detainees

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Obama Resurrects Gitmo Military Trials

Move an admission that detention center is here to stay

(Newser) - President Obama has given Robert Gates the go-ahead to initiate new military commissions against Guantanamo detainees—something Obama originally banned on the first day of his presidency. Within weeks one or more detainees may face new charges—the Justice Department has already designated some prisoners for military tribunal, including suspected...

White House to Authorize Indefinite Detention

Draft order part of plan to close Gitmo, administration says

(Newser) - The Obama administration is preparing a draft executive order to formalize indefinite detention of Guantanamo detainees without trial—but officials stress that the order is a key part of its plan to close the facility. The order—which would apply to 48 of the 174 detainees still held at Gitmo—...

Released Hiker: We Were Led Into Iran

Sarah Shourd says WikiLeaks has story wrong; Iran aims to postpone trial

(Newser) - The three American hikers detained by Iran weren’t captured in Iraq, says Sarah Shourd: They were beckoned over the border by an armed soldier, she tells the New York Times in an effort to set the WikiLeaks version of the story straight. “We did not actually enter Iran...

US Left 30K Iraqi Detainees to Be Tortured
 US Left 30K 
 Iraqi Detainees 
 to Be Tortured 
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

US Left 30K Iraqi Detainees to Be Tortured

Troop pullout leaves a slew of untried inmates

(Newser) - The US is turning a blind eye to the systematic abuse of detainees in Iraq's prisons, a report by Amnesty International claims. The transfer of prisoners from US-run detention centers to Iraqi facilities is a less-discussed aspect of the American pullout, but has flooded a system that remains rife with...

Iran Will Free Detained American Female
Iran Will Free Detained
Female American Hiker
updated

Iran Will Free Detained Female American Hiker

Her two male companions will remain in custody

(Newser) - Iran has made clear which of the three American hikers it will release this weekend: It's the lone female, Sarah Shourd. The 31-year-old is expected to be freed Saturday to mark the end of Ramadan, reports CNN . Left behind will be her fiance, Shane Bauer, and Josh Fattal, both 27....

Maybe Bagram Will Be the New Gitmo

Administration ponders how best to handle detainees

(Newser) - President Obama's security team is for the first time writing guidelines on how to handle captured terror suspects—specifically on whether any will be allowed to be detained indefinitely without trial, the Los Angeles Times reports. Draft guidelines predict that will be necessary for a small number of detainees, with...

Liz Cheney's 'Al-Qaeda 7' Attack 'Shameful': GOP

Top conservatives denounce 'Al-Qaeda 7' attacks

(Newser) - Attacks by Liz Cheney and GOP senators on lawyers appointed to the Obama Justice Department after defending suspected terrorists are "shameful," "unjust to the individuals in question," and "destructive of any attempt to build lasting mechanisms for counterterrorism adjudications," a group of top conservative...

Don't Close Gitmo Just for Symbolism
 Don't Close Gitmo 
 Just for Symbolism 

MICHAEL GERSON

Don't Close Gitmo Just for Symbolism

Detention center is ugly but necessary, writes Michael Gerson

(Newser) - Guantanamo Bay is an ugly place to Americans and the rest of the world but there's no point in closing it just for the sake of symbolism, writes Michael Gerson. George Bush decided against closing it because of the problem of what to do with the detainees. President Obama opted...

Swiss Taking Gitmo Uighur Bros
 Swiss Taking Gitmo Uighur Bros

Swiss Taking Gitmo Uighur Bros

Brothers detained since 2001 to be resettled in Alpine region

(Newser) - Two Chinese Uighur brothers will soon be swapping Guantanamo Bay for the Swiss Alps. Switzerland officials have decided to accept the men for resettlement on humanitarian grounds. Authorities believe that Bahtiyar and Arkin Mahmud pose no security risk and should be able to find jobs in their new homes in...

Slovakia Takes 3 Gitmo Detainees

Transfer based on EU-US agreement designed to help close prison

(Newser) - Three detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay were moved to Slovakia over the weekend, bringing the total number of detainees at the Cuban base down to 193. Neither that nation nor the Justice Department, at Slovakia’s urging, would disclose the former prisoners’ names or nationalities, Reuters reports....

