Judge rules 9/11 defendant unfit for trial after CIA torture made him psychotic

As might have been considered at the time, the American authorities are finding that years of torturing detainees at Guantanamo Bay have made it difficult to convict them of anything – even in a military court.

A US military judge has ruled that Guantanamo Ramzi bin al-Shibh is not competent to stand trial for the charge of organising a cell of 9/11 hijackers in Germany because years of sleep deprivation and physical abuse since then has “rendered him lastingly psychotic”.

alShibh’s lawyers told the court he “went insane as a result of what the agency called enhanced interrogation techniques, that included sleep deprivation, waterboarding and beatings”.

The court agreed, and al-Shibh’s case is essentially frozen until his mental health is restored. How that would happen is also a matter of debate, with President Biden refusing his lawyers’ request that post-trauma care be offered as part of his plea negotiations.

The cases of three other detainees accused of organising the 9/11 attacks are still scheduled to proceed without al-Shibh.

You can read more about this case here:

The New York Times

The Guardian

BBC News

Paramount buries documentary about Ron DeSantis: “The Guantanamo Candidate”

Mansoor Adayfi remembers meeting US presidential candidate, Governor Ron DeSantis – when Adayfi was being force fed in Guantanamo Bay. DeSantis had come to observe.

“Ron DeSantis was there watching us” Adayfi told the podcast Eyes Left, “We were crying, screaming. We were tied to the feeding chair. And he was watching. He was laughing.”

DeSantis has tried to laugh off accusations that he was involved in torture. He asks how the men on Guantanamo can possibly claim to remember individuals from 15 years ago. But Adayfi is adamant.

“During my time at Guantanamo, I witnessed and experienced unimaginable horrors,” he says. “Many of the faces responsible for my and my fellow prisoner’s pain and torment are etched into my memory.  Ron DeSantis is one such face I will never forget.”

The American streaming channel Vice has produced a documentary about Governor DeSantis’s involvement with the prison, titled The Guantanamo Candidate. It was meant to be shown on the Showtime network, but the channel’s owner, Paramount, cancelled it. This has now become news in itself after investigation by the website Semafor, which accused Paramount of burying the documentary for political reasons.

Adayfi has written a response, and is now calling for Paramount to show some courage and air the programme.

I am grateful to Vice for their courage in pursuing this story, and I hope they will find another way to bring it to the public. I also stand with my fellow former prisoners who bravely spoke out for this documentary. We refuse to be silenced.

Former Guantanamo detainee Mansoor Adayfi

Article and video about Desantis’ role in Guantanamo in the Independent

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/ron-desantis-guantanamo-torture-prisoner-b2300753.html

Partial transcript of the interview with Mansoor Adayfi:

https://harpers.org/archive/2023/03/ron-desantis-force-feedings-guantanamo-bay-laughing/

UN Human Rights Monitor finally visits Guantanamo, calls it “Cruel and Inhuman”

14 June 2023 – After more than 20 years, the American authorities have finally given a human rights monitor unfettered access to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism has issued a damning report on the facility, calling it “cruel and inhuman” and demanding that America apologise.

You can read the full report here.

Or read an in depth summary by Andy Worthington, author of the Guantanamo Files and founder of Close Guantanamo:

The UN report was also covered in The Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/07/guantanamo-bay-un-visit-torture-treatment

And the report was given surprisingly strong coverage on NBC News in the States. Five minutes, which in TV news terms is an eternity: