April, 26 2011, 12:32pm EDT

Leaked Guantanamo Files Highlight Need for Fair Trials and Accountability, Says Amnesty International
WASHINGTON
Amnesty International today renewed its call on U.S. authorities to release or give fair trials to remaining Guantanamo Bay detainees, after leaked files revealed fresh details about those held at the detention center.
"The files confirm what we have been saying all along about Guantanamo Bay - that many were detained for spurious reasons and held for years without access to the U.S. legal system," said Susan Lee, Americas director at Amnesty International. "The authorities must either try those that remain there - in U.S. civilian courts rather than military commissions - or set them free."
The vast majority of the nearly 800 men who have been held at Guantanamo have been released without charge. To date only five have been convicted by the military commission system and one has been tried by civilian court. None of those released without charge are known to have been provided with compensation or any other form of remedy by the U.S. authorities.
"Of hundreds of detainees who have been held unlawfully for years, fewer than 50 are likely to be charged eventually - yet the U.S. government hasn't provided remedy to anyone," said Lee. "There has been no accountability on the part of the U.S. authorities for the abuses committed against these men."
Guantanamo currently holds 172 detainees, although the U.S. authorities are only planning to try a small number.
"Many detainees who have been cleared for release continue to languish at Guantanamo," said Tom Parker, policy director for terrorism and human rights at Amnesty International USA. "As a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the United States is obligated to provide an enforceable remedy to any individual unlawfully or arbitrarily detained. At the very least, this should include an apology, compensation and the punishment of those responsible for this outrageous conduct."
The Guantanamo Review Task Force established under President Barack Obama in 2009 recommended that 36 of those still held should be prosecuted by the United States.
It advised that 48 others should continue to be held without charge or trial, with the remainder transferred to countries other than the United States.
About half of the detainees still at Guantanamo are Yemeni nationals, of which 36 were approved for repatriation by the review task force with another 30 designated for possible future transfer, dependent on security conditions in Yemen.
However, transfers to Yemen from Guantanamo were suspended in December 2009, with the exception of Mohammed al-Odaini's repatriation in June 2010.
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.
Amnesty International is a global movement of millions of people demanding human rights for all people - no matter who they are or where they are. We are the world's largest grassroots human rights organization.
(212) 807-8400LATEST NEWS
171 Republicans and 150 Democrats Vote Down Effort to Withdraw Troops From Syria
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Speaker Kevin McCarthy were among the no votes on the resolution led by Rep. Matt Gaetz and backed by progressives.
Mar 09, 2023
More than 170 House Republicans and 150 Democrats teamed up Wednesday to defeat a resolution aimed at withdrawing all remaining U.S. troops from Syria, a proposal led by right-wing Rep. Matt Gaetz and supported by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
The measure, just the latest House push to bring the nation's yearslong military presence in Syria to an end, failed by a vote of 103 to 321, with Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California among the no votes.
The resolution would have required the president to remove 900-plus U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days of passage, barring congressional action to authorize their continued presence.
Opponents of the resolution who support prolonging the occupation echoed the Pentagon claim that U.S. forces are needed in Syria to prevent a resurgence of ISIS and to ensure "stability" in the region.
"Either we fight 'em in Syria, or we'll fight 'em here," said Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke of Montana.
While lamenting the proposal's defeat, peace advocates noted that it garnered more Republican support than any previous war powers resolution, with 47 GOP yes votes. Fifty-six House Democrats—including Reps. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ro Khanna of California, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Cori Bush of Missouri—voted for the resolution.
“There is a new generation of thinking on two central issues," Khanna toldThe Intercept following Wednesday's vote. "A concern about wars and entanglements over the last 20 years that have not made us safer, and a concern over the offshoring of our domestic production over bad trade deals that have left the working class and middle class poorer."
"I believe that this new generation of political leaders can help fix those two mistakes that the country has made, and that there is an emerging consensus that we should not have our troops fighting overseas without congressional authorization," Khanna added. "If the president wants to make the case for a certain presence that is required for America to protect the Kurds, then he should come to Congress and work with us to make that case."
As The Intercept's Ryan Grim and Daniel Boguslaw noted, "the legal rationale for U.S. occupation" of Syria is "dubious at best."
Opponents of the Syria war powers resolution, including Zinke, pointed to the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)—a law that U.S. presidents have cited to give legal cover for airstrikes and ground operations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and elsewhere.
"With ISIS suppressed," Grim and Boguslaw wrote, the Biden administration "has suggested the purpose of the occupation is to act as a bulwark against Iran."
Pointing to U.S. officials' claim that the presence of American troops prevents Iranian forces from establishing a "land bridge" to shuttle weapons to allies in Lebanon, Grim and Boguslaw observed that Iran "already has a direct 'land bridge' through eastern Syria to Lebanon; the U.S. occupation merely adds some time to the Iranian truckers' journey."
Critics of the U.S. troop presence in Syria have stressed that Congress did not specifically authorize a military operation to confront "Iran-backed militias" in Syria.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'Nonsense!': Jamie Raskin Rips Republicans Over Unending January 6 Lies
"America, we cannot let McCarthy and Carlson become the Orwellian editors of our past or the authoritarian authors of our future," exhorted the Maryland Democrat.
Mar 08, 2023
As right-wing politicians and pundits continue to peddle lies and conspiracies related to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, Democratic Maryland Congressman Jamie Raskin on Wednesday delivered a passionate rebuttal of Republicans' "nonsense."
