Detained: The unending legal black hole of Guantanamo

<div class="post-content"> <div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-1 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-0 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-1" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h4 class="fusion-text fusion-responsive-typography-calculated" data-fontsize="18" style="--fontSize: 18; line-height: 1.33; --minFontSize: 18;" data-lineheight="23.94px"><em><strong>As we mark 20 years since the first detainees were brought to Guantanamo Bay, Moazzam Begg provides an overview of the long protracted struggle for justice for the men held in America’s legal and moral blackhole.</strong></em></h4> <h4 class="fusion-text fusion-responsive-typography-calculated" data-fontsize="18" style="--fontSize: 18; line-height: 1.33; --minFontSize: 18;" data-lineheight="23.94px"><em><strong>This piece was initially published as part of the report <a href="https://www.cage.ngo/international-scholars-launch-damning-report-on-20-years-of-the-war-on-terror">The Terror Trap: The Impact of the War on Terror on Muslim Communities Since 9/11</a>, co-published by CAGE in 2021.</strong></em></h4> <h5 data-fontsize="16" style="--fontSize: 16; line-height: 1.13; --minFontSize: 16;" data-lineheight="18.08px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em>This article is published as part of CAGE’s new series of expert essays ‘<a href="http://cage.ngo/perspectives">Perspectives on the War On Terror</a>‘.</em></h5> <h4 data-fontsize="18" style="--fontSize: 18; line-height: 1.33; --minFontSize: 18;" data-lineheight="23.94px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"></h4> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-2 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start" style="max-width:1123.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% / 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% / 2 );"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-1 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-2" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Attacks from the air on September 11&nbsp;</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Kindled once more sweet vengeance’s flame</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Never forgotten or ever forgiven,</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Those uninvolved must carry the blame</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like prisoners of conscience, raised to new heights,</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Few are made present by merit alone,</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Confined to a cage – deprived any rights,</span></i></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Laws are rewritten and oppress<span style="color: #000000;">ion condoned</span>¹</span></i></p> </div></div></div><style type="text/css">.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:100% !important;margin-top : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 1.92%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 1.92%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-1{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-1 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}</style></div><style type="text/css">.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-2{ padding-top : 0px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 0px;padding-bottom : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 0px;}</style></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-3 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-2 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-3" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Detainees</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-3 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-4" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2001, I left the UK to work on humanitarian projects to build schools and construct wells in Afghanistan. When the US bombing began following the September 11 attacks I evacuated with my family to Islamabad, Pakistan. The events that followed were to change my life forever.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">On the night of 31st January 2002, unidentified officers of Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) accompanied by CIA agents forced their way into my home and took me away in front of my wife and children. I was taken to a secret location and held for several weeks. The interrogations, however, were carried out by the CIA and British MI5 agents. This was the start of my journey as a “detainee” of the USA.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-4 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-first" style="width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-5" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ISI told me that I was being “illegally detained”. When I asked them to explain what that meant they told me bluntly that they were holding me outside of the law and no one could do anything about it. I was to find out soon just how widespread that belief and practice was.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Within days I was handed over to US military custody and taken to US detention facilities in Kandahar and Bagram – where I remained for almost a year before being sent to Guantanamo.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-5 fusion_builder_column_1_2 1_2 fusion-one-half fusion-column-last" style="width:50%;width:calc(50% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.5 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><span class=" fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-1 hover-type-none"><a class="fusion-no-lightbox" href="https://closingguantanamotogether.com/" target="_self" aria-label="[INFOGRAPHIC] (7)"><img width="600" height="300" src="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/INFOGRAPHIC-7-600x300.jpg" class="img-responsive wp-image-29731" srcset="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/INFOGRAPHIC-7-200x100.jpg 200w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/INFOGRAPHIC-7-400x200.jpg 400w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/INFOGRAPHIC-7-600x300.jpg 600w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/INFOGRAPHIC-7.jpg 800w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 600px"></a></span><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-6" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h5 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 16; line-height: 1.13; --minFontSize: 16;" data-fontsize="16" data-lineheight="18.08px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated">View CAGE’s campaign website <a href="https://closingguantanamotogether.com">Closing Guantanamo Together</a> for a comprehensive archive of our coverage on Guantanamo Bay</h5> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-6 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-7" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">From the moment US soldiers described us as “detainees” I challenged them. Considering I was taken from my house by unidentified gunmen in the middle of the night and kept in secret locations, I told my captors that I was an abductee, a victim of kidnap and false imprisonment.