Debra Sweet | June 16, 2016
1. It’s Official: Obama Is NOT Closing Guantanamo
Reuters reported this week that the Obama administration has quietly ceased efforts to Close Guantanamo.
2. Rolling Stone: Why a Guantanamo Detainee Would Refuse a Chance to Leave
“We’re not a travel agency,” the State Department says in response to Guantanamo prisoners they’re ready to release by forcing them to countries where they have no ties. Pardiss Kebriaei of the Center for Constitutional Rights writes in The Rolling Stone about her client who refused to leave Guantanamo:
“Trying to reintegrate under suspicion, surveillance and fear of being found out, without family, free movement or enforceable rights, might eventually feel like a different kind of prison, even if all you’ve thought about for 14 years is release. He might have felt that he was owed more. That he had lost a third of his life and suffered senselessly. That he was being forced to give up even more after release by being made a refugee, not because he had fled home, but because the United States won’t let him return”
Read more…
3. European Parliament Narrowly Resolves to Investigate CIA Torture
The existence of CIA “black sites” in Europe is no longer secret, though not widely known. European governments facilitiated torture, and have never been held accountable. The Intercept reports that last week,
“A non-binding resolution, which passed 329-299, urged member states to “investigate, insuring full transparency, the allegations that there were secret prisons on their territory in which people were held under the CIA programme.” It also called on the European Union to undertake fact-finding missions into countries that were known to house American black sites…
This action is not in concert with the United States. TheIntercept also points out that “Despite banning torture when he came into office, President Obama has fought all attempts to hold Bush administration officials accountable, including by invoking the state secrets privilege to block lawsuits and delaying the release of the Senate Torture Report.”