FIRE JOHN YOO!

"Though Trump has taken the denial of due process to a further extent than recent administrations, he is justifying his deportation strategy using legal frameworks (think John Yoo) established by the George W. Bush administration during the so-called 'war on terror'," asserts scholar-activist Razan Bayan.

Photo: Inmates remain in their cell as Costa Rica's Minister of Security Gerald Campos tours the Centre for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) during a visit on April 4, 2025. Marvin Recinos/AFP via Getty Images

"A man who was tortured at a CIA secret prison and remains imprisoned without charge in Guantanamo Bay can't seek damages from government contractors that designed the torture program ['enhanced interrogation techniques' justified by lawyers John Yoo and Jay Bybee] because federal courts don't have jurisdiction over the treatment of people deemed enemy combatants," reports Sam Ribakoff at Courthouse News Service.

On Wednesday May 7, for the 28th successive month, a global family of dedicated campaigners held vigils for the closure of the "war on terror" prison at Guantánamo Bay at nine locations across the US and around the world -- Washington, D.C., London, New York, San Francisco, Brussels, Mexico City, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Portland, OR -- with Cobleskill, NY holding an additional vigil on Saturday May 10.

https://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2025/05/12/photos-and-report-the-ongoing-relevance-of-the-monthly-global-vigils-for-guantanamos-closure-may-7-2025/

May 8 @ 4PM PT:

Family members of those killed on 9/11 and advocates for nonviolent and reasoned responses to the terrorist attacks have been traveling to Guantánamo for years to witness the ongoing pretrials. This is a chance to catch up with them and hear about the ever changing and current situation.

The webinar is moderated by Prof. William Hudon,
Chair of "Friends of Peaceful Tomorrows"

Register for the webinar by CLICKING HERE.

"Migrants who are here illegally are criminals, as far as this administration is concerned. I understand the previous administration didn't see it that way, so it's a significant 'culture shift' to recognize law-breakers as criminals, but that's what they are." - White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt

"The concept of indefinite detention is a direct affront to the principles of justice," writes Mansoor Adayfi, artist, activist, and former Guantánamo prisoner. "Holding individuals without charge or trial defies the very foundation of legal systems worldwide. It denies detainees the opportunity to defend themselves and subjects them to years -- sometimes decades -- of suffering with no resolution in sight."

People in orange jumpsuits protest against Guantanamo military prison outside of the US Capitol in Washington, DC on April 5, 2023 [File: Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz] 

"His immediate release and relocation to a third safe country are long overdue," a group of 12 UN special rapporteurs on arbitrary detention, forced disappearances and other human issues, wrote in their letter to the outgoing president. Biden has one week to effect his promised closure of Guantánamo

Zubaydah is one of the 15 inmates left imprisoned. "There are no outstanding charges or allegations against him that might give rise to legitimate concerns, but there is a moral and legal imperative to act urgently to get him out of Guantánamo," says Helen Duffy, head of Human Rights in Practice. Three others have already been cleared for release. One of them - Muieen Abd Al-Sattar, a Rohingya Burmese man with Pakistani citizenship - was cleared for transfer 15 years ago.

Saturday Jan 11, 3pm
50 United Nations Plaza (at the Simon Bolivar statue)
San Francisco

Contact: Gavrilah Wells

Just after Andy Worthington posted this article, news broke that eleven of the 14 men approved for release from Guantánamo have been resettled in Oman. My article celebrating this news will be published tomorrow, but the photo campaign and the vigils will, of course, be proceeding as planned, because 15 men are still held -- three who have also long been approved for release, three "forever prisoners", never charged, but never approved for release either, and nine others in the military commissions trial system.

With the plight of 14 men who have long been approved for release from Guantánamo but are still held dominating the thoughts of those of us who have spent years -- or decades -- calling for the prison's closure, this coming week -- which includes the 23rd anniversary of the prison's opening, on Saturday January 11 -- is a crucial time for highlighting the need for urgent action from the Biden administration, in the last few weeks before Donald Trump once more occupies the White House, bringing with him, no doubt, a profound antipathy towards any of the men still held, and a hunger for sealing the prison shut as he did during his first term in office.

The U.S. Department of Defense has announced the transfer of 11 Yemeni prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to Oman, marking a significant step toward reducing the detainee population at the facility. These detainees, who had been held for over two decades without charges, were transferred after a lengthy and complex diplomatic process. This move follows recent efforts by the Biden administration to shrink the detainee population. However, despite these efforts, concerns remain regarding security risks and the ongoing challenges in finding alternative countries for those still imprisoned. There is still much work to be done to advocate for the release of the remaining prisoners and ensure accountability for past and ongoing injustices.

 John Yoo's "Torture Memos" gave CIA officials a "golden shield" against future criminal prosecution for torture. 

..for the first time, a former prisoner's version of what happened to him is now in the record of a trial at the post-9/11 war crimes court,

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/18/us/politics/guantanamo-prisoner-drawings-torture.html?unlocked_article_code=1.iU4.4Z9w.OXkTZXH5g_2A&smid=url-share

A self-portrait drawn by Mohammed Farik Bin Amin, 

How art is a lifeline for the incarcerated, 
https://hyperallergic.com/971777/guantanamo-bay-and-the-art-of-resistance/

Mansoor Adayfi holding work by Sabri al-Qurashi (photo by and courtesy of Erin L. Thompson) over photo of dusk at Guantánamo Bay (photo via Wikimedia Commons; edit Isabella Segalovich/Hyperallergic):

and any international laws governing the conduct of war, and instead "unleash them" to become a "ruthless", "uncompromising" and "overwhelmingly lethal" force geared to "winning our wars according to our own rules."

From the fall 2003 to spring 2004, CACI employees assumed de facto authority over U.S. military police at the hard site. "They created and set in place the extreme and abusive conditions [as approved by John Yoo in his 'Torture Memos'] in which detainees... were detained," Center for Constitutional Rights alleged.