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As children, we learn that detention is a power available to school teachers in order to discipline unruly pupils but, “detainees” know they’ll be going home after detention. As we grow older, we discover that the power to detain&nbsp; lies in the hands of the state. And, while it’s a more serious affair when police are involved we know that they cannot hold us arbitrarily and indefinitely.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-4 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-7 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-8" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Habeas corpus</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-9" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">No free man is to be arrested, or imprisoned, or disseised, or outlawed, or exiled, or in any other way ruined, nor will we go against him or send against him, except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land. </span></i></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-10" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">These words are enshrined in </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Magna Carta</span>²</i><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the ancient English writ which forms the basis for </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">habeas corpus</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – the requirement that an arrested person is presented to the court before being detained or imprisoned. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is found in the constitutions of many former British colonies. </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">For example, when I was taken from my home in Pakistan my family issued habeas proceedings against the Pakistani government – although by that time I’d been handed over to the US.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When nations like Britain, Canada, Australia and USA laud their higher “values” they often cite Magna Carta.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-8 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position:left top;background-repeat:no-repeat;-webkit-background-size:cover;-moz-background-size:cover;-o-background-size:cover;background-size:cover;padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;"><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-9 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-first" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-11" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><span style="color: #999999;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">“The ISI told me that I was being “illegally detained”.</span></em></span></h3> <h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><span style="color: #999999;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">When I asked them to explain what that meant they told me bluntly that they were holding me outside of the law and no one could do anything about it.”</span></em></span></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-10 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-last" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-12" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For example, in the attempt to assert a hitherto undefined national identity, British Prime Minister Cameron referred heavily to Magna Carta as a core ideal behind a belief in commonly held “British values”^3.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> He said this even as it was discovered that the British island of Diego Garcia</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was used in the US rendition programme and British agents interrogated prisoners held without charge or trial and faced charges for torture complicity. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-13" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In May 2018, Libyan dissident Abdel Hakim Belhadj and his wife received an unprecedented apology from Prime Minister Theresa May after evidence emerged that MI6 had “gifted” Belhadj to Libyan intelligence in the knowledge that torture and human rights abuses were prevalent in the country. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-11 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-14" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The evidence was not disclosed by British sources but discovered by Libyan rebels who stormed the offices of Libyan intelligence during the ‘Arab Spring’ and handed the incriminating documents to lawyers.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Elsewhere, article 1, Section 9 of the US constitution forbids the suspension of habeas corpus without legal cause. In other words, suspects should be charged and tried or released. There is no third option. In truth, however, this civilisational ideal has repeatedly been violated – long before Guantanamo.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">During World War II, over 100,000 Japanese Americans were held in internment camps on US soil on the basis of national security. During the Irish ‘Troubles’ Britain interned nearly 2000 Irish republican prisoners without charge. Most recently, several Middle Eastern and North African Muslims were interned for three years in 2001 as a precautionary response to the September 11 attacks in what became known as “Britain’s own Guantanamo” at HMP Belmarsh.⁵</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-5 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-12 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-15" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Enemy combatants</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-16" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When I first arrived at the US facility in Kandahar, Afghanistan, built to hold Taliban or Al Qaeda suspects, the argument that it was only a temporary measure may have justified the concept of ‘detainees’. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-13 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-first" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-17" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, at the start, we were all issued Enemy Prisoner of War (EPW) identity cards⁶</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, seemingly in accordance with US military regulations on the treatment of prisoners. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This meant clearly that the US understood its obligations towards us under the Geneva Conventions. Realising their mistake and the rights it would afford us, the cards were promptly taken away. From then on, the US referred to us as “unlawful belligerents” and “enemy combatants”.