Guantanamo

Starving for Justice Must-See Video

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Published May 19, 2013, in Guantanamo, Hunger Strike

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Secret Documents Expose Guantanamo Force-Feeding Techniques

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Published May 19, 2013, in Forced Feedings, Guantanamo

  • Leaked document details new policy after recent protests and is the most detailed description of hunger striker treatment to date
  • Contains first published details of restraint chairs used to force feed prisoners
  • Final authority over who gets force-fed lies with Guantanamo commander as opposed to a medical professional
  • Identities of prisoners who are force fed shared with top Pentagon officials
  • Prisoners are given powerful drugs during force feeding
  • Document notes hunger striking prisoners should be isolated so they don’t achieve solidarity
  • Doctors and nurses do not act independently and appear to be violating medical ethics. They are an apparatus of the security force and carry out the policy

wpid-guantanamo-suicides.jpgAl Jazeera has exclusively obtained classified information which shows hunger striking Guantanamo prisoners are being force-fed a liquid nutritional supplement through a brutal and dehumanising medical procedure that requires them to wear masks over their mouths while they sit shackled in a restraint chair for as long as two hours.

The prisoners remain this way, with a 61cm tube – or longer – snaked through their nostril until a chest X-Ray, or test dose of water, confirms it has reached their stomach.

Information on the restraint system, obtained exclusively for the first time by Al Jazeera, along with the feeding procedures policy, was contained in a newly revised Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Guantanamo hunger strikers from United States Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which has oversight of the joint task force that operates the prison.

The 30-page SOP contains the most detailed descriptions to date pertaining to the treatment of hunger strikers and prisoners who undergo force-feedings. The SOP replaced a previous SOP issued in 2003 (revised in 2005) which was declassified several years ago by the Pentagon with redactions. The new, unredacted policy obtained by Al Jazeera went into effect March 5 - one month after Guantanamo prisoners launched their protest over the inspection of their Qurans.

The SOP appears to have been revised and implemented in order to deal with a mass hunger strike which is taking place.

Journalist Jason Leopold, who obtained the documents, found out that, after a prisoner is identified as a possible hunger striker, a medical officer performs a physical and psychological evaluation. The prisoner is then “counseled” about the dangers associated with a hunger strike.

“If detainee continues to hunger strike and clinical criteria for the initiation of enteral feeding are met …the detainee may be admitted to the Detention Hospital or designated feeding block if medically stable. Authorisation is obtained via chain-of-command from JTF-GTMO Commander to begin enteral feeding.”

Before being placed into the restraint chair, medical personnel offers the prisoner one last chance to eat voluntarily. If the prisoner refuses, the “medical provider signs medical restraint order” to force feed the prisoner and encourages him to use the restroom before he is shackled.

The guard force then “shackles detainee and a mask is placed over the detainee’s mouth to prevent spitting and biting,” states the chair restraint protocol. “Detainee is escorted to the chair restraint system and is appropriately restrained by the guard force.”

Al Jazeera has found out currently there are 23 prisoners who are being force-fed. Long-term hunger strikers who are force-fed, or as the SOP describes them, “chronic enteral feeders,” “are notified by staff that ‘It is time to feed.’

Source: Kevin Kriedemann

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Guantanamo: The Tour

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Published May 19, 2013, in Guantanamo

By Jason Leopold Follow @@JasonLeopold

Last week, thanks to the generous support of the Freedom of Press Foundation, I traveled to Guantanamo during the height of a mass hunger strike to tour the detention facility, along with four other members of the media. We were shown the two main detention camps—5 and 6—as well as Camp X-Ray, the detainee hospital, library, food preparation and we observed the prisoners’ morning prayer. 

The tour was carefully scripted and well choreographed but still incredibly valuable. The military impressed upon us how troublesome and ungrateful the prisoners are and how patient the guards have been despite being routinely “splashed” with feces and urine. The doctors and nurses told us they have not heard a single prisoner on hunger strike who has been tube fed complain about the brutality of the process, which I laid bare in an exclusive report for Al Jazeera last week.

We left the island last Friday, the 100th day of the hunger strike. The number of Guantanamo prisoners refusing food grew by three during our weeklong visit. There are now 103 prisoners participating in the protest. Thirty are being tube fed, according to the government’s tally.

A Guantanamo spokesman, Navy Capt. Robert Durand, told me the military will not negotiate with the prisoners to end the hunger strike. 

These photographs were reviewed by the military and some were cropped to conceal surveillance cameras, a guard tower and other landmarks the military deemed sensitive. The rest of the photographs can be viewed on Flickr.

The guard tower overlooking Camps 5 and 6. This photographed was cropped to conceal a surveillance camera.

Camp 5, Charlie block. These cells were empty during the media tour.

Another view of Charlie Block.

Guards walking the block at Camp 5 just before the start of the prisoners’ morning prayer.

The entrance to Camp 5. Even though there is a sign that says “no photography” we were permitted to take pictures.

An aerial view of Camp X-Ray, where the first prisoners who arrived in January 2002 were kept in open air cages. 

Guantanamo officials have wanted to tear down Camp X-Ray. But a federal judge ordered X-Ray to be preserved as possible evidence.

Interrogation huts at Camp X-Ray, not shuttered and overgrown with weeds and vines.

These are the “cells” that were used to house the first prisoners transferred to Guantanamo in 2002. The prisoners remained there for three months before being sent to the camps that were being built by KBR.

Although there is a hunger strike taking place, food is still prepared for prisoners and media was given a tour of the facility.

A bed in the emergency room at the detainee hospital. The guard force first restrains the prisoner while the physician/nurse stands by.

The “acute care” room in the detainee hospital.

The entrance to Camp Delta, which used to house all of the detention camps. It was the sign that said the “Value of the Week” is “Integrity” that caught my eye.

The restraint chair and force-feeding kit in the detainee hospital. We were told this was set up this way for display purposes. It resembles an execution chamber.

“Leonato,” whose fake name was taken from Shakespeare’s play “Much Ado About Nothing,” is a registerd nurse and the officer in charge of the detainee hospital. He was providing us with a demonstration of the force-feeding process. He said has not heard one prisoner complain to him about pain or discomfort from being tube fed.  

Shackles on the floor in the prisoner “media room” in Camp 5. Behind the shackles is a recliner.