Panel: 50 Gitmo Prisoners Must Be Kept Indefinitely

Task force says 110 can be released

(Newser) - A task force spearheaded by the Justice Department recommends that 50 of the 196 detainees at Guantanamo Bay be held indefinitely without trial. The group, providing a specific breakdown for the first time, determined that the 50 prisoners were too dangerous to release and that any trial would expose state...

Lawyers for Yemeni Detainees at Gitmo Doubt Release
 Lawyers for Yemeni 
 Detainees at Gitmo 
 Doubt Release 
FLIGHT 253 FALLOUT

Lawyers for Yemeni Detainees at Gitmo Doubt Release

Recent terror activity, GOP outrage may complicate closure

(Newser) - Strong talk from GOP leaders and former Bush officials, and the emergence of al-Qaeda links in Yemen have lawyers for Yemeni detainees at Gitmo pessimistic about releases that seemed certain just recently. “I feel like my two clients who left in mid-December have gotten the last train out,”...

Teen Afghan Prisoners Claim Abuse at US Site

Say they were beaten, photographed naked at Bagram

(Newser) - Two Afghan teenagers held prisoner by the US at the Bagram air base say American interrogators beat them, deprived them of sleep, photographed them naked, and made them look at porn to humiliate them sexually. The teens' accounts to the Washington Post have not been substantiated, but they have the...

Conservatives to GOP: Stop Gitmo 'Scaremongering'

Bob Barr, others write letter supporting Obama's plan

(Newser) - Three leading conservatives sought to quash what they called “scaremongering” by Republican politicians over plans to relocate Guantanamo Bay detainees to a prison in Illinois. In a joint statement, Bob Barr, David Keene, and Grover Norquist said the prison was secure enough to hold the detainees. “The federal...

Ill. Dems Rally Around Plan to Take Gitmo Prisoners

Quinn, Durbin say detainees at empty prison would create 3,000 jobs

(Newser) - Illinois' governor and senior senator spent yesterday feverishly trying to regain momentum on their plan to use a nearly empty maximum-security prison 150 miles from Chicago to house Gitmo detainees. With federal officials visiting Thomson Correctional Center today, local GOP lawmakers had gone on the offense Saturday, calling it a...

Prosecutors Hope Plea Deals Will Close Gitmo Cases

Federal, Military prosecutors fight for rare testimony

(Newser) - Federal and military prosecutors looking to convict Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and other high-profile Guantanamo Bay detainees are competing with each other to offer plea bargains to lower-profile inmates in exchange for testimony. Some detainees have remained at Gitmo because they are considered too difficult to prosecute, and the evidence against...

6 Gitmo Uighurs Arrive in Palau

Latest transfers trade prison for ocean views

(Newser) - Six Chinese Muslims newly released from Guantanamo Bay traded life behind bars today for rooms with ocean view in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau. The Uighurs, in US custody since 2001, were met at the airport in the middle of the night by President Johnson Toribiong and taken to...

Metallica Singer 'Proud' of Music's Role in Torture

Tunes represented something detainees didn't like: Hetfield

(Newser) - Metallica frontman James Hetfield is rather proud his band's music was played at top volume to break down the resistance of Guantanamo detainees under interrogation. "It’s strong, it’s music that’s powerful,” he told an interviewer from a German TV network. “It represents something that...

Closing Spruced-Up Gitmo Would Be a Waste

Task force steams ahead with quality-of-living improvements

(Newser) - Money is being poured into improving the quality of life for Guantanamo detainees just as the government works toward closing the detention center, writes a puzzled Judith Miller after a tour. Recreation facilities and classrooms are being expanded, and inmates have access to satellite TV. Prisoners are given a choice...

Obama to Let Bagram Prisoners Challenge Detention

Representatives would amass evidence, witnesses for detainees

(Newser) - The White House plans to give some 600 detainees at a US-run prison in Kabul greater power to dispute their custody, the New York Times reports. After an expected rubber stamp from Congress, the Obama administration will send representatives to Bagram Air Base to amass evidence and witnesses for detainees....

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