Guantánamo News |

Did Pentagon ban on Guantánamo art create a market for it? See who owns prison art.

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 10:24:33 EST

Hollywood actors Ben and Casey Affleck got one each for Christmas last year. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Taylor Branch has four hanging in his home. The actress who played the “Gossip … Click to Continue »

War court judge pursued immigration job for years while presiding over USS Cole case

Tue, 20 Nov 2018 05:00:00 EST

A military judge in what was to be Guantánamo’s first death-penalty trial spent more than half his tenure on the war court bench seeking civilian employment as an immigration judge, … Click to Continue »

About the war crimes trial of the alleged al-Qaida commander

Fri, 11 Nov 2016 16:00:01 EST

ABOUT THE TRIAL Next Hearing: Jan. 7-14, 2019. The judge has set aside the first portion of the week-plus hearing for testimony from medical providers and prison officials about how … Click to Continue »

Canadian judge denies Omar Khadr eased bail conditions

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 14:42:23 EST

A Canadian judge on Friday denied former Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr’s request for relaxed bail conditions and a Canadian passport. Justice June Ross ruled there’s no evidence of hardship … Click to Continue »

Lawyer floated life-sentence plea deal for alleged 9/11 plotter. The deal vanished.

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 16:54:27 EST

A defense attorney for the man accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 terror attacks told a military judge Thursday that, in the summer of 2017, he was negotiating trading a … Click to Continue »

At Gitmo 9/11 trial, prosecutor gives lurid details of CIA prisons. Defense says: Not enough

Thu, 15 Nov 2018 18:56:43 EST

A Sept. 11 trial prosecutor on Thursday read aloud ghastly descriptions of what the CIA did to its prisoners: An alleged plot mastermind was taken nude from interrogation to a … Click to Continue »

Trump closed an office that tracked ex-Gitmo inmates. Now we don’t know where some went

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:00:00 EST

The Trump administration closed a diplomatic office designed to keep track of released Guantánamo inmates and make sure they didn’t return to their insurgencies. And now the U.S. government has … Click to Continue »

CIA considered using ‘truth serum’ on post-9/11 detainees

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 01:37:50 EST

Shortly after 9/11, the CIA considered using a drug it thought might work like a truth serum and force terror suspects to give up information about potential attacks. After months … Click to Continue »

Defense lawyers’ moldy offices don’t delay start of 9/11 hearing

Mon, 12 Nov 2018 15:14:11 EST

A defense attorney in the Sept. 11 trial appeared in court in shirt sleeves topped by a Harry Potter tie Monday as the Marine Corps judge plunged forward with a … Click to Continue »

9/11 trial lawyers find mold in their top-secret offices: Could it snarl Gitmo hearings?

Sun, 11 Nov 2018 16:19:12 EST

Defense lawyers in the 9/11 case arrived at Guantánamo for a week-long pretrial hearing to find a mold infestation in their top-secret work spaces at the Pentagon’s makeshift, expeditionary war … Click to Continue »

Unusual accommodation at Gitmo war court: A hospital bed for an al-Qaida suspect

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 16:43:12 EST

Military judges have made certain accommodations to accused war criminals here. But Friday, for the first time, the military placed a hospital bed inside the court. Troops moved the standard … Click to Continue »

Alleged al-Qaida commander taken by ambulance from Guantánamo war court

Tue, 06 Nov 2018 14:46:27 EST

An alleged al-Qaida commander recovering from five spine surgeries at Guantánamo made it to court Tuesday morning and lasted just 30 minutes in open session before suffering an episode of … Click to Continue »

Colonel who responded to ’80s Berlin bombing named Guantánamo’s chief war court judge

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 10:49:25 EDT

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has chosen an Army colonel with experience handling terrorism cases dating back to the 1986 Berlin disco bombing to serve as chief judge of the … Click to Continue »

Taliban: 5 freed from US military prison at Guantánamo now in Qatar office

Tue, 30 Oct 2018 17:46:34 EDT

Five members of the Afghan Taliban who were freed from the U.S. military prison at Guantánamo Bay in exchange for captured American army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl have joined the insurgent … Click to Continue »

Iowa soldier dies swimming off Guantánamo base beach

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 06:39:00 EDT

An Iowa soldier assigned to the Guantánamo Bay terror prison drowned after being caught up in a strong current while swimming off a beach at the U.S. Navy base in … Click to Continue »

Two Guantánamo detainees refused to leave. Now they’re stuck there, commander says.

