Guardian Utd (March 11): All detainees returned from Cuba released

[Jack Rabbit]

From the Guardian Unlimited (UK)
Dated Thursday March 11

All detainees returned from Cuba released
Five freed without charge and back with families after questioning
By Tania Branigan

All five Britons released from Guantánamo Bay are enjoying their freedom today after the four who had been questioned by anti-terrorist officers were released without charge late last night.
After around two years in the US camp in Cuba and just over 24 hours at a high-security police station, Tarek Dergoul, 26, from London, was freed at around 10pm.
He was soon followed by Shafiq Rasul, also 26, and Rhuhel Ahmed and Asif Iqbal, both 22, all of whom are from Tipton in the West Midlands. They were reunited with their families at secret locations of their choice.
Clive Stafford Smith, the lawyer for Mr Rasul and Mr Iqbal in the US, said: "I'm very pleased. I hope they have a chance to be alone with their families for a few days and then get on with their lives."

Read more.

The British government, after investigating the matter, has determined that there is no evidence to further detain five British subjects held for over two years by the Bush junta at prison camps in Guantanamo.

The existence of the prison camps at Guantanamo is another of the many attempts by the Bush junta to rewrite international humanitarian law for its convenience. In this case, the Bushies seek no less than the Third Geneva Convention concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and other battlefield detainees.

The conditions at Guantanamo are criminal. The Us holds the detainees in small cages in violation of the Geneva Convention. Furthermore, the US has created a system where the detainees are, in the words of Human Rights Watch, in a legal black hole. They are assumed to be guilty, it is asserted that they have no rights and there is no appeal. What legal process has been invented for this endless war with undefinable goals is closed to public scrutiny.

These are grounds to bring members of the Bush administration before an international tribunal on charges of crimes against humanity. As link:www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,921192,00.html|George Monbiot] says, the conditions at Guantanamo violates no fewer than 15 articles of the Geneva Convention.

Those detained by the Bushies are today free men. For the first time, their cases were reviewed by an impartial authority and that authority determined that there is no bases for bringing any charges against the former detainees.

What does that say about the system of justice the Bushies have established for their endless war?

[TolstoyAndy]

1. Nice post, Jack

This story indicates to me that most if not all of the Gitmo torturees are being held without any credible evidence at all (let alone the laughable idea of a fair trial).

There are certain times I hope the tales of an afterlife are true. That's the only hope there is for justice - there's none to be had in this world for the people behind FL-2K, 9-11 and Iraq 2003.

At least the truth is out there for those who care to look.

[Lithos]

2. Sad it took so long

I am glad they finally received a proper and impartial review.

Bush's past history shows that he believes in the rule of law only when it benefits him, so why should he start now?

L-

[Jack Rabbit]

3. Better link to the Monbiot piece

Since I botched it this morning.

Please click here.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. London Observer (March 14): The full story of the Guantanamo Britons

Form the London Observer (Sunday supplement of the Guardian Unlimited)
Dated Sunday March 14

Revealed: the full story of the Guantanamo Britons
The Observer's correspondent hears the Tipton Three give a harrowing account of their captivity in Cuba
By David Rose

Three British prisoners released last week from Guantanamo Bay have revealed the full extent of British government involvement in the American detention camp condemned by law lords and the Court of Appeal as a 'legal black hole'.
Shafiq Rasul, Ruhal Ahmed and Asif Iqbal, the so-called 'Tipton Three', speaking for the first time since their release at a secret location in southern England, have disclosed to The Observer the fullest picture yet of life inside the camp on Cuba where America continues to hold 650 detainees.
After more than 200 interrogation sessions each, with the CIA, FBI, Defence Intelligence Agency, MI5 and MI6, America has been forced to admit its claims that the three were terrorists who supported al-Qaeda had no foundation.
But fearful of reprisals - the extreme right wing BNP has a stronghold in their hometown of Tipton in the West Midlands, and their families have warned them they may not be safe back at home - they all declined to be photographed, and are choosing a new location in which to rebuild their lives.

Read more.

Of course, General Powell has already denied the former detainees' claims. Under the circumstances, there is reason to suspect their credibility. Nevertheless, no member of the Bush junta, including General Powell, has proved to have a great deal of credibility, either.