incident, Gen. Taguba, concluded that Miller's new methods had led to the breakdown of discipline among soldiers assigned to guard duty at Abu Ghraib and thus could be considered ultimately responsible for the atrocities committed there.

[I]n May 2006, Miller was asked to testify at the trial of soldiers who had worked handling dogs at Abu Ghraib. Miller refused to testify, claiming his right against self-incrimination… Such claims by high-level officers are virtually unheard of. He was pressured to testify by threatened cancellation of his retirement plans, and he finally appeared in court to say that he ordered use of dogs only to maintain security in the prison, not to enhance interrogations. The next day, Lt. Col. Jerry Phillabaum directly contradicted this assertion.

Miller retired in August 2006. At his retirement ceremony, he was awarded a medal for distinguished service and a citation for "innovation" in his career.

Read the full article: Maj. Gen. Geoffrey D. Miller enhanced prisoner interrogation with degrading conditions of confinement

394 Days Have Passed Since President Obama’s Renewed Promise to Close Guantánamo: Only 17 Men Released as of June 20, 2014

. 149 men remain imprisoned. 141 of them haven’t been charged.
. 78 men have been cleared for release, most of whom have been imprisoned without charge for more than 11 years.
. An unknown number of men are on hunger strike and are being force-fed. A mass hunger strike began on February 6, 2013. At its height, in June 2013, 106 men were reportedly participating in the hunger strike. On December 3, 2013, the U.S. military stopped daily reporting on the number of hunger strikers.

Join the Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo at our vigil every Friday.

Torture? Religious Humiliation? Just Standard Operating Procedure . . .

Yuksel Celikgogus
The plaintiffs in Celikgogus include Yuksel Celikgogus and
Ibrahim Sen, two Turkish citizens who were released from
Guantánamo in 2004; Turkish citizen Nuri Mert; Uzbekistan
citizen Zakirjan Hasam; and Algerian citizen Abu Muhammad.

Judge: their treatment “appear[ed] to be standard for all” U.S. military detainees in Guantanamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan....”



From a June 10, 2014, press release by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR):

Court Finds Torture and Abuse of Former Guantánamo Detainees “Standard”, “Foreseeable”

June 10, 2014, Washington, DC – A federal appeals court today dismissed a civil lawsuit brought by six men formerly held at Guantánamo who were wrongly detained and abused while at the prison…

In dismissing their claims, the D.C. Circuit stated that the torture and religious humiliation these men endured—even after being cleared for release by the military—were incidental to the “need to maintain an orderly detention environment,” [and] “appear[ed] to be standard for all” U.S. military detainees in Guantanamo, Iraq, and Afghanistan....”

“It is deeply disturbing and disappointing that the court has refused to hold those in the military command responsible for the abuse and prolonged detention of individuals who were determined not to be enemy combatants. Torture and religious humiliation are unacceptable wherever they occur. When it is directed at individuals known not to be our enemies, it defies comprehension. This decision regrettably leaves these plaintiffs with nothing for their abuse,” said [attorney] Russell P. Cohen of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, who argued the case…

Unlike prior cases, three of the plaintiffs in this case were abused even after they were found to not be enemy combatants…

“If the court is correct that torture and religious humiliation are par for the course for detainees in the custody of our armed forces, that is an indictment of the way the United States treats its military detainees,” said Shayana Kadidal, counsel for the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in the case and Senior Managing Attorney of the Guantanamo project at CCR.

Read the full press release from CCR: Court Finds Torture and Abuse of Former Guantánamo Detainees “Standard”, “Foreseeable”

President Obama Has the Authority - Why Haven't the Guantanamo Detainees Been Released?

IMPERIAL MOMENT?
President Obama can release detainees when it suits him

This week President Obama authorized a prisoner exchange, turning 5 Guantanamo prisoners alleged to be members of the Taliban over to the government of Qatar, in return for the release of a US soldier, showing that he has the means to keep his promise to shut down Guantanamo.

Cori Crider, the strategic director for Reprieve, a U.K.-based human rights charity, said Monday that the transfer of the five inmates in exchange for P.O.W. Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. Army soldier, underscores that President Obama can move quickly to shutter Guantanamo if he has the political will to act.

“For years we at Reprieve have represented many of these people: a slew of warehoused individuals, cleared for years – meaning that they were determined by every [U.S.] security agency you and I have ever heard of to be no threat to anyone…”

“Many of these are being force-fed daily in a disgusting manner because they have been cleared so long they believe they will die in Gitmo,” Crider said. “Yet they could leave tomorrow with a stroke of Obama’s pen. Let’s hope this deal is a sign of more leadership from President Obama on letting the cleared men go home, too.”

(See The Guardian, June 3, 2014, "Forget the 'Taliban Five' – Obama's real chance is to free Gitmo's Cleared 78" by Cori Crider)

Raha Wala, an attorney with Human Rights First, told Al Jazeera if the administration can make the argument that the five Taliban detainees are transferrable “without any significant problems under the congressionally imposed transfer restrictions,” then certainly “the same argument can be made for the detainees who have already been cleared for release.”

(See Al-Jazeera, June 2, 2014, "Release of Taliban detainees shows Obama has power to close Gitmo" by Jason Leopold)

380 Days Have Passed Since President Obama’s Renewed Promise to Close Guantánamo: Only 17 Men Released as of June 6, 2014

* 149 men remain imprisoned. 141 of them haven’t been charged.
* 78 men have been cleared for release, most of whom have been imprisoned without charge for more than 11 years.
* An unknown number of men are on hunger strike and are being force-fed. Force-feeding is in violation of Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. A mass hunger strike began on February 6, 2013. At its height, in June 2013, 106 men were reportedly participating in the hunger strike. On December 3, 2013, the U.S. military stopped daily reporting on the number of hunger strikers.

Join the Chicago Coalition to Shut Down Guantanamo at our vigil every Friday.

Related links

"So the release of the five Afghans, including, by some accounts, known figures in the Taliban, fits a larger pattern in which the many dozens of inmates not accused of any crime and, in fact, cleared for release by successive American administrations languish for years on end. For many, the difference between liberation and limbo has nothing to do with justice or legality, but just the luck of what nationality a prisoner happens to hold . . . . "

June 8, 2014, The New York Times, "A View From Gitmo" by Ramzi Kassem.