A plaque commemorating the construction of maximum security Camp 5, which houses noncompliant prisoners. Notice that the contractor, Kellogg Brown & Root, which was part of Dick Cheney’s old firm, Halliburton, is cited.

There’s also plaque commemorating the construction of Camp 6.

An isolation cell in Camp X-Ray where one prisoner was detained by the US. Former Guantanamo guard Brandon Neeley, who worked at Camp X-Ray when it opened, said Martin John Mubanga, who held dual citizenship in the United Kingdom and Zambia, was detained there.

This is a kennel in the old Camp X-Ray that was used to house military dogs, which were used to intimidate prisoners. The canines had better accommodations than the prisoners.

No one was able to answer why there had to be silence when in the vicinity of the prisoners.

Two Guantanamo guards Joint Task Force-Guantanamo made available for a 20-minute interview. I had to send my questions to the military a week in advance. The female guard is 21 years-old and works in Camp 5. Before being deployed to Guantanamo she worked at Fort Leavenworth. The male guard works in Camp Echo and is 20 years-old. He arrived at Guantanamo when he was 18. He had no prior experience working in a prison environment. We were not allowed to identify the guards by name. Both said the prisoners were manipulative and “not really” on a hunger strike. The female guard said the prisoners have routinely splashed her with feces and urine and called her a “bitch and whore.”

The officer in charge of maximum security Camp 5, where noncompliant prisoners are detained. We were not allowed to photograph her face or publish her name for security reasons. 

The communal area of Camp 6, which houses compliant prisoners. The block was empty when we visited. All prisoners in Camp 6 have been held in isolation since April 13, when guards staged a pre-dawn raid at the camp.

A restraint chair used for force-feeding in a cell at Camp 6.

A book in the Detainee Library that appears to have been read many times, judging from the dog-eared pages. It’s a story about survival.

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OpGTMO: Anonymous vows global hack attack to shut down Guantanamo

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Published May 16, 2013, in Anonymous, Close Guantanamo, Forced Feedings, Guantanamo, Hacktivism, Hunger Strike

The hacktivist group Anonymous has announced it will mark the 100th day of the Guantanamo hunger strike with three days of massive protests, calling on supporters to join their global action both on the ground and online.

“We stand in solidarity with the Guantanamo hunger strikers. We will shut down Guantanamo,” Anonymous’ online statement reads.

The group did not detail how it is would achieve this goal, but promised “twitterstorms, email bombs and fax bombs” would be part of its anti-Gitmo efforts. The group said mass protests would take place from May 17 to 19.

The group’s online call for action condemned the US for failing deliver on President Obama’s promise to shut down the facility. The group described the prison as a concentration camp, and said that many of the inmates are being kept there despite having been cleared for release. Anonymous also lashed out at the Guantanamo administration for force-feeding some of the hunger-striking prisoners, which the UN recently condemned as torture and in breach of international law.

Anonymous also expressed indignation over how the facility, which they called a “disgrace for any civilized country,” is one of the most expensive prisons in the world, costing $900,000 annually to house each prisoner.

“Guantanamo Bay must be closed at once, and the prisoners should be either returned to their home countries or given a fair trial in a federal court. Guantanamo Bay is an ongoing war crime. Anonymous will no longer tolerate this atrocity,” their statement said

The Anonymous website also posted phone numbers for the White House, US Southern Command and the Department of Defense, urging supporters to ‘phonebomb’ officials with calls about Guantanamo.

Inmates at Guantanamo went on a hunger strike at the beginning of February over alleged mistreatments, including the mishandling of their Korans. Currently, more than 100 inmates are refusing food, two dozen of whom are being force-fed.

Follow RT’s day-by-day timeline of the Gitmo hunger strike.

‘Anonymous’ is notorious for its politically motivated cyber-attacks. A recent hack attack took down the Spanish parliament’s website in late April, the same day mass anti-government protests were held in Madrid.

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Gitmo prison must be closed down ASAP – Russian human rights envoy

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Published May 16, 2013, in Guantanamo, Hunger Strike

Moscow has expressed concern over Guantanamo and the fate of a Russian inmate held there. The detention center, which doesn’t comply with US international commitments, should be shut down, the Foreign Ministry’s envoy for human rights told RT.

It has been over three months since the beginning of the mass hunger strike in the notorious American detention center in Guantanamo Bay. US authorities confirmed that 30 of the 100 hunger-striking inmates are being force-fed via tubes. That is despite criticism from rights groups who consider it cruel. Rights activists also put the number of strikers at up to 130.

Follow RT’s day-by-day timeline of the Gitmo hunger strike.

RT spoke with the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights Konstantin Dolgov, to find out his view on the situation as the hunger strike hits its’ 100-day landmark.

RT: It is one hundred days since the hunger strike in Guantanamo began, and we’re hearing shocking reports about prisoners being force-fed. What do you make of that? How does that comply with the human rights and violations of human rights?

Konstantin Dolgov: It definitely does not comply either with the human rights as such or with the respective obligations and commitments which the United States has before the international community in the field of human rights. We have said many, many times before that the entire existence of this special prison in Guantanamo contravenes the basic international tenets in the field of human rights.

So the situation, which is still ongoing, with the hunger strike, obviously is a matter of concern – not only to us, but to the entire international community and, obviously, to the human rights defenders, including American human rights defenders.

 

Konstantin Dolgov (Image from vaseljenska.com)

Konstantin Dolgov (Image from vaseljenska.com)

 

We have seen many statements coming from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, coming from other institutions, international institutions, defending human rights. In all those statements, there is one major request, or I would rather say demand, addressed to the United States government – to close down finally this particular prison.

We have seen and we have heard many promises by different representatives of the Obama administration that it is coming, it is coming, it is coming. They are telling us that the US Congress does not support closing down the prison, which factually is true, but obviously we continue to think that the administration, that the government of the US has to meet the international obligations of that country and they have to undertake resolute steps to finally close down the prison which has been the arena of multiple violations of human rights, not only this ongoing situation with the hunger strike.

Yes, we are concerned by the information which we are receiving that there have been violations of the rights of inmates. You know that quite a number of them, they had to be released years ago, because the US courts have made such a decision, I think, a couple of years ago.

