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Michael Otterman is currently a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, as well as an award-winning journalist and filmmaker.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
When it rains...
Wow-- over the past few days a torrent of torture-related news has flooded the airwaves, internet and newspapers across Australia, America and the globe. Below are some important stories I've been keeping an eye on.
Dear Mrs. Pelosi...
Democrats, Labor and Greens MPs in Canberra have penned a letter to US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi demanding action on the fate of Hicks. "As members of the Australian Parliament, we ask that members of the US Congress take steps to bring about to the return to Australia of Australian citizen David Hicks - a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years - for prosecution here," the letter says. More here.
You call it torture, we call it "intellectual stimulation"
Large photographs featuring Saddam Hussein's execution have been posted throughout Guantanamo. Arabic text under the images read: "Because Saddam chose not to co-operate and not tell the truth, because he thought by lying he would get released, for that reason he was executed." Pentagon officials insisted the images did not constitute mental torture but were merely part of "news articles, intended to provide intellectual stimulation..." More here and here.
Habib Runs For Office
Australian Mamdouh Habib has announced his candidacy in next month's NSW election for the seat of Auburn. Habib, who was released from Guantanamo in early 2005, said he will campaign for "the right of freedom of expression and in opposition to the anti-terrorist laws, state and federal. The right to fight racism, the end of scapegoating of Aborigines, Muslims and migrants." More here.
Warrants issued in German rendition case
German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA officers involved in the rendition/torture of Khaled el-Masri. This follows only one month after Italian prosecutors issued warrants for 22 CIA agents involved in rendition of Muslim cleric Osama Mustafa Hassan. It appears the CIA's rendition program is coming apart at the seams. More here and here.
Vindication, in Canada at least.
Maher Arar was awarded CN$10.5 million by the Canadian government for its role in his CIA rendition to Syria. The US still includes his name on a terrorist 'no fly list.' US-Canadian diplomatic relations are apparently now at an all time low. More here and here.
Our Man in Baghdad
Oddly enough, the CIA's new Baghdad CIA station chief is the former director of the CIA's rendition program. In addition to the renditions above, this agent personally directed the transfer of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi to Egypt. Al Libi is a suspected al Qaeda official who provided under torture bunk information linking Osama to Saddam. Many of his bogus "confessions" were used by Bush and Powell to drum up support for the Iraqi invasion. More here and here.
Military Commissions Act, in action
The Military Commissions Act (MCA)-- the 2006 monstrosity that redefined torture to exclude waterboarding, sensory deprivation and sexual humiliation-- is beginning to effect pending habeas petitions in federal court. The MCA also strips habeas corpus, the 17th century right to challenge one's grounds for detention, from non-US nationals. Last Wednesday, sixteen lawsuits by Guantanamo inmates were suspended. More here. Some background here.
Dear Mrs. Pelosi...
Democrats, Labor and Greens MPs in Canberra have penned a letter to US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi demanding action on the fate of Hicks. "As members of the Australian Parliament, we ask that members of the US Congress take steps to bring about to the return to Australia of Australian citizen David Hicks - a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay for more than five years - for prosecution here," the letter says. More here.
You call it torture, we call it "intellectual stimulation"
Large photographs featuring Saddam Hussein's execution have been posted throughout Guantanamo. Arabic text under the images read: "Because Saddam chose not to co-operate and not tell the truth, because he thought by lying he would get released, for that reason he was executed." Pentagon officials insisted the images did not constitute mental torture but were merely part of "news articles, intended to provide intellectual stimulation..." More here and here.
Habib Runs For Office
Australian Mamdouh Habib has announced his candidacy in next month's NSW election for the seat of Auburn. Habib, who was released from Guantanamo in early 2005, said he will campaign for "the right of freedom of expression and in opposition to the anti-terrorist laws, state and federal. The right to fight racism, the end of scapegoating of Aborigines, Muslims and migrants." More here.
Warrants issued in German rendition case
German prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 13 CIA officers involved in the rendition/torture of Khaled el-Masri. This follows only one month after Italian prosecutors issued warrants for 22 CIA agents involved in rendition of Muslim cleric Osama Mustafa Hassan. It appears the CIA's rendition program is coming apart at the seams. More here and here.
Vindication, in Canada at least.
Maher Arar was awarded CN$10.5 million by the Canadian government for its role in his CIA rendition to Syria. The US still includes his name on a terrorist 'no fly list.' US-Canadian diplomatic relations are apparently now at an all time low. More here and here.
Our Man in Baghdad
Oddly enough, the CIA's new Baghdad CIA station chief is the former director of the CIA's rendition program. In addition to the renditions above, this agent personally directed the transfer of Ibn al-Shaikh al-Libi to Egypt. Al Libi is a suspected al Qaeda official who provided under torture bunk information linking Osama to Saddam. Many of his bogus "confessions" were used by Bush and Powell to drum up support for the Iraqi invasion. More here and here.
Military Commissions Act, in action
The Military Commissions Act (MCA)-- the 2006 monstrosity that redefined torture to exclude waterboarding, sensory deprivation and sexual humiliation-- is beginning to effect pending habeas petitions in federal court. The MCA also strips habeas corpus, the 17th century right to challenge one's grounds for detention, from non-US nationals. Last Wednesday, sixteen lawsuits by Guantanamo inmates were suspended. More here. Some background here.