https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/rss/61442/feed The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a detainment and interrogation facility of the United States military located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba. The facility was established in January 2002 by the George W. Bush administration to hold detainees it had determined to be connected with opponents in the "war on terror" after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in the US. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg The response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a textbook example of how international law should be enforced against violators: weapons for Ukraine. Tough sanctions on Russia. Corporate boycotts and divestment. War crimes and human rights investigations. Resounding condemnation by the United Nations General Assembly. There are gaps, to be sure. The Security Council is paralysed by the Russian veto. Important countries, including China, India and South Africa, have refused to impose sanctions.... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/opinion/article/3177206/how-russia-learned-wests-actions-iraq-kosovo-guantanamo-bay-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/opinion/article/3177206/how-russia-learned-wests-actions-iraq-kosovo-guantanamo-bay-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 11 May 2022 19:30:13 +0000 A former Guantanamo Bay detainee who spent 14 years without trial and whose story was told in the hit film The Mauritanian, is suing Canada over its alleged role in his detention. Mohamedou Ould Slahi, 51, claims that Canadian authorities provided false information concerning the period when he was a permanent resident in Montreal in 1999, which led to his arrest and subsequent torture at the infamous US prison, according to his complaint filed on Friday and reviewed by Agence... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3175328/ex-guantanamo-bay-prisoner-sues-canada-over-alleged?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3175328/ex-guantanamo-bay-prisoner-sues-canada-over-alleged?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 23 Apr 2022 23:16:53 +0000 An Algerian man imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre for nearly 20 years has been released and sent back to his homeland. The Department of Defence announced Saturday that Sufiyan Barhoumi was repatriated with assurances from the Algerian government that he would be treated humanely there and that security measures would be imposed to reduce the risk that he could pose a threat in the future. Why Hambali, ‘Southeast Asia’s bin Laden’, is not just an artefact of history The Pentagon... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3172899/us-sends-home-man-held-nearly-20-years-guantanamo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3172899/us-sends-home-man-held-nearly-20-years-guantanamo?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 02 Apr 2022 21:24:52 +0000 Two decades after Singapore began cracking down on a pan-Southeast Asia terrorist group calling itself Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the network’s operations leader, Hambali, remains at Guantanamo Bay awaiting trial. The evidence against him shows that he took orders and money from the al-Qaeda mastermind behind 9/11 to stage terrorist attacks in the region, including the deadly Bali bombings in 2002, and was planning yet more attacks when captured in 2003. In the first of a two-part feature, Susan Sim,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/people/article/3159109/hunting-hambali-bringing-southeast-asias-osama-bin-laden-justice?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/people/article/3159109/hunting-hambali-bringing-southeast-asias-osama-bin-laden-justice?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Dec 2021 23:00:10 +0000 War-weary residents of Kabul expressed anger and feelings of betrayal by the United States on Saturday, as the world marked the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks that prompted a US invasion of Afghanistan and the toppling of its Taliban rulers. After a two-decade occupation, US forces abruptly pulled out of Afghanistan last month, triggering the collapse of its Western-backed government and the Taliban’s dramatic return to power. “The misfortunes we are currently experiencing are... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3148438/september-11-anniversary-afghans-blame-departed-us?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3148438/september-11-anniversary-afghans-blame-departed-us?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 11 Sep 2021 20:08:12 +0000 Three men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre have been formally charged in connection with the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other plots in Southeast Asia after 18 years in US custody, with defence lawyers insisting afterwards that the long-delayed arraignment was so flawed it may have to be repeated. The men appeared on Tuesday in a secure courthouse encircled by razor wire on the US base in Cuba amid defence complaints about courtroom interpreters that caused what was supposed to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3147126/bali-bombing-suspects-formally-charged-after-flawed-two?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3147126/bali-bombing-suspects-formally-charged-after-flawed-two?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Sep 2021 04:46:06 +0000 Three prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay detention centre had their first day in court on Monday after being held by the US for 18 years in connection with the deadly 2002 Bali nightclub bombings and other plots in Southeast Asia. Indonesian prisoner Encep Nurjaman, known as Hambali, and two Malaysians started their arraignment at a hearing at the US base in Cuba that repeatedly stalled because of issues involving courtroom interpreters. They face charges that include murder, conspiracy and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3146955/bali-bomb-case-starts-guantanamo-bay-18-years-after?