But they are still there. They are still inmates, they are still kept in prison because those decisions by the courts, for this reason or that, are not implemented.

So there are multiple violations of human rights. I must reiterate that we were planning to send a delegation to Guantanamo, a Russian inter-agency delegation, with the leading role, obviously, of the Foreign Ministry, but unfortunately this visit has not been carried out so far.

It is not reasonable to go without having an opportunity to see our Russian citizen, Ravil Mingazov, who is still kept in that prison, he is an inmate. He is the last Russian citizen in Guantanamo. Obviously we want – and we have notified the American side in due course, in due form – that we want to get firsthand information about the conditions in which Mingazov is kept there, about the situation with the implementation of his basic rights.

Unfortunately, such a visit to Mingazov is not possible so far, at this juncture. We have been told that he is not willing to meet with the Russian government officials, but we also have the information that, if his lawyers were allowed to attend such a meeting, then Mingazov definitely would be willing to meet with us.

 

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, a Guantanamo detainee speaks with guards inside the Camp 6 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba (Reuters / Brennan Linsley)

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, a Guantanamo detainee speaks with guards inside the Camp 6 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base in Cuba (Reuters / Brennan Linsley)

 

So, unfortunately, the US government, the federal authorities, they did not provide for the necessary conditions for such a meeting to take place. There are some rules, I think formulated by the Pentagon, which preclude the presence of lawyers at such meetings.

So we are still there, we still are inclined to go to Guantanamo and to get a better understanding of how serious the situation is with the violations of human rights of different inmates, including, once again, to get information about the living conditions of our citizen.

But our basic position has not changed. Once again, we think that the US government is to close down Guantanamo as soon as possible.

RT: As for closing it down, the main concern of the US is obviously what to do with the prisoners when the prison is shut. There’s the Russian citizen, the only one left there; would Russia be willing to take Mingazov back to Russia and investigate the crimes if he committed any?

KT: Well, first of all, once again, it is important to get first-hand information about conditions in which he is kept there in Guantanamo. Definitely we will be ready to discuss different options, but what is important is to close down the prison and to decide upon the future of the inmates.

Definitely it is to be done in contact with the respective governments of the countries whose citizens they are, and in the case of Mingazov, his fate is to be decided in contact with the Russian government.

So, we will be ready to discuss it, but first of all, we have to ascertain that his rights are not being violated.

 

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, a guard stands in a cell block at Camp 5 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba (Reuters / Brennan Linsley)

In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. military, a guard stands in a cell block at Camp 5 detention facility at Guantanamo Bay U.S. Naval Base, Cuba (Reuters / Brennan Linsley)

 

As far as we know, he has not participated in the hunger strike, but even without the hunger strike the conditions in which the inmates are being kept are definitely not in line with international standards.

And our basic policy, our principle position – if you wish – is that we are trying to get back our citizens as soon as possible from foreign prisons and we think that Mingazov is to leave the prison in Guantanamo as soon as possible.

But on the specific modalities, I think certain consultations are to be carried out.

RT: Some reports are suggesting that Mingazov doesn’t want to return to Russia – of course that’s being said through his lawyers, not himself.

KD: The main stumbling block is that the Russian Federation needs to hear that from Mingazov, that he doesn’t want to be a Russian citizen anymore.

But as I said we still want to meet with Mingazov, we still want to talk to him and to discuss different topics, different issues, which are linked to his future. So we’ll see how things will play out, but all our requests addressed to the American side are still in effect and our offers are on the table.

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Obama’s options for the Hunger strikers in Guantanamo

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Published May 14, 2013, in Forced Feedings, Guantanamo

Obama is not powerless to take decisive action in the face of a desperate hunger strike staged by 100 of Guantanamo’s 166 detainees.

• For starters, the president can direct his agencies to stop blocking detainees’ access to their lawyers. Last year, District Judge Royce Lamberth labelled the government’s attempt to devise new rules on access “an illegitimate exercise of executive power.”

Last week, Judge Lamberth was obliged to complain again about “the continuing erosion of counsel access at Guantanamo,” citing non-delivery of legal mail and curtailed flights to the prison. This should be a test of the president’s sincerity regarding Guantanamo: call off the dogs. Order government attorneys to cease the unfair effort to undermine the detainees’ right to effective legal help.

• Repatriate low-risk detainees. This is a critical step. The 2013 National Defence Authorization Act allows the transfer of detainees if the defence department secretary certifies that it’s in the interest of U.S. national security and that measures will be taken to reduce the risks. The president can do that now for the 86 detainees already cleared. About 56 of them are from Yemen, which remains a dangerous country, but President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has improved security to the point where the administration can explore the possibility of renewing detainee transfers.

The president can revive this dormant process by naming someone to fill the vacant State Department seat of the negotiator for detainee transfers. As a gesture of commitment — if he is truly committed — he can appoint a ranking official to cut through the red tape of the national security bureaucracy to accelerate the process.

• Create the periodic review boards he promised two years ago to examine the basis for continued detention of the rest, the so-called indefinite detainees. The International Red Cross says the Geneva Conventions require these boards for facilities like Guantanamo. The failure to establish them indicates that, for all the president’s fine words April 30, his only goal is to maintain the status quo.

Sending more medical corps officers to keep hunger strikers alive is no solution for the fundamental problem at Guantanamo — the absence of hope for detainees deemed worthy of repatriation.

For hard-core terrorists among the prisoners, a longer-term solution must be devised. But for the rest, only the renewal of the review and transfer process will break the strike. Without hope, most detainees will conclude that the only way to leave the island is in a body bag.

TheRecord.com

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Guantanamo lawyers demand right to use pens, notebooks, eyeglasses

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Published May 13, 2013, in Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Guantanamo, Ridiculous Rules

Defense lawyers for a man facing war crimes charges at Guantanamo Bay are asking a military judge to guarantee the attorneys’ right to use pens, notebooks and even eyeglasses during meetings with their client, according to a motion released Monday.

The motion was precipitated by a lawyer for prisoner Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri being told he could not bring a wire-bound, spiral notebook to a meeting with his client. The attorney, Richard Kammen, said he’d brought notebooks to such meetings since 2008, without incident.