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-18" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says these terms are not defined in any international agreements and have “no legal meaning outside armed conflict.”⁷</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">US government lawyers carefully reinterpreted laws to argue that we were not entitled to any protections under the Geneva Convention⁸.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> By doing so, they could avoid scrutiny whilst violating our basic human rights. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-14 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-last" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-19" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><span style="color: #999999;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Ex-Prime Minister Cameron referred heavily to Magna Carta as a core ideal behind a belief in commonly held “British values”^,even as it was discovered that the British island of Diego Garcia was used in the US rendition programme and British agents faced charges for torture complicity.”</span></em></span></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-15 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-20" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Around the same period, three men including US citizens Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, alongside Qatari national Ali Al Marri, were held on US soil as enemy combatants. For several years they were held in incommunicado detention and denied legal rights and subjected to treatment akin to the Guantanamo prisoners – until they were charged with crimes in Federal courts⁹.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp; Impunity at Guantanamo was the reason it was selected as a prison.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-21" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The 45-square mile patch at Guantanamo Bay has been controlled by the US Navy for over 100 years and is currently under a disputed lease agreement with Cuba.¹⁰</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Despite this, Bush’s legal advisers argued that US laws would not apply to detainees because it was technically outside US legal jurisdiction. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With its close proximity to the US mainland, Guantanamo served as the best place to hold captives while ensuring they could not access US laws. One US official described it as the “legal equivalent of outer space.”¹¹</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-6 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-16 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-22" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>No freedom despite Supreme court wins</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-23" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While US military personnel and civilian workers ( US and foreign) are subject to US laws on Guantanamo, the prisoners are wilfully denied. This is even more surreal when compared to animal rights on the island. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-24" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Iguanas are omnipresent at Guantanamo and protected under the Endangered Species Act (1973). One prison camp was even named after them. Camp Iguana¹²</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> was used to hold several of the 22 children¹³</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> in Guantanamo like 15-year old Canadian, Omar Khadr¹⁴</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">, and 12-year old Afghan, Mohammed Jawad¹⁵.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp; Later, despite being designated “no longer enemy combatants” Guantanamo’s Uyghurs were held there. But the camp’s namesakes had more rights than its inmates.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-25" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In legal terms, the Guantanamo prisoners have less rights than iguanas.&nbsp; Despite winning a series of Supreme Court rulings¹⁶</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> against the US government’s denial of habeas rights, no one has been freed from Guantanamo directly as a result. What these cases have shown, however, is just how often America has been willing to violate its own sacred constitution. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-17 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-26" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><ol> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"> <blockquote> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rasul v. Bush (</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">2004) ruled that the Supreme Court could hear cases of Guantánamo prisoners despite the government’s insistence that they had no rights to challenge their incarceration.&nbsp;</span></p> </blockquote> </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"> <blockquote> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hamdi v. Rumsfeld </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(2004) found that a US citizen detained early on in Guantanamo had constitutional rights to petition courts to review his imprisonment.&nbsp;</span></p> </blockquote> </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"> <blockquote> <p><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hamdan v. Rumsfeld </span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;">(2006) ruled that courts had jurisdiction to hear petitions which had been filed before Congress and that Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) created by the US government in response to </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Rasul vs Bush</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> violated the Geneva Conventions as well as its own Uniform Code of Military Justice.</span></p> </blockquote> </li> <li style="font-weight: 400;" aria-level="1"> <blockquote> <p><i>Boumediene v. Bush</i> ruled that the Military Commissions Act (2006) could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the legal system despite government attempts. It added that all previous Guantanamo captives’ petitions were still eligible despite government attempts to reject them.</p> </blockquote> </li> </ol> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-18 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-27" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Instead of accepting these rulings as a means to follow due process, the US administration has gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that no one could meaningfully challenge their imprisonment. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-7 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-19 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-28" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Kangaroo courts</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-29" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 was passed in order to remove prisoners’ abilities to make habeas claims by asserting that US courts did not have jurisdiction over “enemy combatants” detained in Guantanamo. However, </span><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Boumediene</span></i><span style="font-weight: 400;"> found that the government had acted unconstitutionally in denying prisoners’ habeas rights. &nbsp; </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRTs) came about in response to the 2004 court judgments by attempting to present some semblance of “due process” where none existed. CSRTs determined whether prisoners were correctly designated as “enemy combatants”. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Much of the process was based on classified evidence that prisoners could not see or challenge, lack of counsel, due process or protections. Like many, I refused to take part.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-20 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-first" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-30" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><span style="color: #999999;"><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">“With its close proximity to the US mainland, Guantanamo served as the best place to hold captives while ensuring they could not access US laws. One US official described it as the “legal equivalent of outer space.””</span></em></span></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-21 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-last" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-31" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">CSRTs were later replaced by Administrative Review Boards (ARBs) which sought to mitigate concerns of indefinite detention following decisions in the CSRTs. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">ARBs were yearly reviews made to determine whether a person could be released following security assessments. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2006, the ARB cleared three men for release and another 107 for repatriation to the custody of their home country. The majority, ironically, remained in prison for many more years – based on concerns that they could face torture or execution on their return, because they had once been imprisoned by the US in Guantanamo.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-22 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-32" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I was one of the very first prisoners designated for military trial in Guantanamo.¹⁷</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The fact that juryless US military tribunals – where evidence through duress and hearsay was admissible and where prosecutors could seek the death penalty – were being prepared placed enough pressure , alongside a high profile campaign mounted by my father, for the British government to intervene. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Senior British judges described the idea of Guantanamo trials as a “kangaroo court”.¹⁸</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> That’s essentially how I came home but, for others, the process was just starting.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-33" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The only court that exists for prisoners at Guantanamo was borne out of the attempt to deny them rights in the first place. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The Military Commission Act allowed “trial by military commission for violations of the law of war” against “enemy combatants”. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-23 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-first" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-34" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The impotence of the military commissions becomes clear with statistics. Out of 779 prisoners held at Guantanamo a total of eight have been convicted¹⁹.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Some resulted from plea bargains while others convictions were annulled upon release. Only two of those convicted remain in Guantanamo.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The US only charged seven others with crimes²⁰.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> These cases remain entangled in protracted pre-trial hearings. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-24 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-last" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><span class=" fusion-imageframe imageframe-none imageframe-2 hover-type-none"><a class="fusion-no-lightbox" href="https://www.cage.ngo/the-guantanamo-detainees-2" target="_self" aria-label="7"><img width="600" height="338" src="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-600x338.png" class="img-responsive wp-image-29695" srcset="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-200x113.png 200w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-400x225.png 400w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-600x338.png 600w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-800x450.png 800w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/7-1200x675.png 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 400px"></a></span><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-35" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h5 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 16; line-height: 1.13; --minFontSize: 16;" data-fontsize="16" data-lineheight="18.08px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated">View CAGE’s very first report: ‘The Guantanamo Detainees’</h5> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-25 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-36" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Among them is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks. After almost 20 years of torture, interrogations and legal proceedings, the military commissions are no closer to securing a conviction against him.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> The inability to successfully prosecute Mohammed lies in the fact that he was subjected to waterboarding (a medieval drowning technique) and denied basic due process. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Evidence obtained under torture is not admissible in US courts.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-8 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-26 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-37" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Periodic Review Boards</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-38" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2011, the Obama administration set up the Periodic Review Board (PRB) in order to determine whether prisoners could be freed or or remain incarcerated based on security assessments²¹.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-27 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-first" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-39" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Senior British judges described the idea of Guantanamo trials as a “kangaroo court”.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> That’s essentially how I came home but, for others, the process was just starting.</span></span><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span></span></em></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-28 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-last" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-40" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The announcement was made at the height of the prisoner hunger strikes which drew global attention to the plight of the prisoners²².</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> As a result, many prisoners were repatriated or resettled in different parts of the world. The numbers eventually whittled down until only 41 remained.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-41" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">No one in Guantanamo, however, has been released because they were found not guilty of a crime in a court of law. Releases have occurred following a combination of negotiations and agreements with foreign governments and assessments made at Guantanamo and various US government departments.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-29 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-42" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Donald Trump took office he reversed Obama’s desire to close Guantanamo and all but halted all the releases, including those cleared under PRBs. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While most of those convicted under the military commissions have gone home, those with no charges, like Moroccan, Abdul Latif Nasser, who was “cleared for release in 2016,” inexplicably he remained in prison until 19 July 2021 when he became the first Guantanamo prisoner to be freed under President Joe Biden. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-43" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The day after his return home, Nasser told the press:&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-44" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I have no words to describe my overwhelming sense of happiness and joy. It is like a miracle after 20 years to be home and celebrate Eid together with my family.”²³</span></p> </blockquote> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-9 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-30 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-45" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Abu Zubaydah and the torture programme</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-46" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The majority of the prisoners in Guantanamo have been dubbed “forever prisoners” following PRB assessments. This renders men too innocent to charge but “too dangerous to release.” They include one of the most well-known prisoners in Guantanamo.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The CIA torture programme, euphemistically called Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT) was primarily designed for Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (aka Abu Zubaydah).</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-31 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-first" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-47" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">US intelligence believed Zubaydah was a high ranking member of Al Qaeda and knew about future attacks. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After his capture, Zubaydah was taken to CIA “black sites” around the world where he was subjected to a series of torture techniques designed by US psychologists²⁴</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> and authorised by US government lawyers who argued that if it didn’t cause “death, organ failure or serious impairment of body functions” it wasn’t torture²⁵.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-48" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As such, Abu Zubaydah was subjected to nudity, sleep deprivation, confinement in small dark boxes, deprivation of solid food, stress position and physical assaults.&nbsp;&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-32 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-last" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-49" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In 2003, Gen. Geoffrey Miller went to Iraq 2003 where began “GTMO-ising” prisoner interrogations at Abu Ghraib.</span></span></em></h3> <p>Shortly after, shocking details of prisoner abuse rocked the world</p> <h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></span><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span></span></em></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-33 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-50" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2002, CIA operative Gina Haspel was dispatched to direct a CIA site in Thailand, code-named Cat’s Eye²⁶.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Here, Abu Zubaydah was kept in coffin-sized boxes and waterboarded over 83 times. In 2018, Haspel became the first woman to head the CIA.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Abu Zubaydah was eventually sent to Guantanamo but not until he’d suffered an odyssey of rendition and torture. Whilst in Guantanamo, however, he won damages against Poland, Romania and Lithuania in the European Court of Human Rights which ruled they’d been involved in his abuse²⁷.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">US allegations against Abu Zubaydah also began to crumble after details of his own diaries evidenced that he was neither part of Al Qaeda nor involved in plots against the USA²⁸.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"><br> In almost two decades Abu Zubaydah has never been charged with a crime.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-10 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-34 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-51" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>Legacy of torture</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-52" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2002, General Geoffrey Miller was tasked with running Guantanamo. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">With EITs at his disposal, Miller ensured that torture and Guantanamo would become synonymous in the eyes of the world. Sensory and sleep deprivation, physical and sexual assault and isolation form part of the documented experiences of Mohammedou Ould Slahi²⁹</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – who was freed in 2014 – and Mohammed al-Qahtani³⁰</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> – stil in Guantanamo – just two examples that detail Miller’s direct role torture.