Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay
Flashback: Ottawa appeals court order to repatriate Omar Khadr | Obama administration: Guantanamo detainees have ‘no constitutional rights’ | Obama backs Bush: No rights for Bagram prisoners | U.K. resident held at Gitmo alleges Canadian involvement in torture | Obama shuts network of CIA ‘ghost prisons’ | Chinese Torture Techniques Inspired Interrogations at Guantánamo
RawStory.com
July 2, 2009
Lawyers for the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be transferred to US soil for a civilian trial, set for September 2010, asked on Thursday to see the secret CIA prisons where he was allegedly tortured.
The Associated Press reports, “A prosecutor agreed Thursday that the government will not dismantle overseas locations where a former Guantanamo detainee claims he was interrogated by the CIA before he was brought to the United States for trial on terrorism charges.”
“The prosecutor, David Raskin, told U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan that the United States would preserve the locations for now even though it does not plan to use at trial any statements Ahmed Ghailani made while he was in the custody of any other government agencies,” the AP article continues.
Ghailani’s lawyers had argued that “his treatment at the locations will be relevant if the government seeks the death penalty in the case. Raskin said the government has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty,” the AP reported.
Judge Kaplan quipped that due to the reversal on dismantling the black sites, he won’t “have to look at the classified information no matter how titillating it may be.”
At a hearing here federal judge Lewis Kaplan set the date of September 13, 2010 for the trial of Tanzanian national Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was transferred to the United States on June 9.
Ghailani had been held at the Guantanamo Bay prison since September 2006 and is pleading not guilty to charges of taking part in the August 7, 1998 bombing of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya.
According to his attorneys, Ghailani was handed over to US authorities in August 2004 by Pakistani police and was held prisoner in covert “black sites” operated by the Central Intelligence Agency until his transfer to the US naval base in southeast Cuba.
“The inspection of the CIA Black Sites where the defendant was detained, subjected to interrogation techniques, interrogated and made statements is necessary,” argued lawyer Peter Quijano.
Ghailani was subjected to “harsh conditions and harsh interrogation techniques” while detained at the secret prison facilities, he alleged.
The civilian trial means Ghailani is “being held accountable for his alleged role in the bombing of US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and the murder of 224 people,” Attorney General Eric Holder said last month.
Moving the detainee to the United States was a landmark first step for President Barack Obama’s politically delicate plan to close the controversial prison and move all remaining prisoners to the US justice system or to their home countries.
Revelations about the “black sites,” located overseas sometimes in countries such as Iraq where there is a risk of torture, caused international outrage during former president George W. Bush’s tenure.
Rights groups and media reports have alleged the secret prisons were located in Central and Eastern Europe, including Poland, Romania and in former Yugoslavia, as well as in the Horn of Africa and on US Navy ships.
CIA director Leon Panetta said earlier this year said the agency is “no longer” operating secret prisons and plans to shut all remaining sites.
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July 27th, 2009 at 1:14 am
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 7:46 am
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
October 9th, 2009 at 3:28 am
[...] As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims’ relatives call for a proper inquiry | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | [...]
October 18th, 2009 at 5:54 am
[...] As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims’ relatives call for a proper inquiry | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | [...]
October 28th, 2009 at 11:07 am
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
November 1st, 2009 at 6:56 am
[...] As rumours swell that the government staged 7/7, victims’ relatives call for a proper inquiry | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | Western Governments Funding Taliban & Al-Qaeda To Kill U.S. Troops, Destabilize Countries | [...]
November 25th, 2009 at 2:58 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
December 21st, 2009 at 3:41 am
[...] ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
February 10th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 11:47 pm
[...] Security Council | Obama’s effort in Afghanistan ‘just beginning’: U.S. defence secretary | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | Obama Administration Shuts Down 9/11 Families Lawsuit | Obama Set to Create A Cybersecurity Czar [...]
February 16th, 2010 at 4:15 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
February 18th, 2010 at 2:44 am
[...] ideal Manchurian Candidate’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
February 27th, 2010 at 6:00 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
May 10th, 2010 at 2:57 am
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
June 1st, 2010 at 3:01 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]
June 1st, 2010 at 3:01 pm
[...] cover up its use of torture’ | Revealed – the secret torture evidence MI5 tried to suppress | Guantanamo’s closure window dressing – overseas CIA ‘black sites’ to stay | ‘If I didn’t confess to 7/7 bombings MI5 officers would rape my wife,’ claims torture [...]