“JTF-GTMO…determined that the thin wire spiral binding of the notebook constituted something of a threat,” lawyer Richard Kammen wrote in the motion (posted here). “There has never been any past suggestion that a wire bound notebook would or realistically could be disassembled to provide a client with a weapon, but after he was not allowed to use his spiral notebook, counsel utilized as different notebook with binder clips that in counsel’s opinion could more easily be used as a weapon than the spiral in the spiral notebook.”

Kammen said Guantanamo personnel quoted security directives to him that appeared to ban not only spiral notebooks, but also pens and eyeglasses at meetings between lawyers and their clients. But, he said, those items haven’t been prohibited in practice.

“Both counsel and client are regularly permitted to bring their eyeglasses into meetings. Similarly, counsel has always been permitted pens and pencils of varying composite materials, sharpness, and lengths in both meetings with the defendant at the detention facility and in proceedings before this commission,” Kammen wrote.

The civilian attorney said, however, that guards sometimes step in to regulate the use of pens. “Should counsel allow a client to write with counsel’s pen for any length of time during attorney-client meetings, the guards interrupt and require the detainee to use another more flexible pen which, presumably in the opinion of JTF-GTMO, constitutes less of a threat,” the motion says.

Al-Nashiri is charged with planning the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in a harbor in Yemen in 2000, which killed 17 American sailors and injured several dozen more.

Guantanamo defense lawyers have been doing more than their usual share of writing longhand in recent weeks, after breaches and failures involving computers prompted the chief defense attorney to order a halt last month to the use of computers for all confidential materials.

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[ACTION] Emergency: 2013 Hunger Strike at Guantánamo. Learn About It & Act Now

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Published May 11, 2013, in action, Guantanamo, Hunger Strike

Synopsis

A grave crisis is currently unfolding at the U.S. prison in Guantánamo Bay. CCR has heard directly from our clients and attorneys for other men that men detained at Guantánamo are participating in a widespread hunger-strike that has been taking place since early February, and some men are now in critical condition. The unfolding crisis at Guantánamo cannot be divorced from the fact that the vast majority of the 166 remaining prisoners have been held for more than 11 years without any charge or fair trial, and with no end to their detention in sight.

CCR attorneys and others who have visited the prison or spoken to their clients report that during the hunger strike men have lost drastic weight, on average between 30 to 40 pounds, and dozens have lost consciousness.  If the hunger strike continues, the effects of prolonged starvation, combined with the trauma of indefinite detention, may result in irreversible physical and psychological harm, and even death.  Despite these alarming reports, the military continues to deny the seriousness of the strike and refuses to meaningfully engage with us regarding our clients’ concerns. In recent statements to the press, JTF-GTMO officials have accused prisoners of manipulation, dismissing the hunger strike as a “weapon” and “tactic” employed by detainees to garner media attention.

The government’s effective non-response to the hunger strike so far is unacceptable. The President who once condemned Guantánamo’s shameful history of prisoner mistreatment and promised to rapidly close Guantánamo should direct Defense Department authorities to take immediate and meaningful steps to address the situation at hand. And ultimately, the solution to the crisis is to shutter the prison once and for all.

Now is a critical time to raise your voice and help us build political pressure to end the immense suffering at Guantánamo, and to shut the prison down.

ACT NOW:

1) Sign this petition to close Guantánamo, which is gaining unprecedented support at this critical time. 

2) Organize Through Social Media Change your facebook profile photo to this profile photo and/or your facebook cover photo to this cover photo, and let your friends and networks know about the unfolding hunger strike and the 166 men still trapped at Guantánamo.

3) Tweet: President @BarackObama @WhiteHouse Keep your promise: #closegitmo #GitmoHungerStrike 

4) Join a Vigil or Organize Your Own

Vigils have been held in more than 26 cities and 19 states. Use CCR’s signage kit to hold a vigil in your own town. Take photos and send them to CCR at closegitmo@ccrjustice.org.

5) Call the White House and U.S. Military
* Contact the White House and tell President Obama that he must fulfill his promise to shut down Guantánamo. Call (202) 456-1111 or submit a comment online. Tell him, “President Obama, there is an unfolding humanitarian crisis at Guantánamo. I urge you to act swiftly to fulfill your promise to close the prison by releasing the men you will not charge and by giving fair trials to those you will. You should appoint a high level officer in the White House to lead the closure effort, direct the Secretary of Defense to use his authority under the law to release men who will not be charged, and lift your own self-imposed blanket ban on sending Yemeni men home.”

* Call the U.S. Southern Command to express concern about the hunger-strikers and demand that General Kelly work with JTF-GTMO to humanely end the strike by addressing the prisoners’ concerns: (305) 437-1213

* Contact Secretary of Defense Charles Hagel and demand that he use his authority under the law to resume transferring all of the men the Obama administration does not intend to charge. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA 2013) gives Secretary Hagel the authority to certify men or issue waivers so they can be released from Guantánamo, and he must use this authority without further delay. Leave Secretary Hagel a message at the Department of Defense by calling (703) 571-3343 or by submitting a comment online.

6) Share CCR’s factsheet on Guantánamo and visit CCR’s “Close Guantánamo” webpage to learn more about CCR’s clients and what you can do to help us close the prison.

LEARN MORE:

On April 11, CCR and 24 other prominent human rights groups sent a joint letter to Obama to take appropriate steps to legally and humanely end the hunger strikes and shutter the prison. The full letter and list of signatories can be found here. 

Read the two letters written by CCR and other lawyers representing detained men to Secretary of Defense Hagel (March 14, 2013) and to the heads of Joint Task Force Guantánamo (March 4, 2013), along with Amnesty International’s letter (March 22, 2013) to the Secretary of Defense. And on April 1, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense responded to the lawyers’ March 14 letter.

