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The Biden administration on Monday repatriated to Saudi Arabia for mental health care a prisoner who had been tortured so badly by U.S. interrogators that he was ruled ineligible for trial as the suspected would-be 20th hijacker in the Sept. 11 attacks. The prisoner, Mohammed al-Qahtani, in his 40s, is the second to be transferred from the wartime prison under the administration. *** His long-serving lawyer, Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the transfer was long overdue. “For 14 years I’ve sat across from Mohammed as he talks to nonexistent people in the room and makes eye...

Tagline: “It’s not as black-and-white as they said it was going to be.” IFC Films on Friday released the first trailer for "Camp X-Ray", an independent drama film about a detention facility based at the Guantanomo Bay Detention Camp.  The film stars Kristen Stewart and Peymaan Moaadi and premiered in January to mostly positive reviews at the Sundance Film Festival. "Camp X-Ray" will premiere in theaters in October. 

More Afghan captives head for Cuba Security at the base has been massively beefed up Another 30 Taleban and al-Qaeda prisoners have left Afghanistan by plane for Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, it is reported. The prisoners, who were shackled and had white caps covering their faces, boarded a C-17 transport plane at trhe US base in Kandahar, the Associated Press reports. Each prisoner was flanked by two US soldiers as they walked across the tarmac to the aircraft. Most lights at the US base were switched off and security was tight. The first group of 20 detainees arrived in Guantanamo ...

<p>February 4, 2002 -- Some of the terror thugs being held at Camp X-Ray are having regrets about their actions, a Muslim Navy cleric said yesterday.</p> <p>Lt. Abuhena Saiful-Islam, who meets daily with the 158 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, said that while many continue to maintain their innocence, others are having second thoughts.</p>

Detainees or POWs? Ancient distinctions. By Mackubin Thomas Owens is professor of strategy and force planning at the Naval War College in Newport. His views do no necessarily reflect those of any agency of the U.S. government. January 24, 2002 8:55 a.m. as President Bush's decision launch a "war against terrorism" in response to September 11 now hoisted the United States on its own petard? That would seem to be the case as international organizations and even officials of allied countries such as Great Britain have intensified criticism of the United States concerning its treatment of captured al Qaeda and ...

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- Some of the detainees at this American base are not Muslim but Christian, U.S. military officials say, describing inmates as members of a "global community" who in some cases may be sympathetic to groups other than the Taliban or al-Qaida. "I personally did not expect . . . some of the nations that are represented in Camp X-Ray," Lt. Col. Bill Costello, a spokesman for the joint task force in charge of the detention camp, said Tuesday. Since the first prisoners arrived from Afghanistan just over a month ago, the number of nationalities represented ...

Guantanamo Detainees Said Plotting Sun Jan 27, 9:08 AM ET By TONY WINTON, Associated Press Writer GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba (AP) - Military guards at a detention camp at Guantanamo Bay say they have noticed a command structure emerging among the terrorist suspects being held there, camp leaders said Saturday. The leaders seem to surface during prayer sessions. Photos AP Photo Slideshows AP Photo Camp X-Ray, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba Of the evolving leadership structure, Brig. Gen. Mike Lehnert said, "We have indications that many have received training, and that they are observing actions such as security procedures." Lehnert, a ...

Nation Welcome to Camp X-Ray When is a war prisoner not a POW? When the U.S. brings Afghan detainees to Guantanamo Bay BY MICHAEL ELLIOTT It's not going to be a country club," said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld last week, describing the new military detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and nobody ever expected it would be. The 110 al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners admitted to "Gitmo" by the end of last week are, said Rumsfeld, "the hardest of the hard core," men who had killed "dozens and dozens of people." But though it may lack tennis courts and a putting ...

(Australian) FOREIGN Minister Alexander Downer says the United States has always treated terror suspect David Hicks and his fellow Guantanamo Bay detainees in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The Bush administration said overnight that all detainees in US military custody in Cuba and elsewhere would be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention. The new policy appears to reverse Washington's earlier insistence that Guantanamo detainees, including Mr Hicks, were not prisoners of war and therefore not subject to Geneva protections. It reflects the recent five to three US Supreme Court decision blocking military commissions set up by US President George...

Senators of both parties yesterday said Congress would provide President Bush with legislation to deal with the terror suspects detained at the U.S. Naval Base Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, following a Supreme Court decision that limited the White House's authority in dealing with the detainees. Some Republicans said they hoped to have legislation in place by September, with influential liberal Democrats saying they expected to give Mr. Bush the necessary tools for handling the issue and not obstruct the bills. "I would hope Congress would have hearings about what to do in light of this decision," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, South...

