This report was written by Jason Leopold and originally published at Truthout. Attorneys for Abu Zubaydah say they have been trying to mount a meaningful defense for the “high-value” detainee, who has been in the custody of the US government since March 2002, and have also sought legal remedies outside of the United States to [...]
The courts and the American prison system regularly fail defendants by convicting innocent people and locking them up, sometimes sentencing them to execution for crimes they did not commit. Many legal experts felt this to be the case when Troy Davis, who was executed last week after failing to be granted a hearing by any [...]
Reporting by Jason Leopold. Originally published on Truthout. Rob Richer, the No. 2 ranking official in the CIA’s clandestine service, paid a visit to Glenn Carle‘s office in December 2002 and presented the veteran CIA operative with an urgent proposal. “I want you to go on a temporary assignment,” Carle recalls Richer telling him. “It’s [...]
Republican legislators acted with racist and political motives when they testified for the prosecution in the federal Alabama bingo case, a U.S. District judge says in a new ruling. Sen. Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) and Rep. Benjamin Lewis (R-Dothan) drew harsh words from Judge Myron Thompson. The public likely will focus on Beason’s role in the [...]
If you thought you were finished reading about CIA “black sites” and “extraordinary renditions,” you were just a tad premature. Turns out that after all the investigations in a raft of countries, a virtual treasure trove of never-seen-before documents has reached the major European legal charity, Reprieve. As a result, Reprieve is calling on Lithuanian [...]
The UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) has released its October 2011 report on “Treatment of Conflict-Related Detainees in Afghanistan” (PDF). Ten years after the US invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime, and ostensibly dismantle the Al Qaeda forces linked to the 9/11 attacks, the regime in place is not only hopelessly corrupt and [...]
“I’ve lost faith in the country. I don’t think the politicians represent the people, and they certainly don’t represent me.” –Sean, age 22, #OccupyBoston Boston’s General Assembly is in full swing when I arrive from Lower Manhattan. They’re discussing full inclusion, in this case Tea Party members. I had heard talk of a letter circulating [...]
Recently, the Kuwaiti Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser Al-Mohammad al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, traveled to the United States and, in a meeting with Vice President Biden, once again asserted Kuwait’s interest in seeing its two remaining citizens (Fayiz Al-Kandari and Fawzi Al-Odah) returned from America’s island prison in Guantanamo Bay (GTMO). While I applaud the Prime Minister addressing [...]
What a strange and alarming place we’re in, when the US government, under a Democratic President, kills two US citizens it dislikes for their thoughts and their words, without formally charging them with any crime, or trying or convicting them, using an unmanned drone directed by US personnel many thousands of miles away. And yet, [...]
When something is irredeemably broken, the sensible course of action is to get rid of it. However, when it comes to military trials for terror suspects in the Bush administration’s “war on terror,” however broken the system is, government officials and lawmakers have repeatedly gathered round to put it back together again, and continue to [...]