CCR Press Releases:

May 10, 2013:
Congressional Briefing Urges Obama to Use His Authority to Close Guantánamo 

May 1, 2013:
CCR Welcomes Strong UN – IACHR Statement on Guantánamo

CCR and CEJIL Respond to UN and IACHR Joint Statement Calling on United States to Close Guantánamo

April 30, 2013

CCR Demands Obama Take Action Available to Him to Close Gitmo: Use Waiver, Transfer 86 Cleared Men, Lift Yemen Repatriations Ban

April 26, 2013:
Gitmo Lawyers Applaud AMA’s Condemnation of Force Feeding

April 15, 2013:
Retaliation for Guantánamo Hunger Strike Grows

April 11, 2013:
As Hunger Strike Enters Third Month 25 Prominent Human Rights Organizations Pen Letter to Obama Urging Closure of Guantánamo

As Guantánamo Hunger Strike Continues, Activists Rally Nationwide for “Day of Action to Close Guantánamo”

April 5, 2013:
In Light of Hunger Strike UN Condemns Guantánamo as Breach of International Law, Urges Closure

Select News:

Stop force-feeding inmates and close Guantánamo (Op-ed by CCR’s Executive Director Vincent Warren, CNN May 10, 2013) 

Photos from Guantanamo’s force-feeding facilities (Washington Post, May 10, 2013) 

A new chance to act on Guantanamo (CNN, May 9, 2013) 

A cook’s Guantanamo nightmare (AUDIO & TEXT) (CNN, May 9, 2013) 

Carl Levin says Guantanamo closing would be helped by new Obama envoy (Huffington Post, May 9, 2013) 

How one detainee got trapped in legal limbo at Guantanamo (VIDEO) (CNN, May 8, 2013)

Guantanamo’s Collapse (Huffington Post, May 8, 2013)

Obama can close Guantanamo. Here’s how (Bloomberg, May 7, 2013)

Ahmed Errachidi: My 5 Years at Guantanamo (BBC News, May 7, 2013)

Basu: Guantanamo detainees need due process (Newsday, May 7, 2013)

It’s your turn: Americans must demand closure of Guantánamo facility (Boston Globe, May 6, 2013) 

Yemen Human Rights Minister to Washington for Guantanamo talks (Miami Herald, May 6, 2013) 

Inside Guantánamo: an unprecedented rebellion leaves a notorious detention centre in crisis (The Independent, May 5, 2013) 

Open letter from former Guantanamo prisoners (The Guardian, May 4, 2013) 

Former Detainee Talks of Desperation in Guantanamo Bay (NPR, May 4, 2013)

Guantanamo: It’s Obama’s Disgrace Now (Salon, May 4, 2013) 

How Guantanamo’s horror forced inmates to hunger strike (The Guardian, May 4, 2013) 

Guantanamo Bay: Enough to make you Gag (Editorial from The Economist, May 4, 2013)

Close Guantanamo Now! (VIDEO) (CNN, May 3, 2013)

Send Judges to Guantanamo, then Shut It (New York Times, May 3, 2013) 

Guantanamo Camp Costs $900,000 a Year Per Inmate (Huff Post, May 3, 2013) 

To Save These Men, Free Them (Op-ed by CCR’s Executive Director Vincent Warren, New York Times, May 2, 2013)

Gitmo Hunger Strike [VIDEO] (Colbert Report, May 2, 2013) 

John Stewart Jabs Obama’s Guantanamo Failure [VIDEO] (Huff Post, May 2, 2013)

Obama’s Options for Closing Guantanamo Explored (Huff Post, May 2, 2013)

Guantanamo hunger strike renews debates over administrative detention, ethics of force-feeding (Washington Post, May 2, 2013)  

US drone strikes being used as alternative to Guantanamo, lawyer says (The Guardian, May 2, 2013)

Twenty-three Guantanamo hunger strikers being force-fed (Interview with CCR’s Pardiss Kebriaei, CBS, May 1, 2013) 

Congressman Steve Israel: “Endless detention is not a good idea’  (MSNBC, May 1, 2013)

A Hundred Hungry Men at Guantanamo (The New Yorker, May 1, 2013)

Is it medically ethical to force-feed Guantanamo Detainees? (CNN, May 1, 2013)

Former Guantanamo chief prosecutor petitions Obama to close prison camp (The Guardian, May 1, 2013) 

Obama Renews Guantanamo Closure Vow, Defends Force-Feeding (Democracy Now, May 1, 2013)

The President and the Hunger Strike (New York Times Editorial Board, April 30, 2013) 

President Obama must make closing Guantanamo a priority (Washington Post Editorial Board, April 30, 2013)

The Anti-Prisoners’ Dilemma: Obama & Congress are Chickening Out on Gitmo (The Atlantic Wire, April 30, 2013)

Obama on Gitmo: I don’t want prisoners to die (MSNBC, April 30, 2013) 

Obama’s Catastrophic Guantánamo Failure (CCR Legal Director Baher  Azmy, The Daily Beast, April 29, 2013)

A Desperate Situation at Guantánamo: Over 130 Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Dozens Being Force-Fed (Democracy Now, April 29, 2013)

100 Guantanamo Hunger Strikers Recognized by U.S. Military (The Huffington Post, April 27, 2013) 

Red Cross arrrives at Guantánamo as hunger strike hits 100 mark The Miami Herald, April 27, 2013)

Former State Department Official: Team Bush knew many at Gitmo were Innocent (The Atlantic, April 26, 2013)

Cleared for Release but Denied Freedom- Shaker Aamer and Guantanamo Bay (HuffPost, April 26, 2013)

Guantanamo strike sparks outcry in Yemen (Al Jazeera, April 25, 2013)

The Guantanamo Stain (New York Times Editorial Board, April 25, 2013)

… the country must recognize the steep price being paid for what is essentially a political prison. Just as hunger strikes at the infamous Maze Prison in Northern Ireland indelibly stained Britain’s human rights record, so Guantánamo stains America’s.

