Support AlterNet
Do you value the information you're getting from AlterNet? Please show your support with a tax-deductible donation.
Feedback
Tell us how we're doing.
Last British Gitmo Detainee Charged, Faces Death Penalty
Share and save this post:
AlterNet Social Networks:
Got a tip for a post?:
Email us | Anonymous form
U.S. military prosecutors Saturday charged the last British resident detained at Guantanamo Bay with conspiring to commit terrorism, according to British prisoners rights group Reprieve. Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian who sought refuge in Britain, has denied the charge. Mohamed was originally arrested in Pakistan and turned over to U.S. officials; he claims that in 2002 the U.S. transferred him to Moroccan agents, who tortured him; he was sent to Guantanamo Bay in 2004. In December, in a letter sent by his lawyer to UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband, he asked the UK government to ensure that photographic evidence of his alleged torture be preserved. Earlier this month he sued the UK government for its alleged refusal to turn over evidence needed for his defense, but he has since submitted a plea to the government to use its influence and bring him back to Britain. Mohamed's case will now be referred to the U.S. military's Convening Authority, which must decide within 30 days whether to go forward with the case. Mohamed could face the death penalty if convicted. AFP has more.
For most of 2007, Mohamed was one of five UK residents detained at Guantanamo Bay. Three of those were released from U.S. custody in December. A fourth British resident, Shaker Abdur-Raheem Aamer, a Saudi Arabian national, was to be returned there but his current status is unclear. Just a day before Mohamed's charging and in the face of continuing criticism of the slow pace of legal proceeding against Guantanamo prisoners, the vast majority of which remain uncharged, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said in remarks to British students at the Oxford Union that legal processes should have been established earlier at the U.S. military prison.
Tagged as: torture, pentagon, death penalty, war on terror, guantanamo, extraordinary rendition, binyam mohamed, military commissions, david miliband, michael chertoff
| Also in Rights and Liberties | |||
| Hard-liners Peddle Zombie Lies About Immigrants and Crime A new report flies in the face of 100 years of data showing immigrants are less likely to commit serious crimes than the native-born. Post by Walter Ewing. November 22, 2009. |
Tiny Michigan Town Tells Liz Cheney to Take her Fearmongering Elsewhere Someplace where they're all wusses. Post by BarbinMD. November 21, 2009. |
Utah Lawmaker: I Don't Mind "the Gays," but "I Don’t Want ‘Em Stuffing it Down My Throat all the Time" "Certainly not in my kid's face." Post by Zaid Jilani. November 20, 2009. |
|
EMAIL
PRINT
1 COMMENT
PERMALINK