May, 21 2014, 09:20am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
katherine.oshea@reprieve.org / +1 (917) 855 8064
2. Attorney Jon Eisenberg may be contacted for interview on 510-305-7670 or jeisenberg@horvitzlevy.com
Federal Court to Hold US Government to Account Over Force-Feeding of Guantanamo Detainees
A US court will today weigh evidence from Guantanamo Bay prisoners and the US military on the prison's controversial force-feeding practices.
It is the first time the US government will be held to account in a court of law over its treatment of prisoners at the Cuban prison camp.
When: 10am (EST), Wednesday May 21, 2014
Where: Room 26A, District Court, 333 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC
WASHINGTON
A US court will today weigh evidence from Guantanamo Bay prisoners and the US military on the prison's controversial force-feeding practices.
It is the first time the US government will be held to account in a court of law over its treatment of prisoners at the Cuban prison camp.
When: 10am (EST), Wednesday May 21, 2014
Where: Room 26A, District Court, 333 Constitution Ave NW, Washington, DC
Last Friday, after seeing evidence presented by Reprieve on prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab's daily ordeal, District Court Judge Gladys Kessler placed an emergency restraining order on the Obama Administration, forbidding:
- the force-feeding of hunger-striking prisoner Abu Wa'el Dhiab
- the 'Forcible Cell Extraction' of Dhiab (in which a team of guard in riot gear storms a prisoner's cell to move him by force to feedings if he refuses to go)
- the destruction of over 100 videotapes of force-feedings and Forcible Cell Extractions, the existence of which Justice Department attorneys admitted only last week
Today's hearing is likely to cover:
- when and whether the US Government must turn over to Dhiab's lawyers all videotapes and other evidence of his force-feeding and forcible cell extractions (FCEs)
- whether the current injunction against the force-feeding and FCE-ing of Dhiab should stay in place
Abu Wa'el Dhiab and other Guantanamo prisoners will be represented by the Reprieve US legal team, with arguments by attorney Jon Eisenberg.
Reprieve attorney Cori Crider said: "Judge Kessler was entirely right last year when she said force-feeding was clearly 'a painful, humiliating and degrading process.' I spoke to Mr. Dhiab on the phone just two days ago, and he was absolutely clear that the treatment of hunger strikers today is every bit as bad as it was under George Bush. My client cannot comprehend why he is still in Gitmo years after being cleared and desperately wants to see his wife and children again. The government wouldn't be in this mess if it would just let the cleared prisoners go."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
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While some Palestine defenders on Wednesday welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden's threat to withhold bombs and artillery shells from Israel if it launches a major invasion of Rafah, critics noted that an invasion is already underway and accused the American leader of walking back a previous "red line" warning against an Israeli assault on the southern Gaza city.
Biden said for the first time that he'll stop sending bombs, artillery shells, and other arms to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians forcibly displaced from other parts of the embattled Gaza Strip are sheltering alongside around 280,000 local residents.
Referring to Israel's use of U.S.-supplied 2,000-pound bombs—which can destroy an entire city block and have been used in some of the war's worst atrocities—Biden toldCNN's Erin Burnett that "civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers."
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"If they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities," Biden said Wednesday.
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Critics noted the shifting and subjective language used by Biden—who previously said that any Israeli invasion of Rafah would constitute a "red line" resulting in unspecified consequences.
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Reporting that the Biden administration will delay a highly anticipated report on whether Israel is using U.S. military aid in compliance with international law also drew backlash Tuesday from human rights advocates.
Referring to Israel's U.S.-funded anti-missile system, Biden continued his supportive rhetoric during Wednesday's CNN interview, telling Burnett that "we're going to continue to make sure Israel is secure in terms of Iron Dome and their ability to respond to attacks."
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The majority of Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday saved far-right Speaker Mike Johnson from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene's attempt to oust him after less than seven months in the leadership position.
Johnson's (R-La.) election to the role in October—following the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who then left Congress early—was seen as a signal of the MAGA flank's hold on the Republican Party. However, since then he has faced criticism from Greene (R-Ga.) and others for, among other things, not shutting down the government.
Greene delivered on her threatened motion to vacate—provoking boos from fellow lawmakers—after meeting with Johnson for hours on Monday and Tuesday. The final vote to table her resolution was 359-43, with 196 Republicans and 163 Democrats backing the far-right speaker. Seven Democrats voted present and 21 lawmakers did not vote.
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Our decision to stop Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from plunging the House of Representatives and the country into further chaos is rooted in our commitment to solving problems for everyday Americans in a bipartisan manner. We need more common sense and less chaos in Washington, D.C.
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Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) similarly declared on social media that "the GOP chaos caucus continues to do nothing for the American people and instead waste time infighting."
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As former U.S. President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans campaign on extending their 2017 tax cuts if elected in November, a government analysis revealed Wednesday that doing so would add $4.6 trillion to the national deficit.
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"The Republican tax plan is to double down on Trump's handouts to corporations and the wealthy, run the deficit into the stratosphere, and make it impossible to save Medicare and Social Security or help families with the cost of living in America."
Responding in a statement Wednesday, the senators cited an Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) estimate that "extending the Trump tax cuts would create a $112.6 billion windfall for the top 5% of income earners in the first year alone."
They also slammed their GOP colleagues, who Whitehouse said "are awfully eager to shield their megadonors from paying taxes."
He recalled that just last year, "Republicans held our entire economy hostage," refusing to raise the debt ceiling and risking the first-ever U.S. default, because they didn't want the Internal Revenue Service to get more funding to "go after wealthy tax cheats."
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