Dianne Feinstein: Guantanamo Desperation ‘Unprecedented’ (The Huffington Post, April 25, 2013)

Kafka at Gitmo: Why 86 Prisoners are Cleared for Release but might not ever get it (The Washington Post, April 25, 2013)

Despair Drives Guantanamo Detainees to Revolt (New York Times, April 24, 2013)

Guantánamo Hunger Strike Grows to 92 Detainees, Military Says (HuffPost, April 24, 2013)

Hunger-striking Guantanamo prisoners near death (CNN, April 23, 2013)

Shaker Aamer and the Dirty Secrets of the War on Terror (The Guardian, April 23, 2013)

Life at Guantanamo, and What Happens Next (Slate, April 23, 2013)

U.S. sending more medics to Guantanamo as hunger strike grows (Reuters, April 22, 2013) 

Half of Guantánamo detainees on hunger strike (BBC News, April 22, 2013)

Shaker Aamer: ‘I may have to die. I hope not. I want to see my family again’ (CCR client Shaker Aamer speaks on his condition at Guantánamo, The Independent, April 21, 2013)

America’s disgraceful treatment of Gitmo detainees (The Chicago Tribune, April 21, 2013)

America cannot assert moral authority while Guantánamo remains open (The Guardian Editorial Board, April 20, 2013)

Guantánamo Bay: why can’t Shaker Aamer return home to London? (The Guardian, April 20, 2013)

President Obama Must Act to Close Guantánamo (CCR’s Wells Dixon, The Hill, April 18, 2013)

The process of dying is never easy or painless. Death by starvation is particularly grueling: the body cannibalizes fat and tissue, wasting to skin and bones, leading to dehydration, incoherence and, ultimately, heart failure. It is a slow and agonizing ordeal, even for the most committed hunger striker. It took IRA member and British MP Bobby Sands more than two months to die in Maze prison when he starved himself to death in 1981. And for those who are force-fed, the process is even more excruciating; they may endure as food is pumped up their noses and into their stomachs like a veal calf, but eventually they will die as well.

I fear that such death is near for many of the men held without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay, including my client Djamel Ameziane …
 

Troops forcibly move hunger strikers at Guantánamo into cells (The Miami Herald, April 14, 2013)

Gitmo is Killing Me (New York Times op-ed by Guantánamo hunger striking detainee, April 14, 2013)  

Hunger Strike at Gitmo: ”We are Dying a Slow Death Here” (CCR’s Pardiss Kebriaei on msnbc, April 13, 2013)

I met with men who are weak and have lost between 30 and 40 pounds. They told me of other men who are skeletal and barely moving, who have coughed up blood, passed out, and one who tried to hang himself.

Has Obama Given Up on Closing Guantánamo? (CCR’s Pardiss Kebriaei on All in with Chris Hayes, April 8, 2013)

As Obama, Congress Move on, Guantanamo is still a Problem (Boston Globe Editorial Board, April 6, 2013)

I’m a bit of a professional hunger striker, I’ve done it so often: A Guantánamo inmate since 2002, Shaker Aamer explains why he’s joined the other detainees in a hunger strike (Shaker Aamer, New Statesman, April 5, 2013)

If you chase life, it has a habit of running away from you. When I complied with the picayune rules in Guantánamo, it never did any good. Though I was cleared for release almost six years ago now … I am still here.

Right now, none of us is chasing life down here, but it may run away from us anyway. Some people are going to die in this hunger strike soon. People have been sending messages home, thinking these might be their last messages in this life.

So it’s the worst of times here, but actually it’s the best of times. Everyone is more united than they have ever been. Yes, they can break our bodies; but I think maybe, just maybe, we’ve finally learned that they cannot break our spirit.
 

Hunger Strike at Guanánamo Bay (New York Times Editorial Board, April 5, 2013)

U.N. Official Calls for Closing of Guantanamo Bay  (Rolling Stone, April 5, 2013)

Pillay Says Guantánamo Detention Regime is “In Clear Breach of International Law” and Should Be Closed (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, April 5, 2013)

Guantánamo Hunger Strike Grows (All In with Chris Hayes, April 4, 2013)

Déjà vu: Defense Officials Downplay Growing Guantánamo Hunger Strike With Bush-Era Talking Points (Jason Leopold, Truthout, April 1, 2013)

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights is Asking Questions About Guantánamo the US Cannot Answer” (CCR’s Executive Director Vincent Warren, Huffington Post, March 21, 2013)

Over 100 Guantánamo Prisoners on Hunger Strike, Citing Threat of Return to ‘Darkest Days Under Bush.’ Video interview with CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei (Democracy Now, March 13, 2013)

As Gitmo Prisoners Revolt, Obama Administration Challenged on Indefinite Detention at OAS Hearing. Video interview with CCR attorneys Pardiss Kebriaei and Omar Farah (Democracy Now, March 13, 2013)

Watch CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei’s interview about the hunger strike (Huffington Post Live, March 26, 2013).

Watch CCR’s President Emeritus Michael Ratner’s interview about the hunger strike (The Real News Network, March 21, 2013).

The Center for Constitutional Rights currently represents nine prisoners at Guantánamo, including Djamel Ameziane, Fahd Ghazy, Tariq Ba Odah, Mohammed Al-Hamiri, and Ghaleb Al Bihani. CCR has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for the last 11 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center represents the families of men who died at Guantánamo, and men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts. In addition, CCR has been working through diplomatic channels to resettle men who remain at Guantánamo because they cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and torture.

 

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Ameziane v. Obama / Ameziane v. United States

By:
Published May 10, 2013, in Djamel Ameziane, Forced Feedings, Guantanamo, Legal Proceedings, Profile

Synopsis

    

DJAMEL AMEZIANE

Detained at Guantánamo since February 2002; cleared for transfer since October 2008 

*Photo credits: Center for Constitutional Rights

 See Djamel Ameziane’s short profile and learn what you can do for him.

Djamel Ameziane is an Algerian refugee who has been detained in Guantánamo Bay since 2002. He has a pending habeas corpus petition, Ameziane v. Obama, in the D.C. District Court. He has a petition and request for precautionary measures, Ameziane v. United States, filed with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

Like many other habeas petitions, Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case was stayed pending the outcome of the Boumediene and Al Odah cases in the Supreme Court, which were decided June 12, 2008. The Supreme Court ruled that detainees at Guantánamo Bay have the constitutional right to have their habeas corpus petitions heard in a U.S. federal court. Subsequently, the stay in Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case was lifted and the case began to move forward rapidly. However, in June 2009, the D.C. District Court again stayed the case indefinitely based on his approval for transfer.

Mr. Ameziane’s IACHR petition and request for precautionary measures is the first merits petition by a person detained by the United States at Guantánamo Bay, asking the IACHR to consider the torture, abuse, and other human rights violations perpetrated against him, including his continuing indefinite detention without charge or trial. 
 

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Status

Mr. Ameziane’s habeas corpus petition is currently stayed indefinitely in the D.C. District Court; Mr. Ameziane’s IACHR petition is currently pending. 

