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Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

NOV 20, 2008 09:24 PM

After seven years - SEVEN! - of being denied the basic human right of habeas corpus by the Bush Administration, a Federal Judge ordered the release of five detainees from Guantanamo Bay. Despite the fact that the Bush Administration had asserted for seven fucking years that there was PLENTY of evidence to keep these "enemy combatants" indefinitely without trial, this Federal Judge (appointed by George W. Bush, for the record) took one look at this evidence and said, in legal terms: Fuck. No.

Leon ordered them released "forthwith" and said the government should engage in diplomatic efforts to find them new homes. In an unusual moment, he also pleaded with Justice Department lawyers not to appeal his order, noting that the men have been imprisoned since shortly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

"Seven years of waiting for a legal system to give them an answer . . . in my judgment is more than enough," he said. He urged the government "to end this process."
...
The decision applies to five of the six Algerians, who were arrested in Bosnia and have been held at Guantanamo Bay since January 2002. Leon found that the government had provided enough evidence to justify the continued detention of one Algerian who the government contends was a facilitator for al-Qaeda.


A Federal Judge freeing someone on the spot and then urging DoJ lawyers not to appeal his order is, as you can imagine, pretty rare. And it would only happen if the evidence were clear that these people are not guilty of any crime.

As some are pointing out, many folks in our government were A-OK with our government indefinitely detaining innocent people.

(1) These 5 detainees were able to be heard in federal court only because the U.S. Supreme Court in the Boumediene case last June -- in a ruling John McCain called "one of the worst decisions in the history of this country" -- struck down as unconstitutional Section 7 of the Military Commissions Act, which had purported to abolish habeas corpus for Guantanamo detainees and prohibit them from challenging their detention in a federal court. The release order today resulted from the habeas corpus right which the Military Commissions Act purported to abolish but which the Boumediene Court restored. Appropriately enough, one of the 5 detainees who won his freedom today was the named plaintiff in that case, Lakhdar Boumediene.

(2) The five men ordered released today have been imprisoned in a cage by the Bush administration for 7 straight years without being charged with any crimes and without there being any credible evidence that they did anything wrong. If the members of Congress who voted for the Military Commissions Act had their way (see them here and here), or if the four Supreme Court Justices in the Boumediene minority had theirs, the Bush administration would nonetheless have been empowered to keep them encaged indefinitely, for the rest of their lives if desired, without ever having to charge them with any crime or allow them to step foot into a courtroom to petition for habeas corpus.

In addition to every Republican Senator (except Chafee), those voting to authorize that repellent power include Jay Rockefeller, Ken Salazar, Tom Carper, Ben and Bill Nelson, Debbie Stabenow, and Joe Lieberman.


All of those above should be absolutely ashamed of themselves. They have voted to authorize one of the most stunning violations of human rights in our history. They are despicable.

It's also worth repeating the following for the knee-jerk morons in the "ACTIVIST JUDGES PUTTING 'MERICANS IN DANGERRRRRRR!!!!" wingnut cabal:

(3) Judge Leon is a Bush-43 appointed Judge known as a right-wing ideologue and known for ruling in favor of the Government and for expansive executive power. He was Deputy Chief counsel for the Republicans on the Iran-Contra Committee in 1987, was Special Counsel to the Senate Banking Committee for the Whitewater investigation, and worked for both the Reagan and Bush 41 Justice Departments. That Judge Leon -- of all judges -- ruled that there was no credible evidence to suggest that these detainees are "enemy combatants" is as compelling a sign as one can imagine that there is no such evidence.


The system works, so long as it's given a chance to. Thanks to the Supreme Court NARROWLY standing up for the rule of law last term, it was given that chance. Seven years too late.

Coyotemike

Coyotemike

USA
May 2006

NOV 20, 2008 09:27 PM

Can we give each illegal detainee 10 minutes alone in a locked room with Bush as partial repayment? Maybe throw in Cheney and Rumsfeld for good measure?

FellOnEarth

FellOnEarth

Temecula, CA
April 2006

NOV 21, 2008 12:10 AM

Coyotemike said:
Can we give each illegal detainee 10 minutes alone in a locked room with Bush as partial repayment? Maybe throw in Cheney and Rumsfeld for good measure?


10 minutes? How about 7 long years in a cage, the former detainees are free to skip town, but the three stooges have to stay stay.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

NOV 21, 2008 08:24 AM

Text of the decision here.

It's short and acknowledges that most of the Government's evidence is classified, but it's also emphatic that the evidence as to these 5 detainees is woefully inadequate. Basically, they had one source that said these five guys were planning to go to Afghanistan and take arms against the US. That source had no corroborating evidence and there was no evidence that any of these five guys had taken any concrete steps to effectuate any alleged "plan".

So with that evidence, what did the government do?

The Bosnian Prosecutor who investigated their initial detention back in 2001 (which was effectuated at the behest of the U.S.) concluded they ought to be released, but the Bosnian Government succumbed to the pressure of the Bush administration and turned them over to the U.S. as they were being released ("hooded, shackled, and packed into waiting cars while their horrified families watched"wink, after which they were shipped to Guantanamo.

One of the detainees ordered released today had a wife who was pregnant at the time he was shipped to Guantanamo, who then gave birth to a daughter, now 6, whom he has never met. Another of the Bosnian-Algerians had an infant daughter at the time he was put in Guantanamo who died last year of congenital heart disease at the age of 6. Another of them "suffered months of facial paralysis from a brutal beating inflicted by Guantanamo camp soldiers." And then there's this, about one of the other detainees, Saber Lahmer:

When we last saw Saber in November, he was in his sixth month of solitary confinement. Since August, he has seen us, his legal team, twice and a psychiatrist on three brief occasions. For a few minutes each day, he sees the camp guards who bring his meals. He has had no other human contact. The glaring lights in his cell are on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. When we left the cell, we could hear Saber shouting -- brief, truncated cries. We could not understand what he was saying.



According to Human Rights Watch, that detainee -- "a university-educated father of two who once taught at the Islamic Cultural Center in Bosnia" -- "continues to be housed 22 hours a day in a single cell, with nothing to occupy his time other than his Koran" and "now reports that he is going blind in his left eye, a result that he attributes to being housed in cells with fluorescent lights on 24 hours a day."


Everyone should be enraged about this. Everyone.

Mark_plus_Beer

Mark_plus_Beer

United Kingdom
August 2005

NOV 21, 2008 08:33 AM

can they sue for illegal detention then ?

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

NOV 21, 2008 09:10 AM

Mark_plus_Beer said:
can they sue for illegal detention then ?



Yes, though I don't know if they'll win because of all the classified information in play here. But I hope they do, and I hope they win.

Otoki

Otoki

SUICIDEGIRL

Minnesota, USA

NOV 21, 2008 09:32 AM

Wow. I'm glad their case was finally examined. Will other Guantanamo detainees get the same opportunity?

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

NOV 21, 2008 09:44 AM

Otoki said:
Wow. I'm glad their case was finally examined. Will other Guantanamo detainees get the same opportunity?



Yes. Thanks to the Supreme Court.

There will likely be more detainees freed in the near future. When Obama is President, he has said that one of his first priorities will be to close Guantanamo and move the detainees to a place where they can be processed more effectively, efficiently and in accordance with their human rights.

Tritone

Tritone

Saint Paul, MN
May 2004

NOV 21, 2008 10:10 AM

This is a good thing.

Katieesq

Katieesq

USA
June 2008

NOV 21, 2008 10:26 AM



This man knows the way to my heart. love

But seriously, we knew Guantanamo was fucked up from it's inception. I think more than anything we should take from this story how quickly to United States found itself snuffing habeas corpus because of broad executive powers and how long it is taking to dismantle this power. With a divided court, even seemingly simple issues have become politically tainted.

X_Racer_X

X_Racer_X

Philadelphia, PA
July 2008

NOV 21, 2008 11:00 AM

I am wondering if we are going to see any kind of hybrid trial/tribunal in any of the cases. I'm really interested in how that might work out. Clearly,there were some people who were detained under false pretenses and are still being held till this day.They deserve the opportunity to have the facts checked and if it all sorts out,they deserve their freedom.(If there's any country willing to accept them)

Conversely,many who are detained were in training camps to earn their merit badge in "How To Kill Americans". They too deserve justice. Which means trial or tribunal. Then if found guilty, they should get their just dessert at the end of a rope. What's taking so long?

Either way,I just don't see how throwing them down a well for the last 7 years with no progress towards either end makes any sense. It's done nothing other than to inflame world opinion,give this country a huge human rights blackeye and perpetuate one of the greatest abuses of Executive power in this country's history.

sick

sick

Minneapolis, MN
June 2003

NOV 21, 2008 11:12 AM

Katieesq said:



This man knows the way to my heart. love



A sharp knife? wink
______

Anyway, to the topic. It's about time they did this. The suspension of indefinite incarceration of people who may or may not be guilty of crimes has sickened me for years.

The argument of "well, these people aren't US citizens, were captured in foreign countries, detained outside the US, and so the Constitution doesn't apply to them" goes again everything I, and I like to think many others, believe about the nature of freedom and the intent of our laws.

So, I think a step in the direction of, "yes, our laws actually do apply to these people," is a good one.

Subrosa

Subrosa

San Francisco, CA
July 2004

NOV 21, 2008 11:26 AM

Sick said:
The argument of "well, these people aren't US citizens, were captured in foreign countries, detained outside the US, and so the Constitution doesn't apply to them" goes again everything I, and I like to think many others, believe about the nature of freedom and the intent of our laws.



You forgot "they weren't wearing a uniform, so international law doesn't apply to them either." That one is my favorite, next to the "Gitmo isn't on American soil, neener neener neener lol!" one.

fountainofdreams

fountainofdreams

Batavia, IL
January 2005

NOV 21, 2008 11:31 AM

Sick said:

Katieesq said:



This man knows the way to my heart. love



A sharp knife? wink



I was going to say "a cunning feint to draw the guard up, then slip under the ribs and over the liver."