Guantanamo Bay release of 17 overturned

[chill_wind]

Guantanamo Bay US military prison

The 17 have been in Guantanamo Bay for nearly eight years

A US federal appeals court has rejected the release of 17 Guantanamo Bay detainees onto US soil, reports say.

A US judge ruled last year that the 17 Uighurs - Chinese Muslims - were no longer enemy combatants and should be released into the United States.


China has requested their return, but the US will not send them home for fear they will be persecuted.

(...)

The appeals court said that only immigration officials, not judges, could decide who entered the US, Associated Press news agency said.

(...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7897697.stm?lss

They cannot not go home. They cannot come to the U.S. A judge a year ago said yes. The latest judge says no. Albania has already taken 5 of them. The entrenched Hell of the Bush Gitmo regime continues.

[Why Syzygy]

1. The stench of

their reign of terror will haunt a generation. Forty years.

[mmonk]

2. They are held without charge against all precepts of our constitution.

And who exactly brought it to the appeals court?

[chill_wind]

4. ACLU says Bush admin appealed. Guess the hearing just came around.

Their release was ordered at last under the Bush regime- by the last judge- 3 months ago.

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/37075prs20081007.html

There is not even an update on the website yet.

Eight years!

[mmonk]

7. Another denial of rights to a speedy trial. However, the bush administration

is no longer in office.

[chill_wind]

10. Now on the same day comes this:

ACLU Opposes Justice Department Efforts To Throw Out Case Challenging Illegal Detention Of Guantánamo Prisoner Mohammed Jawad (2/18/2009)

Government Improperly Seeks Dismissal Or Delay Based On Halted Military Commissions Proceedings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: [phone]; [e-mail]

WASHINGTON – The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion today opposing the Justice Department's move to dismiss or delay a challenge to the unlawful detention of Mohammed Jawad, a Guantánamo prisoner who has been held in U.S. custody since he was a teenager. Despite President Obama's executive order halting military commission proceedings, the government is moving forward with a last-minute effort by the Bush administration to deny Jawad his right to challenge his detention in federal court until after the commissions case against him is complete.

"Mr. Jawad's case is the epitome of everything that's wrong with the military commissions because his detention and prosecution were based on a confession that was tortured out of him. For the government to try to use the unconstitutional commissions as an excuse for delaying federal court habeas review of Mr. Jawad's case makes no sense," said Hina Shamsi, staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project. "President Obama followed through on his campaign promise to halt the military commissions and Attorney General Holder has said the commissions do not provide due process protections, but the Justice Department still seems to be playing catch-up. The new administration should do the right thing and reject Bush administration policies that sought to evade independent judicial oversight of Mr. Jawad's unlawful detention."

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/38760prs20090218.html

Glenn Greenwald is talking about this NYT article (link below) tonight:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/



Obama’s War on Terror May Resemble Bush’s in Some Areas NYT
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: February 17, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/us/politics/18policy.html?hp

[mmonk]

11. Unfortunately, the drumbeat continues.

Hope it changes direction soon so I can still visit DU on a regular basis. I'll have to really space my visits further apart if things don't turn back because I will have difficulty in anger management.

[Solly Mack]

3. K&R

[burythehatchet]

5. there's a chicken shit ranch in Crawford, TX that might be available...

[chill_wind]

6. ACLU update. Statement from court decision today:

http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/38761prs20090218.html

It's a problem:

Uighur detainees at Guantanamo pose a problem for Obama(LATimes)

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-uighurs-gitmo18-2009feb18,0,834804.story?page=1

[mmonk]

8. The Uighers were mentioned in the report by John Hopkins

concerning detainees at Guantanamo and how the majority of them never took up arms against the US. They are also mentioned in a book I have on the subject.

[Generator]

9. I wish Obama cared as much about human rights as he

does getting elected or re-elected. Ah, not far but tough shit. I pretty much have to stay away from DU-because I see this stuff every DAY now and it makes me sick. I doubt I'm voting for Obama again. I hope he saves the economy and he seems to be a truly wonderful father and husband and a decent man-but goddamn it-I am watching and he is not doing what is the basic right thing. He KNOWS better. Human rights are not negotiable. But they are to politicians. The fact that he KNOWS better makes him WORSE than Bush and Cheney if he adopts their policies. You cannot know it's wrong to commit crimes, stake your life on that-and then let them happen anyway.

And what kind of a human being would I be if I knew this stuff- I KNOW-I can't take it back-I can't stomach listening to another Rachel Maddow show-I just can't take it. I am brokenhearted and have utter despair in humanity. Obama is the best and the brightest and he still isn't giving basic human rights a priority.