Description

Ameziane v. Obama is a petition for habeas corpus filed on behalf of Djamel Ameziane. Respondents in the case include the President, the Secretary of Defense, and military commanders of the Joint Task Force – Guantanamo. Ameziane v. United States, is a petition to consider the torture, abuse, and other human rights violations perpetrated against him at Guantánamo Bay including his continuing indefinite detention without charge or trial, and requests that the IACHR issue precautionary measures requiring the United States to honor its non-refoulement obligations and cease all mistreatment of Mr. Ameziane.

Mr. Ameziane is an ethnic Berber from Algeria, where he obtained a college diploma and held a respectable job. In the early 1990s Mr. Ameziane left Algeria to escape escalating instability and oppression under the Algerian government then in power. He lived and worked legally as a chef in a high-class restaurant in Vienna, Austria. Following the 1995 election of a new government in Austria, Mr. Ameziane’s visa and work permit were not renewed and he was forced to leave the country. He then traveled to Canada where he sought asylum. However, after five years in Canada his application was denied and he was forced to uproot again. With few options left, Mr. Ameziane went to live in Afghanistan. He never participated in any military training or fighting. Soon after the war started, he fled to escape the violence, but was abducted by local police while trying to cross the border into Pakistan and was sold to U.S. forces for a bounty. In early February 2002, Mr. Ameziane was sent to Guantánamo, where he has suffered immensely from abuse and solitary confinement.

The U.S. government has never alleged that Mr. Ameziane has engaged in hostilities, terrorism, or any acts of violence and it has since conceded that there are no “military rationales” for Mr. Ameziane’s continued detention. Mr. Ameziane is now a refugee held in Guantánamo Bay. He seeks asylum in a safe third country where he may begin to rebuild his life.

Artwork created by Mr. Ameziane while imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Timeline

Ameziane v. Obama

On February 24, 2005, Mr. Ameziane filed a habeas corpus petition, Ameziane v. Bush (since restyled Ameziane v. Obama), in the D.C. District Court.

On April 19, 2007, the government filed a motion to dismiss Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case.

On May 3, 2007, Mr. Ameziane opposed the government’s motion to dismiss.

On July 5, 2007, U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle denied without prejudice the government”s motion to dismiss pending the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Boumediene v. Bush, and Al Odah v. United States.

On January 3, 2008, the D.C. District Court stayed Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case.

On June 12, 2008, the Supreme Court decided Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. Bush, ruling that detainees at Guantánamo Bay have the constitutional right to petition for habeas corpus relief.

On June 13, 2008, Mr. Ameziane filed a motion to lift the stay of his habeas case and schedule an immediate status conference.

On July 29, 2008, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan, acting as coordinating judge for most detainee cases, ordered that the stay be lifted in Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case, and most other habeas cases filed by detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

On November 7, 2008, Judge Hogan granted the government’s motion to amend the factual return to Mr. Ameziane’s habeas petition over his objection.

On December 2, 2008, Judge Huvelle, the merits judge assigned to Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case, ordered the government to produce exculpatory evidence, and directed the parties to engage in other discovery.

On December 17, 2008, the government filed a sealed motion to stay Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case.

On December 19, 2008, Judge Huvelle entered an amended order regarding production of exculpatory evidence and other discovery. The court also scheduled motion for summary judgment proceedings.

Also on December 19, 2008, Mr. Ameziane filed a sealed opposition to the government’s motion to stay and, alternatively, a cross-motion for parole.

As reflected on the public docket, on January 2, 2009, Judge Huvelle denied the motion to stay Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case. 

On February 6, 2009, Mr. Ameziane filed under seal a motion to exclude evidence.  In response, on February 20, 2009, the government filed a public notice withdrawing reliance on two documents as a basis for Mr. Ameziane’s detention.

On February 13, 2009, Mr. Ameziane filed a preliminary traverse and motion for summary judgment before the D.C. District Court.

On February 20, 2009, the government filed a pleading attempting to avoid summary judgment proceedings as to Mr. Ameziane. 

As reflected on the public docket, on February 24, 2009, Judge Huvelle rejected the government’s attempt to avoid summary judgment proceedings but permitted the government to amend its statement of material facts.
 
On February 27, 2009, the government filed its opposition to Mr. Ameziane’s summary judgment motion and moved to amend its statement of material facts.

 
On March 3, 2009, Mr. Ameziane filed a reply in further support of his summary judgment motion. 
 
On March 6, 2009, Judge Huvelle issued a classified discovery order, which was publicly disclosed on March 13, 2009, in redacted form.
 
On March 13, 2009, Judge Huvelle ordered closing briefing and argument.
 
Also on March 13, 2009, the government filed a memorandum regarding its detention authority. Mr. Ameziane filed a response on March 24, 2009.
 
On April 1, 2009, Mr. Ameziane filed his closing brief in support of his summary judgment motion. 
 
On April 30, 2009, the D.C. District Court denied Mr. Ameziane’s motion for summary judgment, and ordered the parties to proceed to discovery and an evidentiary hearing on the merits.
 
As reflected on the public docket, on May 27, 2009, U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle stayed Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case indefinitely. 

Also as reflected on the public docket, the parties thereafter filed a series of sealed pleadings, and the court issued a series of sealed orders.

On June 30, 2009, U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle entered a sealed order, and the government appealed on July 7, 2009 and sought an emergency stay pending appeal. The D.C. Circuit issued an administrative stay on the same day, and then granted the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal on July 16, 2009.
 
On July 10, 2009, the government filed a sealed motion in six habeas cases, including Mr. Ameziane’s.
 
As reflected on the public docket, on July 20, 2009, the D.C. District Court issued a sealed order.
 
On July 31, 2009, Mr. Ameziane filed a sealed response to the court’s July 20, 2009 sealed order on behalf of the petitioners in the six habeas cases. The government filed a reply memorandum on August 14, 2009.
 
On September 10, 2009, the government filed a sealed notice of supplemental authority in the six habeas cases. Mr. Ameziane filed a sealed response on behalf of the petitioners on September 14, 2009.
 
As reflected on the public docket, on February 4, 2010 and March 10, 2010, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan issued sealed orders. 

