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Walter Ruiz the American lawyer and Naval Commander appointed to serve as Defense attorney for captives who faced charges before the Guantanamo military commissions, reported that Guantanamo guards had improperly seized privileged documents his clients needed to aid in their defense and that security officials had improperly been secretly monitoring the conversations between the suspects and their attorneys. In a Huffington Post article titled ‘Obama's Guantanamo Is Never Going To Close, So Everyone Might As Well Get Comfortable’ Ryan J Reilly states “…Navy Cmdr. Walter Ruiz stood inside an old airplane hangar on the southernmost tip of the island and reflected on a central but unfulfilled promise of Obama’s 2008 campaign. “We’re still here,” Ruiz said, as reporters milled around the aging hangar, which has been repurposed as a work space for the journalists and human rights observers who have been flying in and out of Guantanamo since the first suspected terrorists were brought here 11 years ago. …“We’re still in military commissions. We’re still arguing about the basic protections the system affords us. We’re still talking about indefinite detention," Ruiz continued. "We’re still talking about not closing the facility.” After years of legal wrangling, the trials of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and four other men allegedly responsible for the 9/11 attacks have barely gotten off the ground. Ruiz, an attorney for alleged 9/11 organizer and financier Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi, estimates he has traveled to Guantanamo 50 to 100 times for client meetings and pre-trial hearings on legal minutiae since he joined the military’s defense counsel office in September 2008. “I’m here trying this case, people were here trying this case in 2008, arguing many of the same motions we’re arguing now,” Ruiz said. “And I think folks that have been around here for a while would tell you not much has changed at all.”  Inspired by Ryan J Reilly, Huffington Post ow.ly/iuHCm Image source Robert Stephenson ow.ly/iuHfy We’re still arguing about basic protections (March 28 2013)

 

Walter Ruiz the American lawyer and Naval Commander appointed to serve as Defense attorney for captives who faced charges before the Guantanamo military commissions, reported that Guantanamo guards had improperly seized privileged documents his clients needed to aid in their defense and that security officials had improperly been secretly monitoring the conversations between the suspects and their attorneys. In a Huffington Post article titled ‘Obama’s Guantanamo Is Never Going To Close, So Everyone Might As Well Get Comfortable’ Ryan J Reilly states “…Navy Cmdr. Walter Ruiz stood inside an old airplane hangar on the southernmost tip of the island and reflected on a central but unfulfilled promise of Obama’s 2008 campaign. “We’re still here,” Ruiz said, as reporters milled around the aging hangar, which has been repurposed as a work space for the journalists and human rights observers who have been flying in and out of Guantanamo since the first suspected terrorists were brought here 11 years ago. …“We’re still in military commissions. We’re still arguing about the basic protections the system affords us. We’re still talking about indefinite detention,” Ruiz continued. “We’re still talking about not closing the facility.” After years of legal wrangling, the trials of Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and four other men allegedly responsible for the 9/11 attacks have barely gotten off the ground. Ruiz, an attorney for alleged 9/11 organizer and financier Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi, estimates he has traveled to Guantanamo 50 to 100 times for client meetings and pre-trial hearings on legal minutiae since he joined the military’s defense counsel office in September 2008. “I’m here trying this case, people were here trying this case in 2008, arguing many of the same motions we’re arguing now,” Ruiz said. “And I think folks that have been around here for a while would tell you not much has changed at all.”

 

Inspired by Ryan J Reilly, Huffington Post ow.ly/iuHCm Image source Robert Stephenson ow.ly/iuHfy

Lack of leadership by the executive (January 23rd)

Lack of leadership by the executive (January 23rd)

Jonathan Hafetz the US professor of Law and civil libertarian renowned for his volunteer service assisting Guantanamo captives held by the US Justice department at the Naval base, has published an article on Aljazeera marking the 10th anniversary of when the first prisoners arrived at the base. Hafetz states, “While its approach to terrorism has evolved, the United States’ failure to close Guantanamo shows how far it still has to go if it wishes to develop a rights-respecting national security policy… The United States’ failure to close Guantanamo is the result of several factors, including lack of leadership by the executive, opposition by Congress, and acquiescence by the courts. Ultimately, all three branches of government bear responsibility, along with the American people themselves, who continue to tolerate Guantanamo’s existence… Not only does the prison remain open, but the United States is further from closing it now than at any time in the past… Guantanamo remains a place where individuals – all citizens of other countries – are given fewer rights and protections against unlawful imprisonment.”

 

Inspired by Jonathan Hafetz http://ow.ly/8BMDr image source Seton Hall http://ow.ly/8BMJj

 

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