No Separate Justice: No SAMs

#foreverhumanbeings Campaign // Film

By Jeremy Varon, a member of Witness Against Torture.

Under murky skies at dusk, a small but determined group held vigil on June 5 at the foot of what is perhaps Manhattan’s most monstrous building: the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC).  The ugly, imposing structure — strangely hidden amidst a thicket of government facilities — is a federal prison.  It continues to house “war on terror” suspects under what are among the most inhumane conditions in the United States’s entire penal system.

The vigil was held by No Separate Justice (NSJ), a coalition that includes the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the National Coalition to Protect Civil Freedoms, Amnesty International, the Campaign for Alternatives to Isolated Confinement, and Witness Against Torture (WAT).  The focus of the vigil was the use in federal prisons of Special Administrative Measures, or “SAMs.” Shrouded in great secrecy and overwhelmingly used against Muslim inmates, SAMs impose staggering restrictions on inmates’ access to human contact within the prison, to knowledge of the outside world, and to family members.  The vigil’s speakers provided both information and a picture of the suffering caused by SAMS.  Legal researchers conveyed what little is publicly known of SAMs.  Advocates from CCR read heartrending letters from the siblings of Abu Ahmed Ali, incarcerated for years at the ADX “supemax” prison in Florence, Colorado under SAMs restrictions.

The attention to SAMs brought No Separate Justice full circle.  The vigils got their start in 2009 to protest the treatment of MCC inmate Fahad Hashmi.  A US citizen of Pakistani origin, Hashmi was arrested in England in 2003 on suspicion of material support for terrorism. Extradited to the United States, he faced heavy charges based on an achingly tangential connection to an Al Qaeda operative turned state’s witness.  Hashmi was subject to more than two years of SAMs when in pre-trial detention.  With his physical and metal health failing from the extreme isolation, he accepted in 2010 a plea deal carrying a 15-year sentence.  No Separate Justice started a new round of vigils in 2015.  The group continues to highlight his case, as well as other abuses with federal “war on terror” investigations, prosecutions, and imprisonment.

* * *

The June 4 vigil began with chilling reflections from its MC, Abi Hassan.  Hassan is a civil rights lawyer working with the Black Movement Law Project.  Hassan contended that the United States’ legal and civic infrastructure, much like its physical infrastructure, is collapsing.  “Different classes of people” such as the poor, African Americans, and many immigrants, “have different systems of law.” The country has reached a point, Hassan contended, where even upholding the “ideal” of the rule of law appears “antiquated.”  SAMs, with their Kafkaesque administration and draconian measures, represent the further chipping away at a proper system of law.

Following Hassan, four recent Yale Law School Graduates (Andrew Walchuck, Tasnim Motala, Andy Udelsman, and Allison Frankel) glossed summarized the major findings from their years of research on SAMs.  Created in 1996 to deter the potential criminal plots of prisoners, SAMs metastasized after 9/11.  These measures prohibit nearly any direct human contact whatsoever with the prisoner, while greatly censoring trickles of reading material (Barack Obama’s Tales of My Father was in one case banned, for fear that it would disrupt order within the prison).  Infrequent phone calls are permitted, only to immediate family. Crucially, SAMs impose gag orders on the inmates, their attorneys, and family members.  As a result, little is known about SAMs themselves and any public advocacy for the inmates is severely hampered.  Last, SAMs are often applied in pre-trial detention and may therefore be used coercively.  A prisoner may well accept a plea deal in hopes that the SAMs will then be lifted.

To obtain critical documents for their research, the legal team had to sue the US government for violation of its obligation to properly release material in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.  After four years the researchers were finally handed nearly 1,000 pages of documents.  At the vigil, the Yale team enumerated constitutional objections to SAMS.  The measures potentially violate: equal protection, given their discriminatory application against Muslim prisoners; the First Amendment, in both their restrictions on the speech of inmates and attorneys and limits on religious liberty (Muslims prisoners, eg, are denied group worship); and prohibitions on cruel and unusual punishment, in light of the devastating effects of this severe form of solitary confinement.  The law school grads concluded their presentation with the key recommendations of their report; prepared in conjunction with CCR, it will be released in a month of so.  It calls for an end to SAMs and, failing that, greater government transparency about their use and the lifting of SAMs gag orders.

The greatest emotion of the vigil came when letters from the siblings of Abu Ahmed Ali were read.  He was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2003.  Age 22, he was studying at university.  After torture and 47 straight days of interrogation, Ali signed a “confession” to criminal activity.  This “confession” played the key role in his conviction in the United States for material support for terrorism and related charges.  He was initially sentenced to 30 years, though the judge conceded that no person was harmed by his alleged actions.  On government appeal, his sentence was then extended to life in prison. He has been under SAMs for 11 years.