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3146955/bali-bomb-case-starts-guantanamo-bay-18-years-after?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Aug 2021 18:22:16 +0000 Two Malaysians and an Indonesian linked to deadly bombings in Bali nearly two decades ago are expected to get their first day in court on Monday at the United States Naval Station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Indonesian Encep Nurjaman, also known as Riduan Isamuddin and better known by his nom de guerre Hambali, and Malaysians Mohammed Nazir bin Lep, 45, and Mohammed Farik bin Amin, 46, were to be arraigned on Monday before a military commission on charges that include murder, conspiracy and... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3146867/bali-bombing-suspects-indonesia-malaysia-go-trial?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3146867/bali-bombing-suspects-indonesia-malaysia-go-trial?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Aug 2021 06:53:19 +0000 The Biden administration on Monday transferred a Guantanamo Bay detainee to his home country for the first time, a policy shift from the Trump presidency that repatriated a Moroccan man years after he was recommended for discharge. The prisoner, Abdullatif Nasser, who is in his mid-50s, was cleared for repatriation by a review board in July 2016 but remained at Guantanamo under President Donald Trump. In announcing his transfer on Monday, the Pentagon cited the board’s determination that... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3141725/first-guantanamo-prisoner-sent-home-country-biden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3141725/first-guantanamo-prisoner-sent-home-country-biden?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Jul 2021 14:23:08 +0000 The Biden administration has launched a formal review of the future of the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba with the goal of reviving efforts to close the controversial facility, a White House official said on Friday. Aides involved in internal discussions are considering an executive action to be signed by President Joe Biden in the coming weeks or months, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, signalling a new effort to remove what human rights advocates have called a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3121609/joe-biden-administration-launches-review-aimed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3121609/joe-biden-administration-launches-review-aimed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Feb 2021 16:29:56 +0000 The United States. is backing off for now on a plan to offer Covid-19 vaccinations to the 40 prisoners held at the detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Pentagon chief spokesman John Kirby said in a tweet on Saturday that the Defence Department would be “pausing” the plan to give the vaccination to those held at Guantanamo while it reviews measures to protect troops who work there. Kirby said no prisoners had yet received the vaccination. The plan drew some criticism after The New York Times... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3119942/coronavirus-united-states-halts-plan-give-vaccine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3119942/coronavirus-united-states-halts-plan-give-vaccine?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Jan 2021 23:00:01 +0000 US military prosecutors have filed formal charges against an Indonesian Islamic extremist and two others in the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Jakarta attack, the Pentagon said on Thursday. The charges were filed nearly 18 years after the three were captured in Thailand and after each has spent more than 14 years in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The first charged was Indonesian militant Riduan Isamuddin, better known by his nom de guerre Hambali, the leader of the Indonesian... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3118752/us-charges-indonesian-extremist-hambali-2002-bali-bombings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3118752/us-charges-indonesian-extremist-hambali-2002-bali-bombings?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 22 Jan 2021 00:00:52 +0000 Wars are often started by leaders indifferent to the massive costs in lives and national treasure (“The lessons of war, cold and hot, are not lost on China and the US”, December 18). The US Civil War, which cost the lives of more than 600,000 soldiers, was not fought to free the Black slaves in the South but to collect taxes, it is asserted by some. The reality is Black people in America did not acquire significant democratic rights until a hundred years after the war and the assassinations of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/letters/article/3114379/leaders-lied-people-died-who-really-benefits-senseless-wasteful?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/letters/article/3114379/leaders-lied-people-died-who-really-benefits-senseless-wasteful?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 19 Dec 2020 22:35:14 +0000 Alleged 9/11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp will finally go on trial in 2021, almost two decades after the devastating al-Qaeda attack, The New York Times reported on Friday. A military judge at the US Navy’s Guantanamo, Cuba base set the date for the death penalty trial for January 11, 2021, according to the newspaper. The date was included in a scheduling order for pre-trial activities by the military judge, Colonel Shane Cohen, The Times... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3025182/trial-date-set-alleged-9/11-plotter-khalid-sheikh?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3025182/trial-date-set-alleged-9/11-plotter-khalid-sheikh?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Aug 2019 19:42:07 +0000 A Saudi held in the US prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba has filed a lawsuit against Lithuania alleging that he was tortured at a secret CIA jail in the Baltic state, a senior Lithuanian government official said on Monday. Mustafa al-Hawsawi, 50, has petitioned the European court that last year found Lithuania complicit in a secret CIA programme and ordered the EU member to compensate another terror suspect. “Last week, the government received the Hawsawi petition through the European Court of... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/europe/article/2185752/guantanamo-bay-prisoner-sues-lithuania-over-cia-black-site?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/europe/article/2185752/guantanamo-bay-prisoner-sues-lithuania-over-cia-black-site?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Feb 2019 15:55:17 +0000 The Trump administration closed a diplomatic office designed to keep track of released Guantanamo inmates and make sure they didn’t return to their insurgencies. And now the US government has lost track of several of them, including one who has returned to a terrorist-held part of Syria, a Tribune News Service investigation has found. Guantanamo Bay prisoner released in surprise Trump U-turn The Obama administration created the office of the Special Envoy for Guantanamo Closure with a mandate to... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2173061/us-loses-former-guantanamo-inmates-after-donald?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2173061/us-loses-former-guantanamo-inmates-after-donald?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Nov 2018 21:41:46 +0000 A confessed al-Qaeda terrorist turned US government informant who is awaiting sentencing at Guantanamo complained to a war court judge this week of problems between his attorneys and prosecutors at a brief war court hearing ahead of his 2019 sentencing. “Over the last past six years, I’ve … been struggling with this whole process and the whole military commission system is pretty stagnant,” prisoner Majid Khan, a suburban Baltimore high school graduate, told a new judge on his case Tuesday,... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2156124/guantanamo-war-court-process-cluster-covfefe-says-al?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2156124/guantanamo-war-court-process-cluster-covfefe-says-al?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Jul 2018 06:13:38 +0000 The Trump administration has made its first major move related to inmates in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, surprising observers by doing the opposite of the president’s proclaimed intention: instead of bringing in new detainees it has transferred a prisoner from the island to Saudi Arabia. The unexpected news came in a Pentagon announcement that it had completed the transfer of Ahmed al-Darbi, 43, a confessed al-Qaeda member who pleaded guilty in 2014. According to McClatchy news... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2144533/guantanamo-bay-prisoner-released-surprise-trump-u?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2144533/guantanamo-bay-prisoner-released-surprise-trump-u?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 May 2018 08:03:01 +0000 Ramzi bin al-Shibh, the alleged deputy plotter of the September 11 terrorist attacks, is being held in an isolation cell with only a prayer rug and Koran – no bed and no running water – as punishment for protesting conditions in his Guantanamo confinement, his lawyer said on Saturday. Bin al-Shibh, 45, has for years claimed that somebody is causing his cell to vibrate and making noises in a campaign of sleep deprivation reminiscent of his 2002-2006 abuse in CIA custody. Prosecutors dismiss the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2142818/accused-9/11-suspect-held-isolation-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2142818/accused-9/11-suspect-held-isolation-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Apr 2018 09:18:47 +0000 A new legal challenge seeks to end indefinite detention without trial at Guantanamo Bay, as lawyers for 11 men who have been held at the military facility for up to 16 years argue that their imprisonment has gone on too long. The motion, filed at federal District Court in Washington on Thursday, asserts that the detention of 11 prisoners, none of whom have been charged during their decade and a half at Guantanamo, violates US and international law. The group represents a large share of the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2127895/guantanamos-indefinite-detainees-held-without-charge?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2127895/guantanamos-indefinite-detainees-held-without-charge?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Jan 2018 23:49:42 +0000 An unidentified American allowed to speak with the ACLU by a federal court has asked the group to challenge his nearly four month detention without charges by the US military in Iraq, as fears that he could be shipped out of the country to Guantanamo Bay or another facility grow. He was moved to Iraq after being captured in Syria when he surrendered on a battlefield and was held as an enemy combatant and suspected member of Islamic State, the government has said. In a court filing, ACLU lawyers... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2127094/american-suspect-challenges-unconstitutional-four?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2127094/american-suspect-challenges-unconstitutional-four?