Stories by Andy Worthington
Andy Worthington is a writer and historian, and author of The Guantánamo Files.
A death at Gitmo is always felt keenly in the Muslim world, creating tension for an administration that claims it is running a 'humane' facility.
Posted on Jun 5, 2009
Obama needs to find the courage to resist the shrill opportunism of some of his least principled colleagues, and to order the Uighurs' release.
Posted on Jun 1, 2009
The suspicious death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was tortured into lying about an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, raises a series of troubling questions.
Posted on May 13, 2009
Capt. John Murphy led the prosecution of Salim Hamdan and is helping prosecute Omar Khadr, who was just 15 years old when he was captured.
Posted on May 6, 2009
If the torture of the first "high-value detainee" was authorized by the Bybee memos, who ordered his torture 18 weeks before they were written?
Posted on Apr 26, 2009
Under Obama's Justice Department, "change" means nothing more than turning "enemy combatants" to "Nobodies Formerly Known As Enemy Combatants."
Posted on Mar 17, 2009
"I was abducted, hauled from one country to the next, tortured in medieval ways -- all orchestrated by the U.S. government."
Posted on Feb 23, 2009
It's now up to Obama to decide whether to find homes for the Uighurs in the U.S., or to keep them at Gitmo until further notice.
Posted on Feb 20, 2009
Mohammed El-Gharani arrived at Guantánamo when he was 14 years old and has spent a third of his life in prison.
Posted on Jan 16, 2009
From Britney to Barney, any music can drive you mad if it's played enough. And unlike with physical torture, you can't mentally prepare yourself.
Posted on Dec 17, 2008
Are Khalid Sheikh Mohamed and his co-defendants focusing on their pursuit of martyrdom?
Posted on Dec 8, 2008
The repatriation of Salim Hamdan to Yemen should hasten the demise of the U.S. prison camp.
Posted on Dec 3, 2008
If President-elect Barack Obama truly plans to make good on his promise to close the American gulag, he should start by heeding this advice.
Posted on Nov 19, 2008
The government's case against the Canadian child soldier, who was only 15 when he was imprisoned, is collapsing.
Posted on Oct 27, 2008
Mohamed was brutally tortured after being rendered by the CIA to Morocco. "We're going to change your brain," one of his captors said.
Posted on Oct 16, 2008
The story behind last week's stunning ruling on the fate of 17 Uighur prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Posted on Oct 11, 2008
A day after the controversial Gen. Thomas Hartmann is relocated, Lt. Col. Darell Vandeveld resigns, citing "slipshod" prosecutions.
Posted on Oct 1, 2008
Yesterday was the birthday of Guantanamo's child soldier and sole Canadian citizen, Omar Khadr, who has been held in isolation since he was 15.
Posted on Sep 20, 2008
The latest charges brought forth at Gitmo are an alarming reminder of the misplaced zeal of the Military Commissions.
Posted on Sep 18, 2008
More than two years after the government began investigating the suicides of three Guantanamo prisoners, disturbing questions remain.
Posted on Aug 30, 2008
Biden doesn't have clean hands when it comes to Iraq, but he's been a leader in re-establishing the rule-of-law in Bush's terror war.
Posted on Aug 24, 2008
Until now, the Bush administration has said it has the right to hold "enemy combatants" without charge or trial. The Hamdan sentence says otherwise.
Posted on Aug 13, 2008
Widely considered a trial of the military commissions system itself, the Hamdan trial was a two-week exercise in government secrecy and propaganda.
Posted on Aug 6, 2008
As the military commission trial of Salim Hamdan continues, justice and logic remain in short supply.
Posted on Jul 25, 2008
A 5 to 4 ruling in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri legitimizes the president's right to indefinitely imprison "enemy combatants."
Posted on Jul 22, 2008
A closer look at the first Guantánamo interrogation to be released on video reveals, above all, a "victimized and exploited" child.
Posted on Jul 16, 2008
The ruling in
Parhat v. Gates invokes Lewis Carroll: "the fact the government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true."
Posted on Jul 2, 2008
Thursday's verdict is a resounding triumph for the importance of the law as a check on unfettered executive power and the caprice of politicians.
Posted on Jun 13, 2008
While much reporting after last week's arraignments focused on KSM's desire to be executed, torture itself is on trial at Guantánamo Bay.
Posted on Jun 9, 2008
Guantánamo prisoner Mohammed Hashim's delusions of grandeur have led the Pentagon to charge him with "providing material support for terrorism."
Posted on Jun 5, 2008
With four more prisoners charged last week, the Bush administration seems intent on trying as many Guantánamo detainees as possible before November.
Posted on Jun 3, 2008
A recent decision by a military judge shows how political squabbles make the wheels of justice revolve in slow motion at Guantánamo Bay.
Posted on May 28, 2008
Guantánamo is in total disarray.
Posted on May 21, 2008
The untold stories of the five Afghan prisoners released with Sami al-Haj reveal, yet again, the wholesale mockery of justice at Guantánamo.
Posted on May 11, 2008
The release of al-Jazeera cameraman Sami al-Haj last week made headlines. But few have mentioned the others prisoners freed from Guantánamo.
Posted on May 9, 2008
The Al Jazeera cameraman was never charged.
Posted on May 2, 2008
Alleged al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah has been held as a "high-value detainee" for over six years. His importance has been wildly exaggerated.
Posted on Apr 24, 2008
As prisoners at Guantánamo begin boycotting their own show trials, the U.S. government is focusing on propaganda in lieu of legitimacy.
Posted on Apr 23, 2008
Drawings by journalist Sami Al-Haj depicting torture at Gitmo have been censored.
Posted on Apr 11, 2008
Charged with aiding the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani joins a growing number of prisoners facing military commissions.
Posted on Apr 1, 2008
1