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 17:21:01 EDT

Two detainees at the Guantánamo prison who were cleared for release during the Obama administration refused to cooperate with authorities arranging their departures and now can’t leave even if they … Click to Continue »

Military court rules against accused USS Cole bomber’s lawyers in ethics standoff

Fri, 12 Oct 2018 14:54:14 EDT

A military court review panel sided Friday with the judge in the USS Cole trial, ruling that defense lawyers had no authority to quit the case over ethics questions raised … Click to Continue »

Captive’s surgery recovery thwarts judge’s weeklong bid to hold a Guantánamo hearing

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 10:55:13 EDT

The judge in the case against an Iraqi man accused of war crimes in Afghanistan scrapped on Friday a five-day effort to hold a hearing after a prison doctor repeatedly … Click to Continue »

Guantánamo By the Numbers

Tue, 25 Oct 2016 06:00:17 EDT

Factbox | The captives, costs, court, and more

… Click to Continue »

Guantánamo marks 9/11 anniversary with solemnity, 9.11-kilometer run

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 22:04:37 EDT

Guantánamo Navy base, whose detention center holds the alleged 9/11 terror plotters, marked the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, on Tuesday by lowering flags to half-staff, holding … Click to Continue »

How Guantánamo, the Navy base with book-banning prison, marks Banned Books Week

Tue, 02 Oct 2018 06:00:00 EDT

Big and small libraries across the United States marked Banned Books Week recently with awareness campaigns celebrating the freedom to read in America, and so did this base with two … Click to Continue »

Could secret 9/11 hearings near Pentagon clarify role of U.S. Constitution at Guantánamo?

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 11:46:55 EDT

Hearings in the 9/11 death-penalty trial may be held in the Washington area for the first time since the case began, a move some lawyers say would bolster the argument … Click to Continue »

Alleged al-Qaida war criminal recovering from spine surgery stalls Guantánamo hearing

Mon, 24 Sep 2018 12:04:19 EDT

An Iraqi captive held at Guantánamo and accused of commanding al-Qaida and Taliban forces in Afghanistan after 9/11 failed to show up at a hearing Monday, stalling progress toward the … Click to Continue »

Controversial Guantánamo judge joins Jeff Sessions in immigration judge ceremony

Fri, 14 Sep 2018 09:18:32 EDT

The military judge who got headlines for convicting a Marine general of contempt and confining him to his Guantánamo quarters has apparently found a new bench — as an immigration … Click to Continue »

Guantánamo Bay naval station holds ‘We Will Never Forget’ 9.11 km memorial run

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 22:05:44 EDT

On the 17th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, family members of the victims along with others on the Guantánamo Bay Navy base held a 9.11 km run in remembrance. … Click to Continue »

Two ex-officials: Obama was ‘agitated’ at pace, cost of Guantánamo 9/11 hearings

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 18:45:44 EDT

Two former Obama administration officials recalled how upset President Barack Obama was by a lack of progress in military commissions as well as the costs of holding war crimes trials … Click to Continue »

New 9/11 trial judge may preside less than a year

Mon, 10 Sep 2018 16:45:59 EDT

The new military judge in the Sept. 11 trial said under questioning by defense attorneys Monday that he had read selections of the case’s six-year record but saw no need … Click to Continue »

Supreme Court pick highlights ruling overturning war court conviction

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 13:08:37 EDT

WASHINGTON — Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Wednesday pointed to a 2012 decision in which he ruled for Osama bin Laden’s Yemeni driver as evidence of his independence as … Click to Continue »

New roadblock to 9/11 trial? Sept. 11 judge retiring, names Marine successor

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 10:33:05 EDT

In another likely setback to progress toward a trial, the long-serving Army judge in the Sept. 11 case on Monday announced he will retire on Sept. 30 and assigned a … Click to Continue »

Prosecutors: Excluded FBI interviews of alleged 9/11 plotters is their ‘best evidence’

Thu, 23 Aug 2018 16:02:26 EDT

Prosecutors in the case against the alleged plotters of the Sept. 11 terror attacks asked the judge to reconsider his ban on allowing FBI interrogations of the suspects at the … Click to Continue »