freedetainees.org

Tajikistan jails 56 Muslim activists for extremist activities

LGR — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:00:09 +0000

Tajikistan’s top court on Wednesday sentenced 56 followers of Tablighi Jamaat (TJ), a radical Muslim group, for extremist activities in the Central Asian state.

“Twenty-three defendants were given jail terms of between 3 and 6 years, while the remaining 33 individuals were fined between [$8,000 and $16,000],” a court spokesman said.

The members of the group were

TD Blog Interview with Ellen Lubell

LGR — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 05:53:59 +0000

Ellen Lubell is a partner at Tennant Lubell, a law firm in Newton, Mass. Ms. Lubell and her partner Doris Tennant represent Abdul Aziz Naji, an Algerian national detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. On February 18, 2010, I had the privilege of interviewing Ms. Lubell by telephone; what follows are my interview notes, corrected as appropriate

Neighbor: LaRose seemed like ‘everyday housewife’

LGR — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 08:53:27 +0000

PENNSBURG — According to neighbors of 427 Main St., Pennsburg, where Colleen LaRose reportedly lived for some time in 2009, there was nothing suspicious or out-of-the-ordinary about LaRose’s appearance.

Renee Herbert, who resides in the Main Street building where LaRose lived, said she used to see LaRose sometimes when the two did laundry.

“Colleen looked like an

Pennsylvania Woman Indicted in Alleged Plot to Recruit Jihadist Fighters

LGR — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 22:42:19 +0000

FD Editor Note: I find it odd that the DoJ is suddenly concerned about “committing murder overseas” when the DoD is already doing that on a daily basis.

David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security, and Michael L. Levy, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, together with Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special

[ACTION] BRITISH RESIDENT SHAKER AAMER IS STILL DETAINED IN GUANTANAMO WITHOUT CHARGE

LGR — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:36:38 +0000

All the other UK Guantanamo detainees have returned home. President Obama’s pledge to close Guantanamo by January 2010 has not been met but, gradually, detainees are being transferred to countries willing to accept them. They are detainees, cleared for release, who can not return home. Shaker Aamer’s case is different. He has a home in

Scandal: EWTN and pro-torture interview

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:35:37 +0000

A huge hat-tip to Sean Dailey for the link on the Coalition’s Facebook page to this absolutely outrageous pair of video clips from EWTN:

Why is EWTN giving Marc Thiessen a platform on which to spread pro-torture views, including his belief that enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding are not torture and are perfectly fine for

Secret abuse case plan challenged

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:32:21 +0000

Six former Guantanamo detainees are appealing against a ruling that secret evidence can be used by the government to defend their claim for damages.

The UK citizens and residents are suing intelligence agencies and ministers for alleged complicity in their abuse.

Dinah Rose QC, representing five of the six, told the Court of Appeal the

AT WAR: Pakistan Seeks Identity Of American Suspect

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:13:24 +0000

Which Al Qaeda suspect was arrested in Pakistan? A number of news reports Sunday stated that American Adam Yahiye Gadahn, an Al Qaeda spokesman who appeared in a video this weekend calling on Muslims in the US to attack America, had been captured in a raid in Karachi, Pakistan. However, Pakistani and American officials

The ‘al-Qaeda seven’ and selective McCarthyism

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:07:55 +0000

By Marc A. Thiessen

Would most Americans want to know if the Justice Department hired a bunch of mob lawyers and put them in charge of mob cases? Or a group of drug cartel lawyers and put them in charge of drug cases? Would they want their elected representatives to find out who these lawyers

ACLU Ad – What will it be, Mr. President?

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:04:28 +0000

Family appeals for release of detainee with cancer

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:55:24 +0000

Salfit – Ma’an – The Palestinian Detainees Center on Monday called on human rights organizations to intervene for the release of a Palestinian prisoner suffering from cancer.

The center said Kayed Hassan Hiron, from Nablus, was detained on 1 January 2003 and was sentenced to nine years. The Israeli Prison Service in Meggido prison transfered

[ACTION] Restore Visitation and Communication Rights to Dr Aafia Siddiqui

LGR — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:36:44 +0000

Justice for Aafia Coalition

Pakistani national Aafia Siddiqui, recently convicted in the US in a shocking miscarriage of justice has now been refused all contact with her family and is being held in effect under “incommunicado” detention. She is being denied letters, visits, phone calls or any reading material, on the grounds that it impacts

Lawmakers introduce bill requiring military interrogation of suspected terrorists

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:21:41 +0000

Dwyer Arce

[JURIST] US lawmakers introduced a bill [text, PDF] Thursday that would require the military interrogation and trial of those taken into US custody who are suspected of links to terrorism. The Enemy Belligerent Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010 was introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) [official websites] and

Long march announced for Aafia’s release

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 22:18:03 +0000

By Imtiaz Hussain

KHAIRPUR: Dr Fauzia Siddiqui has announced to launch a long march from Karachi to Islamabad to gather support for repatriation of her sister Dr Aafia Siddiqui.

