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Hello, WAT Community,
Here we are again, all eyes on Guantanamo's "worst of the worst." This time, just after an outpouring of relief that three of the men being tried in the military tribunals were finally being granted a plea deal (seen as the only way forward), Defense Secretary Austin pulled the plug on the deal because of "optics." For those who want to delve deeper, we've gathered statements by human rights groups and then some of the immediate coverage of the administration's about-face. (Scroll to the end of the newsletter for that and for a comparison of Israeli torture to Guantanamo.)
Obviously Guantanamo isn't closing anytime soon. Maybe this is a wakeup call regarding how explosive its symbolism is in the mainstream US psyche, and therefore how vital it is that we continue advocating for justice for all the men who have been dragged through its gates.
So check out the actions below that you can take in our never-ending campaign to demand justice for the men.
In peace and solidarity,
The WAT Organizing Team
Riddle: How are the Guantanamo Military Tribunals like a yo-yo?
No matter how many times the string plays out toward justice, the spool always rewinds to strangle the defendants.
ACTIONS
1. Nov-Jan: Intense campaign between the election and the inauguration: We'll join our partners in the Close Guantanamo Coalition to mount a robust "lame duck" campaign to pressure President Biden to release the 16 men "cleared for transfer," resolve all other "cases," and close Guantanamo before he leaves office. After November 5 he'll have absolutely no excuse: be ready to add your voice!
2. Right now: Take actions that feel right to you: Aug 7: Join the International First Wednesday Witness for the men: Find a local rally or stand in your town square with a sign (!); then send Andy Worthington a photo to join the activists reminding Biden that not only has he NOT closed Guantanamo, he has not freed 16 men long "cleared for transfer." Write to the men: Messages are still apparently not getting through, but sending them shows the soldiers who process the letters what human kindness looks like. 3. Right now: Support Guantanamo survivors: Donate to the Guantanamo Survivors Fund! The Republican vitriol that pressured Secretary Austin to withdraw the plea deal this week is the same vitriol experienced by survivors sent to unfriendly countries where they are trying to rebuild their lives. The Guantanamo Survivors Fund helps them do so. PLEA DEAL FIASCO: ON AGAIN, OFF AGAINThere's a long backstory to the plea deals
In September 2023, after extensive negotiations between the Guantanamo defendants and prosecutors, Biden rejected defendant requests for humane treatment as part of a plea deal. According to NYT, "...defendants wanted certain accommodations, including assurances they would not serve their sentences in solitary confinement and could instead continue to eat and pray communally — as they do now as detainees at Guantánamo Bay. (They) also sought a civilian-run program to treat sleep disorders, brain injuries, gastrointestinal damage or other health problems they attribute to the agency’s brutal interrogation methods."July 31, 2024: Finally, the announcement of a plea deal
AP story on WDIO news (Includes decent drawing of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in courtroom)
AP Wire story (Includes outdated, inappropriate photo of him)
The Guardian “In exchange for the removal of the death penalty as a possible punishment, these three accused have agreed to plead guilty to all of the charged offenses,” the New York Times reported. Prosecutors said the deal was meant to bring some “finality and justice” to the case, particularly for the families of nearly 3,000 people who were killed in the attacks in New York City, at the Pentagon and in a Pennsylvania field."Immediate reactions to plea deal
Center for Victims of Torture, Center for Constitutional Rights, ACLU, Amnesty International, Washington Post opinion (David von Drehle), Bill Tammeus, Senator Dick DurbinAug 2, 2024: Austin retraction of plea deal, and responses
Andy Worthington: Andy says it all: read this article if you don't read anything else!
ACLU: Anthony Romero: “By revoking a signed plea agreement, Secretary Austin has prevented a guilty verdict in the most important criminal case of the 21st century. This rash act also violates the law, and we will challenge it in court."
“It's also more than a little ironic that Secretary Austin’s gung-ho insistence on executing the 9/11 defendants directly contradicts the Biden Administration’s public commitment to ending the death penalty."9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows
Amnesty International
NYT article WHAT ELSE DOESN'T SURPRISE US? Israeli torture of Palestinian prisoners looks like torture of Guantanamo prisonersThe Washington Post: While international attention and condemnation has focused on the plight of Gazan detainees — specifically at the notorious Sde Teiman military site — rights advocates say there is a deeper, systemic crisis in Israel’s penal system." "..... conditions in Israel’s jam-packed prisons have deteriorated dangerously since the Hamas attacks on Israel.""Muazzaz Obayat, 37, could barely walk when he left Ktzi’ot, in southern Israel, last week. He was arrested in the aftermath of Oct. 7 on suspicion of ties to Hamas, but no charges were ever brought against him. Once an amateur bodybuilder, he said he’d lost more than 100 pounds in nine months. He whispered as he described a guard sexually assaulting him with a broom. His doctors said he was suffering from post-traumatic stress and malnutrition.
'It is Guantánamo,' he said."Haaretz: "The testimonies from people serving at (Sde Teiman), or from inmates who had been released, were frightening. This included inhumane conditions and abuse including sexual abuse, sleep deprivation, the playing of extremely loud music for long stretches, and severe physical violence. It's not for nothing that Sde Teiman has been called 'the Israeli Guantanamo.' " |
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Donate to support our workPlease consider a donation to help fund WAT's expenses. We are completely volunteer-driven and run. We have no paid staff; all of the money you donate goes to funding the work we do together.
Click here to donate to WAT.
WAT centers the men transferred out of Guantanamo through the Guantanamo Survivors Fund (GSF), also volunteer-run.
Click here to donate to Guantanamo Survivors Fund. Who we areWitness Against Torture was formed in 2005 when 25 Americans went to Guantánamo Bay and attempted to visit the detention facility. They began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, end indefinite detention and torture and call out Islamophobia. During our demonstrations, we lift up the words of the detainees themselves, bringing them to public spaces they are not permitted to access. Witness Against Torture will carry on in its activities until torture is decisively ended, its victims are fully acknowledged, Guantánamo and similar facilities are closed, and those who ordered and committed torture are held to account.
www.witnessagainsttorture.com |
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