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| UN expert wants Gitmo detainees freed or tried |
| 2009-10-27 |
| All detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison should be freed or transferred to U.S. federal courts for trial by the Jan. 22 deadline set by President Barack Obama, a U.N. human rights investigator said Monday. Martin Scheinin, who reports on the protection of human rights in the war on terror, said the U.S. Navy-run prison in Cuba should not be closed by trying to prosecute detainees through military commissions, which he said do not meet international human rights standards despite "small fixes." The prison was created by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks as a detention center for suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere. But it has since become a lightning rod of anti-U.S. criticism around the globe because of reports of torture during interrogations and lengthy detentions without trial. Guantanamo now holds about 223 men, and according to a list released in late September at least 75 have been cleared for release. Obama promised soon after taking office — and many times since — to close the prison, arguing that doing so is crucial to restoring America's image in the world and to creating a more effective anti-terror approach. The White House has said it still hopes to meet the deadline, but senior officials say it may slip because a number of difficult issues remain unresolved. Scheinin, who reports to the Geneva-based Human Rights Commission, said he believes all the hurdles and problems can be overcome by Obama's Jan. 22 deadline. Administration officials and lawyers have been reviewing the files on each detainee. At issue: which prisoners can be tried, and whether to do so in military or civilian courts; which can be released to other nations; and — the hardest question — which are too dangerous or their cases too compromised by lack of evidence that they must be held indefinitely. Scheinin said all the remaining detainees should either be sent to trial by U.S. federal courts on the mainland or released — either in the United States or third countries — and no prisoners from Guantanamo should continue to be held indefinitely. "To be very clear — and I've been blunt — I would say that the assumed very dangerous people who have been subject to interrogation methods that may make the evidence inadmissible in court ... belong to the category of persons who should be tried," he said. "Then, it should be left to the hands of the judiciary to apply the law," he said. "I know it would be a risk for the prosecution to introduce a trial, but I think between those two options that still is the correct course of action." |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #7 IIUC, UNO IHRC > As the US Flag has de facto sovereignty oer GUANTANAMO BAY NB by US-Cuba treatise, and due to lack of formal juridsprudnece = court trials by the USG proving guilt or inocence, the GITMO DETAINEES as far as the UN is concerned are akin to ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS CROSSING THE US BORDERS BUT BEING CAPTURED AND PROTRACTIVELY HELD IN DETENTION CENTERS BEYOND THE FORMAL LEAD TIME FOR DEPORTATION BY TRIAL. SUB-IOW, as "ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS, and NO LONGER ENEMY COMBATANTS, UNO IHRC > the Gitmo Boyz have been imprisoned long enuff on Gitmo = US soil to qualify as PERMANENT "US NATIONALS" IFF NOT LEGAL "US CITIZENS". ALL THEY NEED TO TO JUST START PAYING TAXES AS SUCH TO THE IRS AND STATE RESIDENCE OF THEIR CHOICE??? SUB-SUB-IOW, OSAMA BIN LADEN, etal. ANTI-US ISLAMIST MILITS-TERRS > as "US CITIZENS" = "US NATIONAL" = "US PERMANENT RESIDENT"??? LEGAL-like. *** cough *** *** cough *** .... But I digress... |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2009-10-27 22:16 |
| #6 p.s.: introduce the missus and youngsters to them. Let them wear their normal clothes |
| Posted by: Frank G 2009-10-27 20:52 |
| #5 Correct, Rambler. Dear Mr. Scheinin, These animals would as soon cut your throat as look at you. If you dispute this, please invite them to your neighborhood in Finland. Don't say you haven't been warned. |
| Posted by: Woozle Uneter9007 2009-10-27 20:31 |
| #4 Besoeker, the rape of little children and other evils done by UN troops is different. It is not being done by the evil US. I think we should turn the Gitmo gang over to Mr. Scheinin. Tell him he has to be sure that they do not harm themselves, him, or anyone else. |
| Posted by: Rambler in Virginia 2009-10-27 17:36 |
| #3 Can this the same UN which supports, by turning a blind eye, to years of raping and pillaging of locals by members of UN "peacekeeping" forces in the Congo? Too rich by any standard. The UN, why must it live on? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-10-27 15:15 |
| #2 Screw him and the rest of the UN. If had any authority to handle this we could have given them to the UN 8 years ago. Want to play? Pay up. |
| Posted by: Jame Retief 2009-10-27 15:10 |
| #1 It's a shame Scheinin can't be thrown in with the |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-10-27 13:53 |