Apparently celebrating its first major victory over the U.S. citizenry (SCOTUS’ Kelo decision to do away with the 5th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and allow private developers to steal American citizens’ property was only a year ago), on Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the President of the United States cannot order terrorist enemy combatants to be tried before a military tribunal. The court wrongly cited the rules according to the Geneva Convention. This unfathomable reasoning, using the Geneva Convention as the basis for its decision, does not apply to this situation. The Geneva Convention applies to its...

THE Federal Government today rejected calls for David Hicks to be returned home after The United States' highest court found the military commissions set to try the Australian terror suspect were unlawful. Prime Minister John Howard urged US authorities to find another forum to try Hicks, saying he had no sympathy for the Adelaide-born man accused of training as a terrorist with al-Qaeda. Hicks' father, lawyers and politicians demanded Hicks be brought home after the US Supreme Court ruled overnight that the military commissions set up to try Guantanamo Bay detainees were unlawful. The Supreme Court justices voted five to...

US President George W Bush said that a US Supreme Court ruling on the fate of Guantanamo Bay detainees would not set any suspected terrorists free and that he still hoped to try them in military courts. "We will analyse the decision. To the extent that the Congress is given any latitude to develop a way forward using military tribunals, we will work with them," said Mr Bush. "I want to find a way forward." His remarks came during a joint appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi following a US Supreme Court ruling that Bush overstepped his powers in...

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- On Sunday, the Tribune editorial page asked readers: What should the U.S. do with the Guantanamo Bay detention camp? Harry B. Harris Jr., the commander of the Joint Task Force Guantanamo, offered this essay in response. I lead the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, Coast Guardsmen and civilians responsible for the safe and humane care and custody of the unlawful enemy combatants held here at Guantanamo--a responsibility we take very seriously. The question of what to do with enemy combatants--committed jihadists and terrorists--is relevant and important. As the person responsible for the detention of our nation's enemies...

INMATES at Guantanamo Bay prison are treated better than in Belgian jails, an expert for Europe's biggest security organisation said today after a visit to the controversial US detention centre in Cuba. But Alain Grignard, deputy head of Brussels' federal police anti-terrorism unit, said holding people for many years without telling them what would happen to them is in itself "mental torture". "At the level of the detention facilities, it is a model prison, where people are better treated than in Belgian prisons," said Mr Grignard. He served as expert on a visit to Guantanamo Bay last week by a...

Confronting the defendants at the Guantanamo tribunals with the evidence against them will be like dragging vampires into the sunlight, the chief prosecutor said on Tuesday. The cases of two Guantanamo captives charged with conspiring with Al Qaeda to attack civilians, commit murder and destroy property will begin pre-trial hearings on Wednesday. A scheduled hearing for a third defendant was delayed at the request of his military lawyer, who sought more time to prepare his case. The tribunals are the first held by the United States since World War II and convened in August 2004, over two-and-a-half years after the...

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld blasted UN Secretary General Kofi Annan Friday as "just flat wrong" in calling for the closure of the military-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "I know Kofi Annan and there are a lot of things you can agree with him on, but he's just flat wrong," Mr Rumsfeld told an audience at the Council on Foreign Relations. "We shouldn't close Guantanamo," he said. "We have several hundred terrorists, bad people, people if they went back out on the field would try to kill Americans." "To close that place, and pretend there's no problem, just...

AMNESTY International has renewed its call for the US to close its Guantanamo Bay detention facility and try or release the prisoners held there. "The US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is condemning thousands across the world to a life of suffering, torment and stigmatisation," the London-based rights group said in a statement accompanying a report. "Five hundred men from around 35 nationalities are detained in Guantanamo. Dozens are currently on hunger strike and there have been numerous suicide attempts. "None of them have had the lawfulness of their detention reviewed in a court of law." Amnesty Americas Programme...

NEW US military rules mean that executions of condemned "war on terror" detainees could be carried out at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the US Army said today. The new rules authorise the army to set the location for executions "imposed by military courts-martial or military tribunals and authorized by the president of the United States." "Enemy combattants could be affected by this regulation," said Sheldon Smith, a spokesman for the US Army. Only 10 war-on-terror detainees have so far been charged and referred to special military commissions for trial, including Australian David Hicks. The United...

November 30, 2005: The prison camps at Guantanamo Bay have been the subject of controversy for over three years. The latest flap involves photos used by the media when reporting on the detainee camps. This has become the latest bone of contention between the military and the media. The images most commonly used are of Camp X-Ray, a temporary camp that was replaced by Camp Delta in April, 2002. The newer camps are going to be on the level of the latest correctional institutions anywhere in the world. This has not been the first time this sort of media deception...