Abu Ahmed Ali’s brother and sister testify in their letters to the terrible effects of SAMs.  Their mother keeps permanent vigil by the phone in anticipation of his short, unscheduled, and infrequent phone calls.  His remote detention in Florence Colorado makes visits extremely difficult.  He can never hear the voice of extended family, such as in-laws.

No Separate Justice speaks out for true equality under the law.  Sadly, the SAMs are but one example of the separate standard of justice now being applied in domestic “war on terror” prosecutions and detentions.  The collapse of the rule of law, Abi Hassan stressed at the vigil’s start, is not due to neglect but is instead an act of will.  Only with our persistent courage and defiance can the ideal of equality under the law — always badly compromised in the United State’s checkered history— be given new life.

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Day 1 – Sufyian Barhoumi #foreverhumanbeing

#foreverhumanbeings Campaign // Film

Today, on the eve of Ramadan, Witness Against Torture begins its #ForeverHumanBeings & #41MenAtGitmo campaign, which is dedicated to renewing calls to close Guantanamo prison as well as uplifting the stories of the 41 men who remain imprisoned behind its walls. We just released a new video for our first profile – Sufyian Barhoumi –  in collaboration with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Please check it out here and share widely.

There are a number of other ways that you can participate in the campaign and we encourage you to get involved and spread the word!

1) Sign-up For our Rolling Fast:  

You are free to choose how you fast, whether it is from sunrise to sunset or for 24 hours, or if you drink liquids or simply water.  For Muslims who are observing Ramadan, we ask that you dedicate your fast to the prisoner of the day and remember them in your prayers and your supplications when breaking your fast. Sign up here to join the fast and receive reminders and inspiration for your day of fasting.

2) Share and Like our Campaign:

Find us on Facebook and Twitter and share our daily profiles of the men who are currently detained. Also, share your messages of solidarity on facebook and/or twitter with a picture of you with #ForeverHumanBeings & #41MenAtGitmo signs. Please use the banner photo above as your Facebook cover photo!

3) Get Educated:

Take time to learn about the history of Guantanamo Bay and the men currently detained via our website and social media.  This link has a list of resources. You can join us on June 15th from 1-2pm for a webinar on Communication Management Units (CMU- often referred to as #GitmoNorth) and the role of Institutionalized Islamophobia in the War on Terror.  Registration details forthcoming.  

4) Call Your Representatives

You can find your House and Senate representative’s contact information here.

Call the White House (202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414), the US embassy in Cuba (305-326-2755) and Southern Command (305-437-1213), which oversees the running of the prison.

We have provided some talking points below. You can read our News updates and also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more up to date information on what is happening at Guantánamo Bay Prison.

– Each Guantánamo detainee must either be charged and fairly tried in federal court, or be released to countries that will respect their human rights.

– Release the names of the men who are on hunger strike.

– Expedite the release of those that are cleared. 5 of the current prisoners have been cleared for release, yet they continue to languish behind bars. Justice delayed is justice denied.

– Release the men who have been tortured, to a competent and fair international body if necessary. The US is a signatory of the UN Convention Against Torture. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has reported that the Guantánamo Bay prison is non-compliant to this Convention and has named indefinite detention as a form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s Torture Report has extensively documented instances of torture by the CIA. Some of the victims are currently housed in Guantánamo.

– Provide reasonable resettlement options, including torture treatment services and reparations. To ensure accountability for torture and indefinite detention, released prisoners should be provided with critical social services to facilitate their re-entry into society. 

– Publicly acknowledge and apologize for the egregious human rights violation at Guantánamo during the War on Terror. This acknowledgement is essential for preventing torture, indefinite detention, and other violations from being perpetrated by future administrations.

– Close the base. The U.S. must immediately relinquish Cuba’s sovereign territory.

5) Write to the men

– Messages should be kept to simple messages of greeting and goodwill.  Do not include political comments.

– Only send non-religious cards, and avoid referring to religion in your message.  For example: rather than writing “you are in our prayers,” write “you are in our thoughts.”

– Include your name and address (including country) in your message.  If you receive a reply, please send a copy to witnesstorture@gmail.com.- 

– Write your message in simple English, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Send your letter to the following address or in some cases, we may know a particular prisoner’s attorney, so if you are interested in sending the letter through them (the chances are higher that they will get it this way), email us witnessagainsttorture@gmail.com.