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Jan 2018 22:05:09 +0000 A US prosecutor has issued charges against the alleged leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia, blaming him for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing and adding two Malaysian captives to the proposed case as alleged co-conspirators. A copy of the non-capital charge sheet obtained by The Miami Herald, accuses Indonesian Riduan bin Isomuddin, known as Hambali, of sending fighters from his Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah to Afghanistan after the September 11, attacks to meet Osama bin... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2123721/guantanamo-prosecutor-charges-three-over-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/2123721/guantanamo-prosecutor-charges-three-over-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 10 Dec 2017 14:47:57 +0000 When does torture taint testimony, and for how long? And what does the law covering the war court allow? In legal arguments this week, the USS Cole case judge and prosecutor sparred over the fundamental issue yet to come at the national security trials of how to handle evidence taken after torture or other cruel treatment. And they reached no agreement. Judge Vance Spath, an Air Force colonel, read aloud from a section of the Military Commissions Act of 2009 that legislated, “no statement... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2105548/guantanamo-court-debates-how-long-after-torture-are?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2105548/guantanamo-court-debates-how-long-after-torture-are?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Aug 2017 05:58:25 +0000 The Canadian government is going to apologise and give millions to a former Guantanamo Bay child prisoner who pleaded guilty to killing a US soldier in Afghanistan. An official familiar with the deal said Tuesday that Omar Khadr will receive C$10.5 million (US$8 million). The official was not authorised to discuss the deal publicly before the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity. The government and Khadr’s lawyers negotiated the deal last month. The Canadian-born Khadr was 15 when he... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2101186/canada-will-give-us8m-former-guantanamo-child?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2101186/canada-will-give-us8m-former-guantanamo-child?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Jul 2017 05:45:17 +0000 Oman said it received 10 inmates from the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay on Monday, in a move to reduce their number days before US President Barack Obama leaves office. The statement from the sultanate’s foreign ministry did not disclose the nationality of the prisoners who would reside in the Gulf Arab country on a temporary basis. “At the request of Sultan Qaboos and the US government for a solution to the question of Guantanamo detainees, 10 of these detainees arrived today in the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/middle-east/article/2062537/oman-receives-10-prisoners-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/middle-east/article/2062537/oman-receives-10-prisoners-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jan 2017 08:14:04 +0000 For the Past 13 years, al-Qaeda’s most powerful leader in Southeast Asia, Indonesian Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, has been held in Guantanamo Bay prison, out of public sight but still very much in the minds of militants and security agencies across the region. Hambali, 52, has a fearsome reputation. The man, known as the Osama bin Laden of Southeast Asia, is thought to have masterminded the Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people in 2002, the Christmas Eve multi-city church... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/society/article/2040305/my-brother-osama-bin-laden-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/week-asia/society/article/2040305/my-brother-osama-bin-laden-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Oct 2016 03:03:59 +0000 An alleged accomplice in the 9/11 terrorist attacks underwent reconstructive surgery for decade-old damage from sodomy in CIA custody and was to be returned to prison to recuperate, his attorney said on Saturday. “All they said is there was minimal bleeding and he is recovering,” attorney Walter Ruiz, a Navy Reserve commander, said Saturday. His client, Mustafa al Hawsawi, 48, was scheduled to begin surgery at 9pm on Friday and Ruiz said he was informed that it was over by 10.45pm. Hawsawi, a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2028486/guantanamo-prisoner-had-surgery-fix-damage-caused?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2028486/guantanamo-prisoner-had-surgery-fix-damage-caused?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Oct 2016 03:15:45 +0000 Abu Zubaydah, a terror detainee who was the first to undergo torture by waterboarding in secret CIA custody after 9/11, appeared before a Pentagon panel on Tuesday to plead for his release — the first time he’s been seen by any member of the public since being captured in 2002 during a shootout in Pakistan. The video link that beamed his image from Guantanamo to the Pentagon hearing, which was witnessed in part by more than a dozen journalists and monitors from nonprofit groups, revealed no... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2008197/abu-zubaydah-waterboarded-83-times-cia-then-hidden?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2008197/abu-zubaydah-waterboarded-83-times-cia-then-hidden?