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-35 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-first" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-53" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In a cruel twist of fate, IS captives accused of torturing US citizens are currently facing trial in America. Amongst other things, they stand accused of waterboarding their victims and dressing them in Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuits – before executing them.</span></span><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span></span></em></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-36 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-last" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-54" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2003, Miller went to Iraq 2003 where began “GTMO-ising” prisoner interrogations at Abu Ghraib. Shortly after, shocking details of prisoner abuse rocked the world. The link between EIT and the war in Iraq, however, went much deeper.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-55" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">After the invasion of Afghanistan, the US had been desperate to prove that Saddam Hussain possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs) and was supplying them to Al Qaeda. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What the US didn’t declare was that it had actually provided Iraq with chemical weapons during its 8-year long Iran-Iraq War – which left over 1 million dead³¹.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> However, Iraq had destroyed its chemical weapons stockpile long before the US invasion in 2003³².</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-37 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-56" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The evidence the US was looking for came from a close associate of Abu Zubaydah. When he was captured by the US, just like Abu Zubaydah, Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi was touted as one of the highest ranking members of Al Qaeda. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Like Abu Zubaydah, Al-Libi was also sent on a torturous world tour. In Egypt, Al-Libi gave the confession America had been looking for: that Saddam Hussain was supplying Al Qaeda with WMDs. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This information was passed back to the US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who presented it as “credible” evidence. It became one of the key justifications to invade Iraq. </span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-57" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The only problem was that Al-Libi’s confession was made under duress and was completely untrue. Thereafter, he was sent to Libya and turned up dead in his cell in 2009 in the infamous Abu Salim prison³³.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> As for his confession, not only were there no WMDs in Iraq, Al Qaeda had no connection to Saddam Hussain or presence in Iraq. That only happened after and because of the US invasion.&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-38 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-58" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Miller was in charge of Camps Bucca in Iraq, the prison that became the birthplace of Islamic State (IS)³⁴.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> In a cruel twist of fate, IS captives accused of torturing US citizens are currently facing trial in America. Amongst other things, they stand accused of waterboarding their victims and dressing them in Guantanamo-style orange jumpsuits – before executing them³⁵.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-11 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-39 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-59" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>End of an era</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-60" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Freedom from Guantanamo doesn’t automatically mean an end to persecution. In 2014, 23 prisoners – 18 Yemenis, 4 Afghans, and a Russian – were transferred to the UAE as part of the US resettlement program. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Upon arrival, they were all imprisoned without charge³⁶.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Six years later, they remain incarcerated – except for the Afghans who were released in 2020. Hamidullah Tarakhail, who’d also spent 5 years imprisoned by the Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan, said the UAE prison was worse than what he’d experienced³⁷.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-61" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2014, five senior Taliban members imprisoned at Guantanamo were freed and resettled in Qatar as part of a historic prisoner exchange between the US and the Taliban. The five helped set up the Political Office for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and played a key role in negotiating the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with American leaders³⁸.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-40 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-62" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In 2014, five senior Taliban members imprisoned at Guantanamo were freed and resettled in Qatar as part of a historic prisoner exchange between the US and the Taliban. The five helped set up the Political Office for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and played a key role in negotiating the US withdrawal from Afghanistan with American leaders³⁸.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-41 fusion_builder_column_2_3 2_3 fusion-two-third fusion-column-first" style="width:66.666666666667%;width:calc(66.666666666667% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.66666666666667 ) );margin-right: 4%;margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-63" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In February 2020, the US and Taliban signed a peace agreement which would lead to full US and allied troop withdrawal. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In April 2021, US President Joe Biden announced that all US troops would leave Afghanistan by the twentieth anniversary of the September 11 attacks, adding that it was “time to end America’s longest war.”³⁹</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Many of the prisoners were first held at The Bagram Theatre Internment Facility before being sent to Guantanamo. I was there for almost a year and witnessed the murder of two Afghan prisoners by US soldiers⁴⁰.</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">&nbsp;</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-42 fusion_builder_column_1_3 1_3 fusion-one-third fusion-column-last" style="width:33.333333333333%;width:calc(33.333333333333% - ( ( 4% ) * 0.33333333333333 ) );margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-64" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><em><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“In July 2021, US troops quietly abandoned the Bagram Airbase – by slipping away in the middle of the night without telling the new Afghan commander. It was a fitting end.