Addressing the Sukkur District Bar members here on Friday, she said Prime Minister Gilani was making all-out efforts for release of her sister from the illegal

Redemption from ‘Gift from Christ’ given to Guantanamo detainee while being tortured

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 21:43:13 +0000

Deborah Dupre’

“Outside the Law: Stories from Guantánamo,” the new documentary film, directed by Polly Nash and Andy Worthington (and inspired by Andy’s book, The Guantánamo Files), highlights how the film provides an opportunity for redemption of Christians with blood on their hands by supporting giving a “gift from Christ’ while torturing people, as the film

Free Jamil Al-Amin

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:27:13 +0000

By Mumia Abu-Jamal

The struggle for the freedom and liberty of Atlanta Muslim leader Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin must take place now, before the cold fingers of the state can close around his neck.

Imam Jamil has already received

CNSNews.com Justice Cites Bush Administration as Source for Claim of 300 Terrorists in U.S. Prisons; Senate Still Seeking List of Names

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:19:04 +0000

By Fred Lucas (CNSNews.com) – The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing a list for members of Congress of the 319 terrorists convicted under the Bush administration serving in U.S. prisons, a department spokesman told

Prisoner paralyzed from Israeli guard beating, father says

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:15:59 +0000

Gaza – Ma’an – A beating by Israeli prison guards has caused a Palestinian man in Israeli custody to became completely paralyzed, the Wa’ed Society for Detainees said on Saturday.

The prisoner, identified as 33-year-old Muhammad Abu Libda from the northern Gaza town of Jabaliya, was in good health when he was detained, his father

Suppressing Evidence: UK Complicity in Torture

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:05:57 +0000

by Sarah Gillespie

Last Saturday, I went to see Polly Nash and Andy Worthington’s harrowing documentary Outside the Law, Tales from Guantánamo at London’s BFI.

The film knits together narratives so heart-wrenching I half wish I had not heard them. Yet the camaraderie between the detainees and occasional humorous anecdotes, such as Binyam Mohammed’s false confession that

Another Letter from Tariq Mehanna

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 08:18:51 +0000

Bismillah, was-Salama ‘alayki wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuh;

I will try to answer your questions as well as I can.

I was arrested at my house in the morning, on October 21st. I had just finished making wudu’ for Fajr prayer and was going into my room to pray sunnah when the doorbell rang, followed by a series of loud

Naji Hamdan’s Nightmare

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:54:27 +0000

By Anna Louie Sussman

Beirut, Lebanon

At only one point in his story did Naji Hamdan cry. Sitting in an office chair as he recounted how he was arrested, tortured and ultimately convicted of terrorism charges in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), his voice barely wavered. Only when he described how Emirati interrogators

Don’t know what to include in your mail to prisoners? No problem!

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:39:00 +0000

To those of you who are Muslim and write letters: Here’s a list of mainly ayaat and ahadith you may wish to insert into the mail, in your own order, so that they do not receive the exact same thing from more than one person.

In the Name of Allah, The Most Gracious, Most Merciful.

[ACTION] Muslim Woman Harassed and Abused in Israeli Prison

LGR — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 02:13:10 +0000

Muslim Woman Harassed and Abused in Israeli Prison

Background

Hana Shalabi, a muslim from Jenin Palestine, is currently experiencing severe treatment and harassment from the Israeli army and prison service. She is 27, and currently incarcerated within Section 12 in Hasharon Prison, Israel.

Upon her arrest in her home on the 14th September 2009, she and her family

“THE NEVER FORGET CAMPAIGN” – FREE IMAM JAMIL AL-AMIN

LGR — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:37:12 +0000

The Never Forget Campaign is an effort to raise awareness about this great leaders and brother who has seemed to have been forgotten. Within this video we present to you information about the case of Imam Jamil Al-Amin (H. Rap Brown) a former Black Panther and Civil Rights Activist. Help by re uploading this video

In Reversal, Obama Advisers to Recommend Military Tribunals for 9/11 Plotters

LGR — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:27 +0000

Ooh there’s a shocker.. or not………

Top advisers to President Obama reportedly are close to a decision recommending that the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks be prosecuted in a military tribunal.

Top advisers to President Obama are close to a decision recommending that the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks

Queens Imam Agrees To Plea Deal In Subway Bomb Plot

LGR — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 05:49:27 +0000

A Queens Imam plead guilty Thursday to one count of lying to authorities about tipping off admitted terrorist Najibullah Zazi.

Ahmad Afzali made the plea bargain in Brooklyn Federal Court.

He could be sentenced to as many as six months behind bars, but his lawyer says the government isn’t asking for prison time.

Afzali could have faced up

Who Is the Palestinian Released from Guantánamo in Spain?

LGR — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 00:15:03 +0000

By Andy Worthington

Last Wednesday, when the Spanish government announced that the first of up to five cleared Guantánamo prisoners to be offered new homes in Spain had arrived in the country (and three other men were given new homes in Albania), I noted that, although the Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba told reporters that

Aafia Siddiqui and Her Children

LGR — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 05:03:30 +0000

US-AFGHANISTAN: Habeas Challenges for Bagram Prisoners

LGR — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:37:58 +0000

By William Fisher NEW YORK, Mar1, 2010 (IPS) – Four men who have been imprisoned for over a year – some for almost two years – are going to U.S. federal court to challenge their detention at the notorious Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

The men, who their lawyers say have never engaged in hostilities against

Supreme Court dismisses appeal by Uighurs held at Guantanamo

LGR — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:29:47 +0000

The Supreme Court Monday decided not to hear the appeal of a group of Uighurs who have been held without charge at Guantanamo Bay for eight years. The case was originally scheduled for the high court’s docket March 23.

By Warren Richey Staff writer

Washington —

The US Supreme Court decided