Speaking on the House floor, Raskin asserted that "it all starts" with "Donald Trump's 'Big Lie'" that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
He continued: "They say, 'Who knows, maybe he won, maybe he didn't. You say Joe Biden's president, we say Donald Trump's president.' Nonsense!"
"Sixty federal and state courts rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption that they put forward. Sixty," Raskin—who was the lead manager for Trump's historic second impeachment—reminded listeners. "They don't have a single court that ever ruled in their favor. Donald Trump lost that election by more than seven million votes, 306-232 in the Electoral College."
"So then... their Big Lie has to stretch all the way over January 6," Raskin said. "We have to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes and our own ears. We saw them come and descend upon this chamber, this Congress, wounding and injuring 150 of our police officers, breaking people's noses, breaking people's fingers, putting people in the hospital, and already they're back on the news with big lies saying, 'No, no, no, it was a tourist visit.'"
Referring to the Fox News opinion host and the Republican House speaker, Raskin tweeted Wednesday that "Tucker Carlson's assault on the truth about January 6 is unconscionable, but more scandalous yet is Kevin McCarthy's central role in its design. America, we cannot let McCarthy and Carlson become the Orwellian editors of our past or the authoritarian authors of our future.
On Monday evening, Carlson—who according to legal documents said he "passionately hates" Trump even as he publicly amplified the ex-president's lies—dubiously dismissed the Capitol attack as "mostly peaceful chaos."
Carlson's characterization was roundly rejected even by numerous Republican senators including Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who called the false narrative "bullshit."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Free Press Advocates Say FTC Has No Business Probing Journalist Interactions With Twitter
"Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC's demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the administration," said one critic.
Mar 08, 2023
Press freedom defenders on Wednesday expressed outrage after it was revealed that the Federal Trade Commission, as part of its investigation into Twitter's data privacy practices, demanded that the social media giant "identify all journalists" given access to company records, including in relation to owner Elon Musk's dissemination of the so-called "Twitter Files" purporting to expose censorship on the platform.
"Anyone who cares about the free press should be concerned by the FTC's demand that Twitter identify journalists who have received information that might embarrass the [Biden] administration, regardless of what they think of Elon Musk or Twitter," Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) advocacy director Seth Stern said in a statement.
According to FPF: "Government-compelled identification of journalists is dangerous on its own and enables further surveillance of those identified. Administrations from both political parties have overreached to spy on journalists—especially journalists investigating those in power."
"The Department of Justice has adopted policies against surveilling journalists," the advocacy group noted, "but other agencies like the FTC have not."
The Wall Street Journalreported Tuesday that in addition to the names of journalists granted access to Twitter records, the FTC also sought internal communications related to Musk as well as information regarding layoffs, which the agency said could undermine the corporation's capacity to protect users, and the launch of the Twitter Blue subscription service.
FTC spokesperson Douglas Farrar told the newspaper that the agency is "conducting a rigorous investigation into Twitter's compliance with a consent order that came into effect long before Mr. Musk purchased the company."
Farrar explained Wednesday on social media that Twitter in 2011 "agreed to a 20-year consent order over its data security practices and how it uses your private information."
"In 2022, the FTC charged Twitter with violating the 2011 order for misusing personal information. The company then paid a $150 million penalty and entered a new consent order," he continued. "Besides the penalty, the FTC added further provisions to protect consumers' sensitive data. This order was issued in May of 2022," several months before Musk's acquisition of the company was finalized.
"The FTC should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users."
Farrar added that the 12 demand letters the FTC has sent to Twitter since Musk took over in late October "are nonpublic, but cherry-picked portions of some have recently been made public."
This happened after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee's Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government published excerpts of the letters in an interim staff report about the FTC's Twitter probe.
As part of its investigation, the FTC on December 13 "asked about Twitter's decision to give journalists access to internal company communications, a project Mr. Musk has dubbed the 'Twitter Files' and that he says sheds light on controversial decisions by previous management," the Journal reported.
According to the newspaper: "The agency asked Twitter to describe the 'nature of access granted each person' and how allowing that access 'is consistent with your privacy and information security obligations under the order.' It asked if Twitter conducted background checks on the journalists, and whether the journalists could access Twitter users' personal messages."
Journalist Matt Taibbi—whose December 2 thread on Twitter's 2020 decision to suppress the Hunter Biden laptop story and subsequent reporting have put him at the center of the "Twitter Files" saga—tweeted Tuesday: "Which journalists a company or its executives talks to is not remotely the government's business. This is an insane overreach."
In response, Matt Stoller of the American Economic Liberties Project, an anti-monopoly think tank, wrote that "the FTC is seeing whether Twitter is violating its consent decree on privacy."
Farrar doubled down on that claim Wednesday, writing: "FTC investigations are straightforward and nonpolitical. They are to ensure that companies are following the law, including protecting people's privacy. The consent order the FTC has with Twitter isn't about Musk's acquisition of the company or their content moderation policies. This isn't about free speech, it's about the FTC doing its job to protect Americans' privacy."
Stern, for his part, was unconvinced by Farrar and Stoller's attempts to justify the FTC's actions as an exercise in protecting consumers' data.
"The FTC," said Stern, "should not have to violate the privacy of journalists to protect the privacy of Twitter users."
"It's especially disturbing," he continued, "that the demand could enable future efforts to obtain the journalists' newsgathering materials."
The FTC's actions underscore why Americans of all political persuasions "should support passing the PRESS Act," Stern added. "It's the only way to ensure that all administrations, and all government agencies, are prohibited from surveilling or retaliating against journalists."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular
SUPPORT OUR WORK.
We are independent, non-profit, advertising-free and 100%
reader supported.
reader supported.