The Trump administration feels unconstrained by existing laws and norms -- a key aspect of authoritarian and ultranationalist political ideology. Yet despite today's advance of American fascism Sands refuses to give in to despair, saying "I firmly believe that the arc of history will follow the arc of justice." He has come to believe that the law isn't the only avenue for establishing truth and accountability, or necessarily always the best one.
"Being a lawyer had taught Sands the limits of the law," observed Michael Steinberger. "Being an author had given him even greater appreciation for the power of the written word, and he now thought that books could sometimes be a more effective instrument in the pursuit of redress... In any situation in which a civilian population has been brutalized, the crimes must be acknowledged."
"You have to find a way to address what happened," said Sands.
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"Yoo, of course, is one of the most notorious of the many national security ghouls who served in the George W. Bush administration, where he used his legal expertise to write in 2002 the so-called 'torture memos' that sought to justify the use of waterboarding and other violations of the Geneva Convention in the name of the Global War on Terror. This is not someone typically concerned about following the law."
The Berkeley Law professor jumps through hoops to designate drug cartel crime, when attached to the Maduro regime, acts of war.
"I do this because I know Guantanamo did not end, it spread," says writer, artist, activist, and former Guantánamo prisoner Mansoor Adayfi.
"I know this road. I have its map etched into my bones. I carry scars that won't heal without justice, without accountability."
As Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel during the George W. Bush administration, professor John Yoo authorized a series of enhanced interrogation techniques depicted in his infamous Torture Memos. The site for detaining foreign 'enemy combatants' outside the reach of US law (Guantanamo) has "metastasized into a symbol of indefinite detention, torture, and the erosion of constitutional protections," descibed historian Michael A. Smith--even for American citizens.
"The time has come to close Guantánamo--not just the physical facility, but the legal and moral architecture it represents."
Torture remains an American export. More than an 'American mistake', Guantanamo remains a laboratory. Its experiments are being exported, charges Adayfi. Absorbed. Normalised. And reportedly applied against thousands of Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom from Israel's continued occupation of their land.
]]>Find a 60 Minutes feature critical of CECOT here
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
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"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.
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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.
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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] 
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.
