Spanish Judge Opens Guantanamo Torture Investigation

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 03:23:24 PM EST
Tags: torture (all tags)

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Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has decided he will investigate allegations of torture by four released Guantanamo detainees.

Via Center for Constitutional Rights:

The writ did not name specific officials as defendants but speaks of investigating the roles of those responsible for authorizing, planning and executing the torture program, particularly in light of the newly release torture memos and the Senate Armed Services Committee report. The case could lead to arrest warrants in Europe....

This is a different and broader investigation than the one we've written about here. [More...]

According to CCR:

Last month, Spain moved to begin criminal investigation into the role of six Bush administration lawyers responsible for creating the legal justification and framework for the torture program. The brief history of that case is as follows: Judge Garzon accepted the initial complaint; the Spanish prosecutors were set to recommend pursuing it; in an effort to stop the case, the Spanish attorney general intervened to recommend against it; a lottery reassigned the lawyers case to Judge Eloy Velasco, who now has the authority to decide whether to open the investigation..

In the present case, the Guardian reports:

The Spanish investigation was sparked by torture complaints from former Guantánamo detainees Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Lahcen Ikassrien, Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes.

The four men, who had terrorism allegations made against them in Spain dropped by the courts, told the judge that they had been tortured "under the authority of personnel from the US Army".

Judge Garzón reportedly cited "documents declassified by the US administration" as giving evidence "of what previously could be intuited: an official plan of approved torture and abuse of people being held in custody while facing no charges and without the most basic rights of people who have been detained."

Scott Horton at Daily Beast has more.

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Spanish Judge Opens Guantanamo Torture Investigation | 37 comments (37 topical)

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Meanwhile back at the ranch (1.33 / 3) (#8)
by Iamme on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 04:11:37 PM EST

The taliban continues to plot against the US. They are beheading, raping, destorying schools, and torturing people.

Oh yeah they are laughing at us. Because clearly this is the most important issue of our time. Clearly slapping the American face has become the past time. Clearly this is what Obama nation wants. We have no other worries going on right now. I am so glad that our President chose to spend his time on this issue.

I am ashamed to see our country cast in this light. I hope everyone one of Obama's mistakes and there will be many are publicly aired on the international stage, tried in courts around the world. Hopefully Bushes will as well, lets get it all out. Hopefully all these countries will place embargo's and sanctions against the bad Americans. Hopefully they will isolate us to our own means.

End game = America is the worst country ever. Whatever happened to we will clean up our own mess. Lets keep it internal. While your morality is fed and you feel better about yourself you are cutting off your nose to spite your face.

You want to tear America down. In these blogs its punish them all on the international stage. I thought you were on this team (America) win lose or draw this is your team. Your venom towards Bush is so complete you dont even know you are tearing apart the country to please your morality. Please give me one example where a country went on the international stage and said YEP WE DID IT. Then show me how it helped that country.

Please leave my country. Yes it has warts but let us take care of it.

: Forget it (5.00 / 1) (#28)
by FreakyBeaky on Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 10:29:38 AM EST

I was here before we were a torture nation, and I plan to be here when we are not one again. You leave.

: The Taliban plots against the US? (none / 0) (#11)
by Romberry on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 04:28:04 PM EST

I'm not sure where to even begin responding to that. You think that the Taliban wants to attack the United States? You think the Taliban wants to overthrow our government? If those are the kinds of thoughts running through your mind, disabuse yourself of those notions because they simply are not true.
The Taliban was not behind 9/11. The Taliban is a rag-tag band of poorly financed religious zealots. They represent no threat to the United States. They never did.
Suggestion: Look into the BBC documentary "The Power of Nightmares" and see what a bill of goods our leaders have sold us concerning Al Qaeda, terrorism and (apparently, based on your post) the Taliban. This documentary can be watched on line, purchased on DVD and/or downloaded. I recommend it.

: I don't give two hoots ... (none / 0) (#15)
by sj on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 04:56:56 PM EST

... "who is laughing at us."

I am ashamed to see our country cast in this light.

Nor do I care about "this light" (whatever that is). I am, however, deeply ashamed that our country has sunk to such a level that officials of this nation engaged in and are defending torture.
Torture.
How on Earth did we get here!?!

: I am ashamed (none / 0) (#27)
by NMvoiceofreason on Thu Apr 30, 2009 at 09:09:50 AM EST

of what Bush/Cheney did. We have a rule here in America. It is called the Rule of Law. It is not a Monarchy, but a Separation and Balance of powers. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, defiled the Constitution, committed war crimes in our name, and lied to everyone to avoid paying the price. Charles Graner, Lynndie England, and others WENT TO PRISON for their crimes. You can't have it both ways. Either what all of them did was not a crime, or by the decision of the court, it was a crime. Why should we take the word of criminals, about their own crimes? This is why accomplice testimony requires corroboration.
If you wish to commit crimes without accountability, I suggest you find a true Banana Republic. Are you also proud of My Lai? The government coverup that followed? Or can you at least have a clear conscience after the trial and convictions? There is a long list of these "corrections", and they have always made America stronger.
Fortunately, the crimes of which you speak are war crimes. We have a duty under our law to prosecute them. When we don't then international Law takes over and Spain and other civilized countries must take the lead because we are no longer one of them. We have become fascist barbarians, destroyed by our own leaders.
You don't really seek to defeat the Taliban, or wahabi Islam, or even the IslamoFascists. You seek to defeat America. When you stand by people who committed TREASON, outing a non-official cover agent, a covert soldier of the Republic, merely for political cover for their lies, you stand in support of treason.
It isn't your country. It doesn't belong to you and it NEVER DID. It belongs to the People, to the Republic for which it stands, to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice - lives, limbs - to preserve and protect - what? What is it that the oath of an officer says?

I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.[1]
Remember that Bush, Cheney, et al are ENEMIES OF THE CONSTITUTION. If you ever swore this oath, then you are obligated to fight them, or your word means nothing.
So if you choose to defile the Constitution that I have sworn to protect and defend, against all enemies, foreign and domestic; if you choose to defend war criminals and side with treason; if you choose to defile the blood sacrifice of my family and my countrymen; if you choose blind ideology over your own sworn oaths; then realize that you and your kind are my enemy and will be given no quarter. You are nothing more than a pirate of the mental seas, without morality or conscience.

Thanks Spain (none / 0) (#1)
by CST on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 03:27:48 PM EST

For taking care of our dirty laundry...

Too bad we won't do it ourselves.

Nothing will happen (none / 0) (#2)
by jbindc on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 03:32:17 PM EST

You really think if they convict higher ups, possibly including a former President of the United States, we will hand them over to serve time in a Spanish prison?

No (none / 0) (#3)
by eric on Wed Apr 29, 2009 at 03:40:43 PM EST

but we don't have to hand them over. They would be picked up when they land at the airport abroad. Pinochet was picked up in England.


: Well (none / 0) (#5)
by jbindc on