Sunday, January 24, 2010
Had President Barack Obama kept his promise following his inauguration, this week would have marked the closure of the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay. Instead, media stories reported that a special task force created by Obama has recommended the government continue the policy of indefinite detention established by President George W. Bush despite a June 2008 Supreme Court ruling granting Guantánamo prisoners the right to appeal their indefinite detention in a civilian court.
If the White House accepts the recommendations of the Justice Department-led task force, 47 detainees at Guantánamo will remain imprisoned without being tried or released. These individuals have been deemed too dangerous to be released, but their cases have been contaminated by the use of torture. Their fate would rest with Obama’s National Security Council, which would decide what to do with the suspected terrorists.
As for the remaining detainees at Guantánamo, the task force recommends prosecuting 35 in federal or military courts and freeing the remaining 110…eventually. For sixty of the 110, their release has been put on hold indefinitely because they are Yemenis, and President Obama suspended the release of prisoners to Yemen.
Human rights groups and civil libertarians continue to express concern over President Obama’s decision to maintain the policy of indefinite detention. “There is no statutory regime in America that allows us to hold people without charge or trial indefinitely,” Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, told The Washington Post.
Two Guantánamo detainees were released this week. Hasan Zemiri and Adil Hadi al-Jazairi Bin Hamlili were sent back to their native Algeria.
Also this week, three judges from the U.S. District Court in Washington, DC, called on Congress and the White House to take action on the issue of indefinite detention and establish in law how terrorism suspects should be dealt with.
“Judges aren’t in the business of making law—we interpret law,” Judge Reggie Walton, a George W. Bush appointee, told ProPublica. “It should be Congress that decides a policy such as this that has a monumental impact on our society and makes a monumental impression on the world community.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Justice Task Force Recommends about 50 Guantanamo Detainees be Held Indefinitely (by Peter Finn, Washington Post)
NSC Picks Up Where Gitmo Task Force Left Off (by Joe Palazzolo, Main Justice)
US Transfers Two Guantanamo Detainees to Algeria (The Australian)
Judges Urge Congress to Act on Indefinite Terrorism Detentions (by Chisun Lee, ProPublica)
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