New version of DOJ letter attaching FBI analysis of Guantánamo interrogation tactics released

Read it here.

Gates, Holder back civilian option for 9/11 trials

Georgetown SLB reports that Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Attorney General Eric Holder wrote to Senate leaders last week to oppose an amendment by Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) that seeks to block the use of civilian courts to try 9/11 suspects.

Basardh v. Gates et al. (08-10982)

(Scotus) Lawyers for a Yemeni national held at Guantanamo Bay, who won a court order for his release more than seven months ago but remains detained, have urged the Supreme Court to take up his case promptly now that a lower appeals court has put it on hold.  A letter said that review of his case by the [...]

Interesting articles

Beth van Schaack – International Criminal Law & its Enforcement
This chapter, to appear in the 2nd edition of Beth Van Schaack & Ron Slye’s International Criminal Law & Its Enforcement (Foundation Press 2010), covers the crime of torture under international criminal law. It begins with a doctrinal discussion of the elements of torture as elucidated [...]

CCR challenges constitutionality of military commissions provisions that bar judicial review of detainee treatment at Guantanamo

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed papers with the D.C. District Court early October challenging the government’s claim that no federal court has the power to hear claims of abuse at Guantánamo. The challenge came in response to the government’s effort to dismiss claims on behalf of two men found dead at the base [...]

Return from Guantanamo – an interview with Sami al-Hajj

Radio interview with BBC 4 available until 27 October.
The most interesting part was when Paul Rester, Director of the joint intelligence team in Guantanamo that is responsibile for managing military intelligence at the camp was interviewed by phone. The interviewer asked whether he thought Sami Al-Hajj was detained by mistake.
No, I don’t believe we made [...]

Louisiana Court Battle Over Guantanamo Psychologist

Attorneys filed an appeal before the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, in the case Dr. Trudy Bond v. Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists this week. Toledo-based psychologist Dr. Trudy Bond is calling on the Louisiana State Board of Examiners to investigate Louisiana psychologist and retired U.S. Army colonel Dr. Larry C. James, [...]

Intelligence community legal reference book

The US Office of the Director of National Intelligence has declassified its Intelligence Community Legal Reference Book from which the US intelligence community ‘draws much of its authority and guidance’. Download the 949 pages here.

3 Gitmo Prisoners Transferred To Ireland, Yemen. One detainee arrives in Belgium ‘within days’.

Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, a Yemen native, was returned to his homeland last week. A federal court in May ruled that Ahmed could no longer be detained at the military detention in Cuba facility and ordered him released.
The two other detainees, whose names were not disclosed for security reasons, have been sent to Ireland. [...]

4 UK residents seek Supreme Court ruling in Rasul, et al., v. Myers

Lawyers for Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith who formerly were held at Guantanamo Bay returned to the Supreme Court, seeking the first ruling by the Justices on claims of torture of terrorism suspects by U.S. agents, asking “whether detainees imprisoned  the United States at Guantanamo have a right to be free from abuse [...]