Christmas Bomb Plot May Mean No Release For Yemeni Prisoners at Gitmo Anytime Soon

 

The would-be bomber, a 23-year-old Nigerian, was disarmed and taken down by passengers and crew of Northwest Airlines flight 253. Now in government custody, he was carrying an explosive device in his underwear.

Law enforcement officials believe the bomb was made in Yemen, where an al Qaeda wing has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing.

The incident triggered calls from several elected officials to abandon the closing of the prison at Guantánamo, which they claimed would be dangerous and premature. Some also suggested specifically that the release of Yemeni prisoners be halted.

But human rights advocates are urging President Barack Obama to reject the use of the incident to further delay closing the prison and releasing the detainees who have been cleared after review of their cases by a high-level administration task force.

Jonathan Hafetz, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told IPS, "The principal problem with Guantanamo has been the U.S. government's prolonged detention of individuals without charge."

"If the government has evidence, it should present it in a court of law, where justice can be done," he said. "The prior administration detained people more or less arbitrarily and released them in the same manner, all without judicial review -- including the two former Gitmo [detainees] who were initially linked to the recent bombing attempt."

A similar view was expressed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a legal advocacy group that has mobilized dozens of lawyers to defend Guantanamo detainees.

In a statement, CCR said, "We know from the military's own records that most of the detainees at Guantánamo have no link to terrorism. CIA and military sources have repeatedly told reporters that most detainees 'don't have anything to do with' terrorism, 'didn't belong there', and 'weren't fighting'."

The group added, "It is worth recalling that the two former detainees allegedly linked to Al Qaeda in Yemen were released from Guantánamo by the [George W.] Bush administration, not set free by court order or after the sort of cautious, formal assessment process that the Task Force is undertaking now, but based on purely political calculations."

"Halting the repatriation of Yemeni men cleared by the Task Force after months of careful review is unconscionable," it said.

Legal experts contacted by IPS were also critical of proposals to halt Guantanamo releases.

David Frakt, a professor at Western State University Law School and former successful defense counsel to a Guantanamo detainee, told IPS, "We can never know with absolute certainty that a person released from Guantanamo will not join a jihadist movement and seek to harm Americans. What we have to focus on is whether we have a lawful basis to detain someone."

"If they have committed a crime, they should be put on trial. If they have engaged in hostilities against the U.S. not amounting to a crime, they may be held under the laws of war. If there is insufficient evidence to lawfully detain someone, they must be released," he said.

"Those opposed to the closure of Guantanamo will seize upon any reason to delay the release of detainees and will put as many obstacles in President Obama's way as they can come up with," he added. "The longer Guantanamo stays open, the more that they can say 'we told you it wasn't going to be easy' and the more they can claim that President Obama's policies are basically no different that President Bush's."