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Subplots on GuantanamoVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
The long legal story of the Bush administration's effort to prosecute detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, now has two fast-moving subplots. Either one could soon write something of a final chapter.
One plot will proceed in a federal courthouse in Washington, where lawyers for a detainee filed papers on Thursday seeking an injunction that, if granted, could be the death knell for the Bush administration's military commissions at Guantánamo. (LINK) Posted @ 12:37 AM | US Courts | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Debate over Boumediene's meaningVIA SCOTUSBLOG (Hat Tip: Robert Chesney)
Lawyers for the Pentagon and for detainees now held at Guantanamo Bay have already engaged in a debate — at least in summary form — over the meaning of the Supreme Court’s June 12 ruling in Boumediene v. Bush (06-1195). In short, the military lawyers contend that the detainees are now protected by only a single constitutional right, while the prisoners’ attorneys claim at least nine.
Mainly by coincidence, the constitutional dispute is playing out in the Pentagon’s war crimes case against a Yemeni national, Salim Ahmed Hamdan. He is the same detainee who won an earlier Supreme Court decision that the detainees had some legal right to challenge their detention — rights that Congress then moved to sharply curtail, an effort that the Supreme Court partly overturned in Boumediene. (LINK) Posted @ 1:02 PM | US Courts | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Intelligence Community Legal Reference BookVIA THE OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE (Hat Tip: Robert Chesney)
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Office of General Counsel released the "Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book", a free 688-page reference with key statutes and guidelines.
LINK (to pdf file) Posted @ 9:59 PM | Intelligence Gathering | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks US: Landmark Supreme Court Ruling on DetaineesVIA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
The US Supreme Court ruling recognizing the right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detention in civilian courts deals a stunning blow to the Bush administration’s detention policies, Human Rights Watch said today. The lead plaintiffs in the case are Bosnian Lakhdar Boumediene and Kuwaiti Fawzi al-Odah, who are both being held at Guantanamo without charge.
The right of prisoners to challenge the legal basis of their detention, the centuries-old right known as habeas corpus, provides a basic check against the abuses inherent in unfettered executive power. (LINK) Posted @ 12:18 AM | Arrests and Detentions | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Terror bill passes narrowly in BritainVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Prime Minister Gordon Brown faced down a revolt within his governing Labor Party on Wednesday, winning a precariously narrow victory in the House of Commons for a measure that among other things would allow the authorities to hold terrorism suspects for up to 42 days without charges. (LINK) Posted @ 10:50 PM | Legislative Initiatives | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks US: Improve Prison Conditions at GuantanamoVIA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
More than two-thirds of detainees at Guantanamo Bay, including many cleared for release or transfer, are being housed in inhumane conditions that are reportedly having a damaging effect on their mental health, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. (LINK) Posted @ 6:47 AM | Status of Terrorists | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Impasse could force reversion to old rules for terrorist surveillanceVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
With Congress at an impasse over the government's spy powers and intelligence, congressional officials are bracing for the possibility that the government may have to revert to old rules for terrorist surveillance, which some officials predict could leave worrisome gaps in intelligence. (LINK) Posted @ 8:52 PM | Intelligence Gathering | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Israelis, Palestinians to Start Writing Peace PactVIA TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTER
Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to start drafting sections of a proposed peace accord that address the main issues of their conflict, the chief Palestinian negotiator said. (LINK) Posted @ 2:35 PM | Middle East Peace Process | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Conviction upheld for Houston-born TerroristVIA TERRORISM RESEARCH CENTER
A federal appeals court upheld the conviction Friday of a Virginia man convicted of joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush, but said that he must be re-sentenced. (LINK) Posted @ 9:36 PM | Al Qaeda | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Russia and China join to condemn U.S. missile shieldVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia and President Hu Jintao of China met Friday to conclude a deal on nuclear cooperation and together condemn U.S. proposals for a missile shield in Europe. Both countries called the U.S. plan a setback to international trust that was likely to upset the balance of power. (LINK)
Posted @ 11:07 AM | Weapons of Mass Destruction | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Analysis: Should YouTube censor al-Qaida?VIA UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL (Hat Tip: Slashdot)
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., called Monday for YouTube to take down al-Qaida videos that users had posted, but the site said most of the videos his office had flagged did not contain material that violated their guidelines and rejected his request that they act to remove all material from U.S. designated terror groups. (LINK)
Posted @ 6:54 PM | Free Speech | 2 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Talks for a ban on cluster bombs open in DublinVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Ireland convened diplomats from more than 100 countries Monday in hopes of negotiating a treaty banning cluster bombs, which have littered battlefields worldwide with potentially deadly "duds." (LINK) Posted @ 4:56 PM | International Tribunals | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Germany Plans New Security AuthorityVIA DEUTSCHE WELLE (Hat Tip Terrorism Research Center)
Germany may set up a new authority to combine its various eavesdropping operations in a purpose-built headquarters near Cologne, news organizations reported.
The combined police and espionage center would be modeled on the National Security Agency (NSA) in the United States or the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) in Britain. (LINK) Posted @ 12:40 PM | Intelligence Gathering | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks France admits contacts with HamasVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
France confirmed on Monday that it has had contacts with the leaders of Hamas for several months to try to better understand the positions of the radical Islamic group that is running Gaza.
Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner emphasized that there were no negotiations with Hamas, labeled a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union. (LINK)
Posted @ 12:19 PM | Middle East Peace Process | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks U.S. holding more than 500 juveniles as enemy combatantsVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
The U.S. military is holding more than 500 juveniles suspected of being "unlawful enemy combatants" in detention centers in Iraq and has about 10 detained at the U.S. base at Bagram, Afghanistan, the United States has told the United Nations.
Since 2002, 2,500 youths under the age of 18 have been detained, almost all in Iraq, for periods up to more than a year under the anti-terrorism campaign of President George W. Bush, the United States reported last week to the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. (LINK) Posted @ 10:37 AM | Arrests and Detentions | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Police arrest 10 men in three countries in Europe in terror investigationVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Ten men of Turkish origin were arrested Friday in three European countries as part of a French investigation into what a judge said was a financial-support network tied to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda.
Eight men were detained in France - in the suburbs of Mulhouse in the Alsace region and in the Rhone valley - and one each in Germany and the Netherlands. (LINK) Posted @ 1:53 PM | Arrests and Detentions | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Italian 'rendition' trial begins with torture testimonyVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
A long-delayed trial of CIA operatives and former top Italian intelligence officials moved forward here on Wednesday, as a judge ruled that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could be called to testify about the abduction of a radical Muslim cleric here in 2003. (LINK)
Posted @ 6:51 PM | Rendition | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Online game teaches immigrant kids about rights of due processVIA BOINGBOING.NET
Human Rights Organization Breakthrough has released ICED ("I Can End Deportation"), a video game designed to teach children about immigration laws and their intersection with human rights and due process. (LINK) Posted @ 11:06 PM | Immigration | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Guantanamo drives prisoners insane, lawyers sayVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
Next month, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni who was once a driver for Osama bin Laden, could become the first detainee to be tried for war crimes in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. By now, he should be busily working on his defense.
But his lawyers say he cannot. They say Hamdan, already the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, has essentially been driven insane by solitary confinement in a tiny cell where he spends at least 22 hours a day, goes to the bathroom and eats all his meals. (LINK) Posted @ 11:08 AM | Arrests and Detentions | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Amnesty ad condemns waterboardingVIA GUARDIAN.UK (Hat Tip BoingBoing)
Amnesty International is launching a new ad featuring a hard-hitting torture scene showing simulated "waterboarding" in a campaign to outlaw the controversial interrogation practice.
The ad, created by advertising agency Drugstore, is set to run in cinemas nationwide from May 9 and is being released online this week. (LINK) (VIDEO) Posted @ 1:03 AM | Torture | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks FBI Concerned About Implications of Counterfeit Cisco GearVIA SLASHDOT
An FBI PowerPoint presentation provides details about a criminal investigation into counterfeit CISCO hardware originating from China, and sold by Gold/Silver partners to numerous US government, military, and intelligence agencies. The concern of the article's author and the FBI is that the counterfeit equipment may be state-sponsored to aid in accessing otherwise secure systems. (LINK) Posted @ 11:07 AM | Intelligence Gathering | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Oil industry works to soften terrorism victim lawVIA INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE
One by one, top executives of American oil companies met privately over the last year with Libya's leader, Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi, often in his signature Bedouin tent, as they lined up contracts allowing them to tap into the country's oil reserves.
But now, the new allies are working Capitol Hill, trying to weaken a law that threatens those deals. The Libyan government, once a pariah, and the American oil industry have hired high-profile lobbyists, buttonholed lawmakers and enlisted help from the Bush administration, all in an effort to win an exemption from a law that Congress passed in January that is intended to ensure that victims of terror attacks are compensated. (LINK) Posted @ 7:48 PM | Legislative Initiatives | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Jakarta court deems JI a terrorist groupVIA SBS (Hat Tip Terrorism Research Center)
An Indonesian court has declared Jemaah Islamiah a "forbidden corporation" for the first time, in a move analysts say will have huge implications for the fight against terrorism.
South Jakarta District Court found the lethal regional terror network guilty of being an organisation that permits terrorism, and fined it 10 million rupiah. (LINK) Posted @ 9:16 AM | Status of Terrorists | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks Six guilty of terrorism supportVIA BBC NEWS (Hat Tip: Terrorism Research Center)
Muslim preacher Abu Izzadeen was among six men convicted of supporting terrorism in London speeches in 2004.
The Kingston Crown Court jury failed to reach a verdict on a charge against Izzadeen of encouraging terrorism.
Shah Jalal Hussain, guilty of terrorist fund-raising, remains missing after failing to appear at court on 8 April. (LINK) Posted @ 2:06 PM | Al Qaeda | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks US/Italy: Italian Court Challenges CIA Rendition ProgramVIA HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
The alleged kidnappers of an Egyptian cleric in 2003 will go on trial in Milan on April 16 in what is the first ever legal challenge to the CIA’s controversial rendition program, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch urged the newly-elected Italian government to seek the extradition of 26 American CIA agents implicated in the abduction. (LINK) Posted @ 6:33 AM | Rendition | 0 Comments | 0 Trackbacks |