<br> </span></span><span style="color: #999999;"><span style="font-weight: 400;">“</span></span></em></h3> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-43 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-65" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In July 2021, US troops quietly abandoned the Bagram Airbase – by slipping away in the middle of the night without telling the new Afghan commander. It was a fitting end.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Most of the Guantanamo prisoners had never been to America but, America has come to them. They came from over forty different countries and saw something no one else did.&nbsp;</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While nine prisoners never left Guantanamo alive and 39 remain imprisoned, the rest of us told the world what we saw and made sure the world’s most infamous prison was never forgotten.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the current US administration announces its intention to close Guantanamo – once more,&nbsp; it is inevitable that future generations will look back and grapple with the ideals the USA espouses and the dark legacy of imprisonment and torture at Guantanamo Bay.</span></p> </div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-12 fusion-flex-container nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row fusion-flex-align-items-flex-start" style="max-width:1123.2px;margin-left: calc(-4% / 2 );margin-right: calc(-4% / 2 );"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-44 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-flex-column"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-justify-content-flex-start fusion-content-layout-column" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-66" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><h3 style="text-align: center; --fontSize: 26; line-height: 1.62;" data-fontsize="26" data-lineheight="42.12px" class="fusion-responsive-typography-calculated"><b>References</b></h3> </div><div class="fusion-text fusion-text-67" style="transform:translate3d(0,0,0);"><ol> <li>M. (2004). The Dagger’s Hilt Camp Echo, Guantanamo.</li> <li>‘The 1215 Magna Carta: Clause 39’, The Magna Carta Project, trans. H. Summerson et al. [http://magnacartaresearch.org/read/magna_carta_1215/Clause_39 accessed 22 July 2021]</li> <li>Cameron, D. (2014, 14 June ). British values: article by David Cameron. Prime Minister’s Office, 10 Downing Street and The Rt Hon David Cameron. <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-values-article-by-david-cameron">https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-values-article-by-david-cameron</a></li> <li>Begg, M. (2017, 20 January). Belhaj ruling: The conspiracy theory we all need to believe. Middle East Eye. <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/belhaj-ruling-conspiracy-theory-we-all-need-believe">https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/belhaj-ruling-conspiracy-theory-we-all-need-believe</a></li> <li>Begg, M. (2017, 1 June). Internment: We’ve been here before and it didn’t work. Middle East Eye. <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/internment-weve-been-here-and-it-didnt-work">https://www.middleeasteye.net/big-story/internment-weve-been-here-and-it-didnt-work</a></li> <li>EPW Identity Card (n.d). Army Publishing Directorate. <a href="https://armypubs.army.mil/pub/eforms/DR_a/pdf/A2662_R.pdf">https://armypubs.army.mil/pub/eforms/DR_a/pdf/A2662_R.pdf</a></li> <li>The relevance of IHL in the context of terrorism. (2011, 1 January). International Committee of the Red Cross. <a href="https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/faq/terrorism-ihl-210705.htm">https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/faq/terrorism-ihl-210705.htm</a></li> <li>Rights as Individuals Held in an Armed Conflict. (n.d). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas. <a href="https://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/rights-of-guantanamo-prisoners-as-captured-individuals">https://humanrights.ucdavis.edu/projects/the-guantanamo-testimonials-project/rights-of-guantanamo-prisoners-as-captured-individuals</a></li> <li>Appealing for justice: Supreme Court hears arguments against the detention of Yaser Esam Hamdi and José Padilla. (2004, May) Amnesty International. <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/amr510652004en.pdf">https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/92000/amr510652004en.pdf</a></li> <li>Naval Station Guantanamo: History. (n.d). Commander, Navy Region Southeast. <a href="https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/ns_guantanamo_bay/about/history.html">https://www.cnic.navy.mil/regions/cnrse/installations/ns_guantanamo_bay/about/history.html</a></li> <li>Packard, S. (2013, 4 September). How Guantanamo Bay Became the Place the U.S. Keeps Detainees. The Atlantic. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/09/how-guantanamo-bay-became-the-place-the-us-keeps-detainees/279308">https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/09/how-guantanamo-bay-became-the-place-the-us-keeps-detainees/279308</a></li> <li>Rosenberg, C. (2017, 17 July). Guantánamo admiral wants to raze a prison facility for a base recreation spot. Miami Herald. <a href="https://www.miamiherald.com/article161336953.html">https://www.miamiherald.com/article161336953.html</a></li> <li>‘Guantánamo by the Numbers’. (2015, 14 November). Center for Constitutional Rights. <a href="https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/guant-namo-numbers">https://ccrjustice.org/home/get-involved/tools-resources/fact-sheets-and-faqs/guant-namo-numbers</a></li> <li>Begg, M. (2015, 9 June). Omar Khadr: The boy I witnessed becoming a man. 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Guantánamo: psychologists who designed CIA torture program to testify. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/20/guantanamo-psychologists-cia-torture-program-testify">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/20/guantanamo-psychologists-cia-torture-program-testify</a></li> <li>Archives, L.A. Times. (2010, 23 February) John Yoo and Jay Bybee’s disgrace. <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-feb-23-la-ed-yoo23-2010feb23-story.html">https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-feb-23-la-ed-yoo23-2010feb23-story.html</a></li> <li>Goldman, A. (2018, 13 March). Gina Haspel, Trump’s Choice for C.I.A., Played Role in Torture Program. 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Slate. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/foreigners/2013/05/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guantanamo_memoirs.html?via=gdpr-consent">http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/foreigners/2013/05/mohamedou_ould_slahi_s_guantanamo_memoirs.html?via=gdpr-consent</a></li> <li>T., &amp; van Natta Jr., D. (2004, 21 June). THE REACH OF WAR; U.S. Said to Overstate Value Of Guantánamo Detainees. The New York Times. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/world/the-reach-of-war-us-said-to-overstate-value-of-guantanamo-detainees.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/21/world/the-reach-of-war-us-said-to-overstate-value-of-guantanamo-detainees.html</a></li> <li>Fernholz, T. (2014, 15 October). What the US doesn’t want you to know about chemical weapons in Iraq. Quartz. <a href="https://qz.com/281300/what-the-us-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-chemical-weapons-in-iraq">https://qz.com/281300/what-the-us-doesnt-want-you-to-know-about-chemical-weapons-in-iraq</a></li> <li>Sanders, R. (2016, 12 July). What Did Happen To Saddam’s WMD? History Today <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/what-did-happen-saddam%E2%80%99s-wmd">https://www.historytoday.com/what-did-happen-saddam%E2%80%99s-wmd</a></li> <li>Begg, M. (2009, 13 May). What happened to Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi?. The Guardian. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/may/13/ibn-al-sheikh-al-libi">https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/may/13/ibn-al-sheikh-al-libi</a></li> <li>McCoy, T. (2014, 4 November) Camp Bucca: The US prison that became the birthplace of Isis. The Independent. <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/camp-bucca-us-prison-became-birthplace-isis-9838905.html">https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/camp-bucca-us-prison-became-birthplace-isis-9838905.html</a></li> <li>Goldman, A., &amp; Tate, J. (2014, 29 August). James Foley death: US photojournalist was waterboarded by Isis before his execution, say sources. 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(2018, 31 October). Once at Guantánamo, 5 Senior Taliban Members Now Join Political Office in Qatar. The New York Times. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/world/asia/taliban-five-guantanamo-qatar.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/world/asia/taliban-five-guantanamo-qatar.html</a></li> <li>Macias, A. (2021, 14 April). ‘It is time to end America’s longest war’ — Biden announces U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan by Sept. 11. CNBC. <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/biden-announces-us-troops-to-leave-afghanistan-by-sept-11.html">https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/14/biden-announces-us-troops-to-leave-afghanistan-by-sept-11.html</a></li> <li>Robinson, T. (2008, 8 February). Documentary shows grim reality of U.S. interrogation methods <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-02-08-0802060852-story.html">https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2008-02-08-0802060852-story.html</a></li> </ol> <p><em>CC Image courtesy of <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/vpickering/32832710648/in/photolist-S2je15-2eaoH5k-Qp51Lg-2cLvueB-2eaoJhR-S2jfso-ByDVAn-2m5z7aq-bVj7U1-p2xyjc-hiNor-78HWNp-2mfjU5h-85GcLR-9Lh7Hh-89Xtri-2mVn9H6-x2qeAi-B8qss8-5SaHas-QB34ov-MTr4wD-bmjPDo-AJu5aM-BeP1Po-2kRERvC-21Nedqa-JoinMe-2jeTEDw-2kyp1cG-2mcM6si-qpGfy-81JzLb-81JzpW-KYNYAj-BwjmZm-afYetC-AJubiZ-AJoedu-ByB6Xv-23tY1XE-AJtD4V-4S6FVN-CJpSUo-E4m13-3DoZBu-BeLoyS-E4kVY-BeMQ9C-E4m33">Victoria Pickering</a> on Flikr</em></p> </div></div></div><style type="text/css">.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-44{width:100% !important;margin-top : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;}.fusion-builder-column-44 > .fusion-column-wrapper {padding-top : 0px !important;padding-right : 0px !important;margin-right : 1.92%;padding-bottom : 0px !important;padding-left : 0px !important;margin-left : 1.92%;}@media only screen and (max-width:1024px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-44{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-44 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}@media only screen and (max-width:640px) {.fusion-body .fusion-builder-column-44{width:100% !important;order : 0;}.fusion-builder-column-44 > .fusion-column-wrapper {margin-right : 1.92%;margin-left : 1.92%;}}</style></div><style type="text/css">.fusion-body .fusion-flex-container.fusion-builder-row-12{ padding-top : 0px;margin-top : 0px;padding-right : 0px;padding-bottom : 0px;margin-bottom : 0px;padding-left : 0px;}</style></div><div class="fusion-fullwidth fullwidth-box fusion-builder-row-13 nonhundred-percent-fullwidth non-hundred-percent-height-scrolling" style="background-color: rgba(255,255,255,0);background-position: center center;background-repeat: no-repeat;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;margin-bottom: 0px;margin-top: 0px;border-width: 0px 0px 0px 0px;border-color:#eae9e9;border-style:solid;"><div class="fusion-builder-row fusion-row"><div class="fusion-layout-column fusion_builder_column fusion-builder-column-45 fusion_builder_column_1_1 1_1 fusion-one-full fusion-column-first fusion-column-last" style="margin-top:0px;margin-bottom:0px;"><div class="fusion-column-wrapper fusion-flex-column-wrapper-legacy" style="background-position: left top; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 247); padding: 0px; min-height: 0px;"><div class="fusion-person person fusion-person-center fusion-person-1 fusion-person-icon-top"><style>.fusion-person-1 .imageframe-liftup:before{-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;</style><div class="person-shortcode-image-wrapper imageframe-liftup"><div class="person-image-container person-rounded-overflow" style="-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;border:0px solid #f6f6f6;-webkit-border-radius:50%;-moz-border-radius:50%;border-radius:50%;"><img class="person-img img-responsive wp-image-1431" width="600" height="350" src="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7-600x350.jpg" alt="Moazzam Begg" srcset="https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7-200x117.jpg 200w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7-400x233.jpg 400w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7-600x350.jpg 600w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7-800x467.jpg 800w, https://www.cage.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/pg-6-7.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 600px"></div></div><div class="person-desc" style="background-color:#f7f7f7;padding:40px;margin-top:0;"><div class="person-author"><div class="person-author-wrapper"><span class="person-name">Moazzam Begg</span><span class="person-title">Outreach Director, CAGE</span></div></div><div class="person-content fusion-clearfix">Moazzam Begg is Outreach Director for CAGE.<br> He was detained and tortured at Bagram prison before being transferred to Guantanamo Bay.</div></div></div><div class="fusion-clearfix"></div></div></div></div></div> <p style="font-size:11px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-top:100px">(NOTE: CAGE represents cases of individuals based on the remit of our work. Supporting a case does not mean we agree with the views or actions of the individual. Content published on CAGE may not reflect the official position of our organisation.)</p> </div>