Detainee Name
Detainee ISN (listed here)
U.S. Naval Station
Guantánamo Bay
Washington D.C. 20355
United States of America

Please join us in remembering the men locked away, now forever, at Guantánamo and working to close the prison!

www.witnessagainsttorture.com
#foreverhumanbeings
#41menatGitmo

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 Americans went to Guantánamo Bay and attempted to visit the detention facility. They began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, end indefinite detention and torture and call out Islamophobia. During our demonstrations, we lift up the words of the detainees themselves, bringing them to public spaces they are not permitted to access. Witness Against Torture will carry on in its activities until torture is decisively ended, its victims are fully acknowledged,Guantánamo and similar facilities are closed, and those who ordered and committed torture are held to account.

 

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#foreverhumanbeings Rolling Fast

#foreverhumanbeings Campaign // Film

WAT has initiated a rolling fast during Ramadan and beyond to lift up the stories of the 41 men detained at Guantanamo Bay Prison.  Starting Friday May 26, several people each day will fast, make phone calls to people in power, contribute a photo to the anti-Guantánamo social media campaign, and send a letter to a prisoner at Guantánamo. We encourage you to get to know the men detained at Guantanamo. We will be posting stories and profiles of them each day of the campaign, so check our facebook and twitter account and please send us thoughts, drawings and reflection that you have during your fast.

If you have not chosen one or several days yet, please sign up here. We will be sending out reminder emails to folks who have signed up, so even if you think we know you’re fasting, please make sure you have filled out the form.

Fasting

You are free to choose how you fast, whether it is from sunrise to sunset or for 24 hours, or if you drink liquids or simply water.  For Muslims who are observing Ramadan, we ask that you dedicate your fast to the prisoner of the day and remember them in your prayers and your supplications when breaking your fast. Please email us if you have any questions.

Call Your Representatives

You can find your House and Senate representative’s contact information here.

Call the White House (202-456-1111 or 202-456-1414), the US embassy in Cuba (305-326-2755) and Southern Command (305-437-1213), which oversees the running of the prison.

We have provided some talking points below. You can read our News updates and also follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more up to date information on what is happening at Guantánamo Bay Prison.

~ Each Guantánamo detainee must either be charged and fairly tried in federal court, or be released to countries that will respect their human rights.

~ Release the names of the men who are on hunger strike.

~ Expedite the release of those that are cleared. 5 of the current prisoners have been cleared for release, yet they continue to languish behind bars. Justice delayed is justice denied.

~ Release the men who have been tortured, to a competent and fair international body if necessary. The US is a signatory of the UN Convention Against Torture. The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture has reported that the Guantánamo Bay prison is non-compliant to this Convention and has named indefinite detention as a form of cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment. The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee’s Torture Report has extensively documented instances of torture by the CIA. Some of the victims are currently housed in Guantánamo.

~ Provide reasonable resettlement options, including torture treatment services and reparations. To ensure accountability for torture and indefinite detention, released prisoners should be provided with critical social services to facilitate their re-entry into society.

~ Publicly acknowledge and apologize for the egregious human rights violation at Guantánamo during the War on Terror. This acknowledgement is essential for preventing torture, indefinite detention, and other violations from being perpetrated by future administrations.

~ Close the base. The U.S. must immediately relinquish Cuba’s sovereign territory.

Write a letter

~ Messages should be kept to simple messages of greeting and goodwill.  Do not include political comments.

~ Only send non-religious cards, and avoid referring to religion in your message.  For example: rather than writing “you are in our prayers”, write “you are in our thoughts.”

~ Include your name and address (including country) in your message.  If you receive a reply, please send a copy to witnesstorture@gmail.com.

~ Write your message in simple English, unless specifically stated otherwise.

Detainee Name
Detainee ISN (listed here)
U.S. Naval Station
Guantánamo Bay
Washington D.C. 20355
United States of America

Please join us in remembering the men locked away, now forever, at Guantánamo and working to close the prison!

www.witnessagainsttorture.com

#foreverhumanbeings

#41menatGitmo

Witness Against Torture formed in 2005 when 25 Americans went to Guantánamo Bay and attempted to visit the detention facility. They began to organize more broadly to shut down Guantánamo, end indefinite detention and torture and call out Islamophobia. During our demonstrations, we lift up the words of the detainees themselves, bringing them to public spaces they are not permitted to access. Witness Against Torture will carry on in its activities until torture is decisively ended, its victims are fully acknowledged,Guantánamo and similar facilities are closed, and those who ordered and committed torture are held to account.

 

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