Latest Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Stories

Medical involvement with torture is prohibited by international law and professional associations, and yet sometimes it is the right thing for doctors to do, argue two bioethicists. Their timely paper in the Hastings Center Report comes as news of the trail leading to the death of Osama Bin Laden points to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay who were subject to "enhanced interrogation techniques," which many believe amounted to torture.Despite its prohibition, torture remains widespread in...

Decision Further Discredits Military Commissions NEW YORK, May 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Civil Liberties Union and several other rights groups today sent a letter to the Pentagon expressing concern over the banning of four reporters from future Guantanamo military commissions proceedings. The reporters were banned for reporting the name of a witness in the pre-trial hearings of Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr, even though his identity had already been disclosed in previous...

U.S. intelligence director Dennis Blair said Wednesday that an elite U.S. interrogation unit will conduct "scientific research" to find better ways of questioning top suspected terrorists. "It is going to do scientific research on that long-neglected area," Blair told the House Intelligence Committee, without elaborating on the nature of the techniques being tested.Ross Feinstein, a spokesman for Blair, declined to give detail to "specific research projects" but...

"Tweaking" The System Will Not Make It Constitutional NEW YORK, June 29 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- According to The Wall Street Journal, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued guidance to the Obama administration on reviving the military commissions system to try Guantanamo detainees. The Journal reports that the DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel advised the administration that detainees can claim some constitutional rights if they are tried in military commissions within the United...

A U.S. judge Tuesday ordered the release of a group of Chinese Muslims held for seven years at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled that the Chinese Uighurs be released into the United States by Friday, the Human Rights Watch said in a release. Detaining them longer would be unfair since the United States no longer considers them to be enemy combatants and the Constitution bars indefinite imprisonment without charges, Human Rights Watch said....

By Mike Melia Associated Press By Mike Melia Associated Press GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba -- A U.S. military jury gave Osama bin Laden's driver a surprisingly light sentence Thursday, making him eligible for release in just five months despite the prosecutors' request for at least a 30-year sentence to deter would- be terrorists. Salim Hamdan's sentence of 5 1/2 years, including five years and a month already served at Guantanamo Bay, fell far short of the life sentence he could have...

Convicted terror supporter Salim Ahmed Hamdan Thursday received a 5 1/2 year sentence, far short of the 30 years-to-life sentence prosecutors wanted. Hamdan's sentence includes the five years and one month he has already served, making him eligible for release in five months, The Miami Herald reported. Hamdan was captured in Afghanistan in 2001 with two surface-to-air missiles in his car. He has been held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 2002. Prosecutor John Murphy characterized Hamdan, a...

WASHINGTON _ The government has been trying to prosecute and convict Salim Ahmed Hamdan for war crimes for five years. Wednesday, a Guantanamo Bay military jury found Hamdan guilty of supporting terrorism and he now faces life in prison. So, mission accomplished? Hardly. The conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver may have provided the Pentagon with a brief moment of certitude, something concrete it can point to as a success. But in reality, it's just another small step forward in...

By Carol Rosenberg, The Miami Herald Aug. 6--GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba -- In a mixed verdict, a U.S. military jury on Wednesday convicted Osama bin Laden's driver of providing material support for terror but found him not guilty of a more serious charge of conspiring with al Qaeda in a string of worldwide terror attacks. Salim Hamdan, 37, stood and listened with head bowed to anArabic translation as he became the first man convicted at trial in the first U.S....

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVY BASE, Cuba _ A military jury deliberated a second day without a verdict Tuesday in the case of Osama bin Laden's driver, Salim Hamdan, accused of 10 counts of conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism. The jury of six officers got the case Monday after extensive closing arguments. They deliberated a total of six and half hours across both days before retiring for the night at this remote U.S. Navy base in southeast Cuba. Hamdan, 37, was captured in November...