On February 27, 2010, Mr. Ameziane and other petitioners in the six habeas cases filed an emergency motion for reconsideration or, alternatively, for a stay pending appeal. On March 15, 2010, the government opposed. Petitioners replied on March 17, 2010.

On March 24, 2010, the government filed a sealed notice of supplemental authority in the six habeas cases. Mr. Ameziane filed a sealed response on behalf of the petitioners on March 29, 2010.

As reflected on the public docket, in April 2010, Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas F. Hogan issued sealed orders.
 
In the interim, on January 8, 2010, the D.C. Circuit issued a sealed opinion reversing Judge Huvelle’s June 30, 2009 sealed order, Ameziane v. Obama, No. 09-5236 (D.C. Cir.). The court denied rehearing and rehearing en banc on March 31, 2010. Mr. Ameziane then petitioned the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, which was denied on March 21, 2011. On September 21, 2012, the government moved to unseal the D.C. Circuit’s opinion and all other appellate records in Mr. Ameziane’s case. The D.C. Circuit granted that request on October 5, 2012, and publicly disclosed several records including: Government’s Opening Brief, Ameziane’s Opening Brief, Government’s Reply Brief, D.C. Circuit Opinion, Ameziane’s Petition for Rehearing and Suggestion for Rehearing En Banc, and Appendix.
 
Mr. Ameziane’s habeas case currently remains stayed indefinitely, as he has been detained at Guantánamo without charge or trial for more than 10 years.
 
Ameziane v. United States
 
On August 6, 2008, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Center for Justice and International Law filed Ameziane v. United States, a petition and request for precautionary measures with the IACHR.
 
On August 20, 2008, the IACHR issued Urgent Precautionary Measures requiring that all necessary measures be taken to ensure that Mr. Ameziane is not transferred or removed to a country where he would likely face torture or other persecution.
 
On October 29, 2010, the IACHR held a hearing regarding Mr. Ameziane’s case. CCR counsel for Mr. Ameziane provided testimony to the Commissioners about the lack of effective remedies available in U.S. courts, Mr. Ameziane’s continuing need to be protected from forcible transfer to Algeria and his plea for resettlement in a safe third country.
 
On March 20, 2012, the IACHR issued a landmark admissibility report in Mr. Ameziane’s case. This decision marks the first time the IACHR has accepted jurisdiction over the case of a man detained at Guantánamo, and underscores the fact that there has been no effective domestic remedy available to victims of unjust detentions and other abuses at the base. The IACHR will now move to gather more information on the substantive human rights law violations suffered by Djamel Ameziane—including the harsh conditions of confinement he has endured, the abuses inflicted on him, and the illegality of his detention. 

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Stop force-feeding inmates and close Gitmo

By:
Published May 9, 2013, in Djamel Ameziane, Forced Feedings, Guantanamo

(CNN) — It has taken almost three months and more than 100 men embarking on a life-threatening hunger strike for President Obama to remind himself and the nation why the prison at Guantanamo Bay needs to be closed.

Self-starvation is excruciating, but as one of our clients expressed, this is the only way the men at Guantanamo have left to tell the world what it means to be unjustly detained without charge or trial for more than 11 years with no end in sight.

Vincent Warren

Vincent Warren

The starvation protest, which began in February, has created headlines around the world. Of the 100 men, 23 are being force fed to keep them alive. As you read this, it’s likely that some of the men are being dragged from their cells, strapped to restraint chairs, and a rubber tube inserted up their nose and into their stomachs to pump in liquid dietary supplement. One of the men described the traumatic experience to his attorney as having a razor blade go down through your nose and into your throat.

Last week, 40 additional military medical personnel were sent to Guantanamo to assist with the force-feedings, a practice that the American Medical Association condemned as a violation of “core ethical values of the medical profession” and the United Nations condemned as torture and a breach of international law.

Force-feedings at Guantanamo are nothing new, and much like indefinite detention, the practice has come to define the prison. In 2005, when the first mass hunger strike at the prison took place, the Bush administration also responded by having medical personnel force-feed the men.

Back then the men were fighting for due process and access to attorneys; eight years later and with more than half the prison population cleared for release by the Obama administration itself, the men are asking for an end to their indefinite detention.

As President Obama said last week, the prison is “not necessary to keep America safe. It’s expensive, it’s inefficient, it hurts us in terms of international standing, it lessens cooperation with our allies in counterterrorism efforts.”

It is also illegal and inhumane, as the United Nations’ top independent human rights experts and the international human rights body with jurisdiction over the United States, the OAS’s Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, reminded the president.

I would like to believe that if the president could see what lawyers at my organization have witnessed during visits with our clients in the last few weeks, he would act without delay to make good on the promise he made to close Guantanamo Bay four years ago.

The toll that starvation and the violence of force-feedings have taken on the men is painful to see. They have lost 30 to 40 pounds, they look skeletal, and many are losing consciousness and coughing up blood. Last we heard, one of our clients weighed 90 pounds.

I’d like to believe that if President Obama knew a man like Djamel Ameziane, he would understand that closing the prison is not a matter of political expediency but life or death.

Djamel has been cleared for release, the government has said there are no “military rationales” for detaining him further, and other countries have expressed an interest in resettling him because he fears persecution in his home country of Algeria. Yet he continues to languish in a cell years later. What does that do to a man’s spirit?

The president said he continues to believe “we’ve got to close Guantanamo.” But believing is not enough. Believing in the president and having their hopes for justice raised and dashed so many times since the order to close Guantanamo was first signed in 2009 is what drove the men at Guantanamo to put their lives on the line with this hunger strike.

Guantanamo is back in the news in a serious way for the first time in years, and it is the men themselves who have succeeded in putting it there, using the only peaceful means they have available to them to demand their lives back.

The president has more staff members force-feeding men whom his own administration cleared for release than he has working to transfer them out.

It should not take the inevitable deaths that will follow from this crisis for the president to act. He must stop pretending Congress is preventing him from doing anything. Right now he has the authority that Congress provided under the National Defense Authorization Act to start transferring the men who have been cleared using a national security waiver.

He also has the power to lift his self-imposed moratorium on transfers to Yemen. Collective punishment based on nationality is as illegal as indefinite detention.

The president said the right things last week. He has said the right things before. All it takes now is the humanity and the will to act and end the horror that is Guantanamo prison.

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