Des manifestations contre le centre pénitentiaire ont été organisées partout dans le monde. © Amnesty International
Par Zeke Johnson, responsable de la campagne Pas de sécurité sans droits humains à Amnesty International-États-Unis
Tous les matins, je regarde par la fenêtre de mon salon pour voir le temps qu’il fait et contempler l’espace vide entre les gratte-ciel et autres immeubles où s’élevaient autrefois les tours jumelles du World Trade Center.
Je me souviens alors de la peur, du doute et du chagrin que j’ai ressentis ce jour-là, et les images des tours s’embrasant, puis s’écroulant me reviennent en mémoire. Les attentats perpétrés ici à New York, à Washington D.C. et en Pennsylvanie ont constitué un crime contre l’humanité et, depuis dix ans maintenant, j’attends que tous les auteurs de ce crime soient traduits en justice.
Au lieu de cela, les autorités américaines se sont rendues coupables d’actes de torture, de placements en détention sans inculpation, de détentions secrètes, de procès pour l’exemple iniques, d’exécutions extrajudiciaires, de « disparitions », d’une guerre mondiale sans fin et d’autres violations des droits humains commises – sans ironie – au nom de la justice et de la sécurité.
Continue reading ‘Plus de 160 000 personnes appellent le président Obama à fermer Guantánamo’
There have been global protests about the camp © Amnesty International
By Zeke Johnson, Security with Human Rights campaign director at Amnesty International USA.
Every morning I look out my living room window to check the weather and see the empty space between skyscrapers and apartment buildings where the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center once stood.
My memories of the fear, uncertainty and grief I felt that day, and of the images of the towers burning and falling, all come back. The attacks here in New York, in Washington DC and in Pennsylvania were a crime against humanity, and for ten years now I’ve been waiting for all those responsible to be brought to justice.
Instead, the US government has given us torture, detention without charge, secret prisons, unfair show trials, extra-judicial killings, “disappearances,” global war without end and other human rights violations committed – without irony – in the name of justice and security.
Continue reading ‘More than 160,000 voices call on Obama to close Guantánamo’
Omar Khadr's defence lawyer Lt Col Jon Jackson in the media hangar. © Amnesty International
By Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Canada, who will be observing the military trial of Omar Khadr.
In a case that has moved so slowly for so long – it is now nearly five years since Omar Khadr was first charged under the Bush administration – much happened during the first day of his military commission trial here at Guantánamo, both expected and unexpected. Proceedings began with opening statements from the prosecution and defence. They ended in drama when Omar Khadr’s military lawyer, Lieutenant Colonel Jon Jackson, collapsed in court late in the afternoon while cross examining a witness. He was taken to hospital by ambulance and as I write it is uncertain when the trial will resume.
Earlier the commission heard from two prosecution witnesses and viewed a video that US forces had retrieved from the compound in Afghanistan where the firefight took place that is at the heart of the case against Omar Khadr. It is there that, as a 15-year-old, he is alleged to have thrown a grenade that fatally wounded a US soldier, Sergeant Christopher Speer. Among those present in the courtroom today, for the first time, was the widow of Sgt Speer. Continue reading ‘Omar Khadr: Trial begins, but when will it continue?’
Alex Neve will be observing Omar Khadr's military trial at Guantánamo © Amnesty International Canada
By Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Canada, who will be observing the military trial of Omar Khadr.
Over the past two days I have been observing the process of selecting the “jury” for Omar Khadr’s military commission trial here at the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba. Known as a “panel”, this is the group of US military officers who will decide whether Omar Khadr should or should not be convicted of any of the five charges he faces and, if they do convict, what sentence he should face.
The process began on Tuesday morning with a group of 11 men and four women, drawn from the US Army, Navy and Air Force. The goal was to emerge at the other end with at least five officers impaneled – the necessary minimum for the trial to go ahead. The defence and prosecution can each exclude one of the members of the pool without giving a reason, and can seek the exclusion of as many others “for cause” as the military judge overseeing the trial may accept. Continue reading ‘Omar Khadr trial – ‘Jury’ selected’
Alex Neve will be observing Omar Khadr's military trial at Guantánamo © Amnesty International Canada
By Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International in Canada.
It seems difficult to believe that after being held here at Guantánamo Bay for close to eight years and having been put through an astonishing array of legal twists and turns – including charges being thrown out at one point and then reinstated – Omar Khadr is about to face trial by military commission, possibly this week if pre-trial proceedings are completed.
I’m here to observe these proceedings on behalf of Amnesty International. And quite honestly at this stage I find it very difficult to predict just what I will observe. All that seems certain is that it will be another phase in the systematic injustice to which Omar Khadr has been subjected.
Continue reading ‘Omar Khadr trial – no security without human rights’