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Aug 2016 00:52:14 +0000 The US military judge overseeing the trial of the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks should step down and the case should be scrapped because he effectively conspired with prosecutors to destroy evidence, defence lawyers said in a court filing. The motion said Judge James Pohl, an Army colonel, and prosecutors had tainted the case against Pakistan-born Khalid Sheikh Mohammed by keeping defence lawyers from learning that the evidence had been destroyed. The motion was filed on May 10... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1961379/accused-9/11-mastermind-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/united-states-canada/article/1961379/accused-9/11-mastermind-khalid-sheikh-mohammed-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jun 2016 04:18:05 +0000 A pre-trial hearing for five September 11 suspects began on Monday at Guantanamo Bay, with prisoners’ treatment expected to be a focus of the US military court sessions. Forty-two motions are scheduled for the week-long hearing at the Navy base in Cuba. They include multiple requests by defence lawyers for evidence of how the five suspects were treated at secret Central Intelligence Agency prisons. James Connell, a defence lawyer, told Judge Army Colonel James Pohl that medical records provided... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1960351/treatment-september-11-suspects-under-spotlight-long-awaited-guantanamo?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1960351/treatment-september-11-suspects-under-spotlight-long-awaited-guantanamo?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 31 May 2016 06:22:33 +0000 Former Guantanamo Bay inmate Omar Khadr, who was once the youngest prisoner in the United States military jail, is engaged to be married to a human rights activist, a friend of the couple confirmed on Tuesday. Khadr, 29, was returned to Canada in 2012 to serve the rest of his sentence for killing a US soldier. A Canadian court later ruled that he could be released on bail and he left jail last year. Khadr is now engaged to Edmonton, Alberta-based Muna Abougoush, according to the couple’s friend... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1937253/former-guantanamo-inmate-engaged-be-married-human-rights-activist?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1937253/former-guantanamo-inmate-engaged-be-married-human-rights-activist?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 Apr 2016 03:00:44 +0000 President Barack Obama presented a long-shot plan Tuesday to shutter the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, hoping to fulfil an elusive campaign promise before he leaves office next year. Describing the jail as a stain on America’s reputation and a catalyst for jihadists, Obama said “I don’t want to pass this problem on to the next president.” “For many years, it’s been clear that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay does not advance our national security. It undermines it,” Obama said from... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1916058/us-president-barack-obama-presents-last-ditch-plan-close-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1916058/us-president-barack-obama-presents-last-ditch-plan-close-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 24 Feb 2016 02:58:00 +0000 A Kuwaiti detainee at Guantanamo Bay is mounting a legal challenge to win his release, arguing in a US federal lawsuit that he should be freed when US combat troops pull out of Afghanistan because international law stipulates prisoners of war be returned home once a conflict is over. The lawsuit is the latest attempt in a 12-year struggle by a Kuwaiti family to secure the release of a dozen young men who were captured in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001, attacks and brought to the US... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1420831/guantanamo-bay-detainee-cites-international-pow-law-freedom-bid?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1420831/guantanamo-bay-detainee-cites-international-pow-law-freedom-bid?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Feb 2014 13:30:30 +0000 Abu Bakker Qassim - allegedly tortured in China, then wrongly incarcerated in Guantanamo - is finding a semblance of peace in the Balkan nation of Albania. It has been a long and difficult journey for the former Xinjiang separatist, one that he admits took him to Afghanistan, where he learned to fight alongside fellow Uygurs. "[If I could go] back in time, I would tell myself not to get involved in politics," said Qassim. "Not unless I knew what I was doing." Now a resident of the Albanian... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1319410/uygur-battles-escape-painful-past-while-building-new-life-albania?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1319410/uygur-battles-escape-painful-past-while-building-new-life-albania?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Two Uygurs who were prisoners at Guantanamo Bay before being freed and sent to El Salvador 17 months ago have slipped out of the Central American nation, apparently without passports. When and how the duo left El Salvador is unknown but their departure will fuel worries that the United States has lost track of some Guantanamo detainees who have been released. We are aware that the two Uygurs who were resettled in El Salvador departed the country. However, we will not comment on the specifics... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1319322/uygur-refugee-pair-leave-el-salvador?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1319322/uygur-refugee-pair-leave-el-salvador?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Sep 2013 11:41:29 +0000 Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri has vowed to break out Muslim prisoners from US prisons and the heavily fortified compound for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The threat, issued on a video on Wednesday to retaliate for United States "crimes" against al-Qaeda warriors was probably inspired by recent attacks on prisons in Iraq, Libya and Pakistan that freed more than 2,000 detainees, many of them allied with the global terrorism network that has been headed by Zawahiri since the 2011... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1293633/al-qaeda-chief-vows-free-all-our-prisoners-us-jails?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1293633/al-qaeda-chief-vows-free-all-our-prisoners-us-jails?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 01 Aug 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The Fifty Shades of Grey series of erotic novels are the favourite reading material among former CIA captives held at the Guantanamo detention camp, a US congressman has said. Democrat Jim Moran of Virginia was among congressional delegates who last week toured Camp 7, the top-security facility on the Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba that holds more than a dozen "high-value" prisoners, including five men charged with plotting the September 11 attacks in 2001. "Rather than the Koran, the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1293404/fifty-shades-grey-most-popular-book-amongst-guantanamo-inmates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1293404/fifty-shades-grey-most-popular-book-amongst-guantanamo-inmates?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 31 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Guards in Guantanamo were accused of using the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to massage hunger strike numbers, after the US military claimed on Sunday that fewer than half of the inmate population are now on strike. Army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Sam House said 81 detainees were still refusing food as part of a protest that began in February. The official figure was down 15 from the previous day and 25 from a recent high of 106. It raised the prospect that the hunger strike - which has put a... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1283299/guantanamo-accused-cheating-numbers-over-hunger-strike?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1283299/guantanamo-accused-cheating-numbers-over-hunger-strike?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Jul 2013 16:00:00 +0000 US President Barack Obama has chosen a high-powered Washington lawyer with extensive experience in all three branches of the government to be the State Department's special envoy for closing down the military-run prison at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba. Clifford Sloan will reopen the State Department's Office of Guantanamo Closure, shuttered since January and folded into the department's legal adviser's office when the administration, in the face of congressional obstacles, effectively... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1262994/obama-appoints-lawyer-clifford-sloan-revive-bid-close-guantanamo-prison?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1262994/obama-appoints-lawyer-clifford-sloan-revive-bid-close-guantanamo-prison?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The number of hunger-striking Guantanamo detainees being force-fed by military medical teams has jumped to 41 and now makes up a quarter of the US-run camp's prisoner population. The new figures reveal a continued deterioration of conditions at the camp, with the hunger strike by many of the 166 detainees entering a fourth month amid little sign of it ending. In all, 103 inmates are now on hunger strike, with four in hospital. The number being force-fed was 31 on the eve of a speech by US... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1255932/quarter-guantanamo-bay-inmates-being-force-fed?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1255932/quarter-guantanamo-bay-inmates-being-force-fed?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Follow @SCMP_News Proposals to vet future US drone strikes risk creating "kill courts", according to human rights campaigners. They say President Barack Obama's promise of new legal oversight does not go far enough to end what they regard as extrajudicial executions. The president has asked Congress to consider establishing a special court or oversight board to authorise lethal action outside war zones under a new counterterrorism doctrine he says will end the "boundless war on terror". But... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1245371/rights-groups-fault-new-obama-plan-vetting-drone-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1245371/rights-groups-fault-new-obama-plan-vetting-drone-strikes?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 1. The New York Times The prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba … mocks American standards of justice by keeping people imprisoned without charges … As of Tuesday, 100 of the 166 inmates are participating in a hunger strike against their conditions and indefinite detention. If Barack Obama is serious about moving toward closure, there are two steps proposed by the American Civil Liberties Union ... He could appoint a senior official "so that the administration's Guantanamo closure policy is directed by... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/insight-opinion/article/1230209/how-they-see-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/comment/insight-opinion/article/1230209/how-they-see-it?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000 President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday to renew a push to close the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, amid a growing hunger strike by inmates at the controversial jail. Calling the prison a legal “no man’s land,” Obama told a White House news conference he did not want any inmates to die and urged Congress to help him find a long-term solution that would allow for prosecuting terror suspects while shuttering Guantanamo. “I continue to believe we have to close Guantanamo. I think it is critical... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1227166/obama-vows-new-bid-shut-guantanamo-no-mans-land?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1227166/obama-vows-new-bid-shut-guantanamo-no-mans-land?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:47:46 +0000 More Guantanamo detainees have joined a growing hunger strike at the US military prison, with nearly a third of the 166 so-called war-on-terror suspects participating, a spokesman said. Captain Robert Durand said on Wednesday that 52 detainees are refusing food, 15 of whom are being tube-fed by prison officials. That was up from 43 hunger strikers, including 11 being tube-fed, last Friday. Three of the detainees receiving food by tube are being observed in hospital, said Durand, but they do not... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1217622/terror-suspects-hunger-strike-grows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1217622/terror-suspects-hunger-strike-grows?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 18 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay camp have launched a hunger strike to protest at interference with their personal effects, including Korans, their lawyers and prison officials said. "My client and other men have reported that most of the detainees in Camp 6 are on strike, except for a small few who are elderly or sick," said Pardiss Kebriaei, the lawyer for Yemeni prisoner Ghaleb Al-Bihani. Camp 6 houses the majority of the 166 people still incarcerated at Guantanamo - estimated at about 130... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1189336/guantanamo-bay-prisoners-hunger-strike-over-korans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1189336/guantanamo-bay-prisoners-hunger-strike-over-korans?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A military tribunal reconvenes on Tuesday for five men charged in the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, but the defendants may sit this session out. The judge presiding over the case has ruled, over the objections of prosecutors, that the defendants have the right to be absent from a weeklong pretrial hearing in a case considered to be one of the most significant terrorism cases in US history. A lawyer for one of the five says he expects his client will not be there, while attorneys for the... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1062409/accused-terrorists-can-skip-guantanamo-hearings?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/news/world/article/1062409/accused-terrorists-can-skip-guantanamo-hearings?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Oct 2012 06:57:05 +0000 Today is World Press Freedom Day. Let's explore why the media is important and what can be done to protect it. Journalists protect citizens from authority. You might wonder why anyone would need protecting from authorities, but sometimes the authorities are bad. They might be corrupt or oppressive and it is often journalists who are the first to expose this. In a way, journalists are like the police, but they do not have to worry about enforcing the government's laws. Often people who have... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/966633/silence-kills-democracy-free-press-talks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/966633/silence-kills-democracy-free-press-talks?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 May 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Leaving the plastic discomfort of fictional drama aside, let's take a look at what is happening in the world outside climate-controlled studio sets. As the post-Bush clean-up by US President Barack Obama continues, one of the biggest messes to attract international criticism is the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, which is nine years old in October. At the height of its occupancy, the naval station in Cuba was reported by military watchdog, globalsecurity.org, to have 660 suspected terrorists in... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/685099/channel-hop?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/685099/channel-hop?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jun 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Public scrutiny a safeguard for justice As Audrey Lam ('Let the public scrutinise legal profession', January 30) and Anna Tse (''Independence of judiciary' a fuzzy term', February 2) suggest, judicial independence requires that judges be appropriately accountable to the public they serve, not simply themselves. The global financial crisis teaches again that self-regulation alone inadequately safeguards against the risk posed by human foibles to institutions of public importance. This is... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/669043/letters?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/669043/letters?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Feb 2009 16:00:00 +0000 Three men yesterday staged a protest outside the United States' consulate in Central over America's use of the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. Police, security guards and visa seekers looked on as the men unveiled a banner reading 'Shut down Guantanamo' in English and 'Humanity's shame - Guantanamo' in Chinese just after 8.30am. Group leader Po Tin-wing said the men, who were not close friends, had organised their protest through a Christian forum on the internet. Mr Po... https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/553878/protest-us-consulate-condemns-detentions-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed https://www-scmp-com.libproxy1.nus.edu.sg/article/553878/protest-us-consulate-condemns-detentions-guantanamo-bay?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jun 2006 16:00:00 +0000