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Video: I Discuss Guantánamo Past, Present and Future with David Swanson on Talk World Radio

8.1.25

The video of my half-hour interview with the great peace activist David Swanson for his Talk World Radio show, which is syndicated by the Pacifica Network throughout the US, in which I was very helpfully and generously given the time to explain the many crimes of Guantánamo past, present and future. As David helpfully entitled the show, “Close Guantánamo While Its Victims Are Still Alive.”

Wonderful News as Eleven Men Are Freed from Guantánamo and Resettled in Oman

7.1.25

Wonderful news, as eleven Yemeni men, long approved for release from Guantánamo, have finally been freed and resettled in Oman. I’ve spent two years writing about and campaigning relentlessly for the release of these men, despite indifference from the mainstream media. I’d like to particularly congratulate Tina Kaidanow, appointed by President Biden to oversee resettlements from Guantánamo, for working so hard to free them, even after her efforts were cynically canceled in October 2023. Behind the scenes, however, she continued to press for their release, although sadly she died in October before seeing the results of all her work. With these releases, just 15 men are still held at Guantánamo, and, although it’s worth taking a moment to reflect on what freedom means for these eleven men, after over two decades of imprisonment without charge or trial, it’s also important that we continue to push for justice for the men still held — three others who have long been approved for release, another three “forever prisoners” who have never been charged, and nine men caught up in the military commission system, where justice remains elusive because of the use of torture, and plea deals are the only viable way to bring some sort of closure to the brutal and failed Guantánamo experiment.

Guantánamo at 23: Global Vigils on January 11 and an Ongoing Photo Campaign Marking 8,400 Days on January 9

6.1.25

Publicizing the imminent 23rd anniversary of the opening of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, on January 11, marked by vigils taking place across the US and around the world, as well as the Close Guantánamo campaign’s ongoing photo campaign, marking 8,400 days of the prison’s existence on January 9. I also stress the urgent need for the Biden administration to resettle 14 men long approved for release before leaving office. in just 13 days’ time. If they’re not freed, they’ll be entombed at Guantánamo for another four years under Donald Trump.

The “Ghost” of Guantánamo is Freed; Ridah Al-Yazidi, Never Charged, Held Since Day One, and Approved for Release 15 Years Ago

31.12.24

My report about the welcome repatriation of Ridah Al-Yazidi, the last Tunisian prisoner at Guantánamo, who was on the first flight into Guantánamo, nearly 23 years ago, but was never charged with a crime. After eight years of imprisonment without charge or trial, he was one of 156 men approved for release by the Guantánamo Review Task Force, a multi-agency review process established by President Obama to review the cases of the 240 men inherited from George W. Bush. The Task Force’s report was published in January 2010, but Al-Yazidi was one of only three men, out of these 156, who were not freed, and who have been waiting to be released ever since, an intolerably long wait that was blamed by State Department officials on long-standing difficulties in negotiating with the Tunisian government, but which was also complicated by Al-Yazidi’s refusal to accept representation by an attorney or to negotiate with the US authorities.

Plumbing the Depths of Human Depravity: 450 Days of Extermination in Gaza

29.12.24

My latest long read, marking 450 days of Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, in which I review the horrors of the last 15 months, bringing the story up to date with the recent abduction of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza, who has since disappeared into Israel’s prisons for Palestinians, where 50 prisoners have been killed since October 7, 2023, including three doctors. I also analyze the grotesque lies peddled by Israel throughout this time, dismissing 75 years of its systematic oppression of the Palestinian people, analyze in depth the deficiencies in its claims to be “targeting Hamas”, and note how, despite no one being able to stop Israel, a noose is tightening around Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, via the repercussions from the ICC’s recent arrest warrant for both men for war crimes and crimes against humanity, as well as various other opinions and reports concluding that Israel is engaged in a genocide in Gaza.

Podcast: I Discuss the Shameful State of the World, and Resistance and Hope in 2025 with Andy Bungay for Riverside Radio

22.12.24

My latest interview with Andy Bungay, recorded for his Riverside Radio show in London as part on an ongoing series of monthly interviews, and made available here as a stand-alone podcast. In a freewheeling 80-minute discussion, we focused on some of the many profoundly dispiriting events dominating our lives as 2024 draws to a close — the imminent return as the US president of Donald Trump, the ongoing genocidal carnage being inflicted by Israel on the trapped Palestinian civilian population of the Gaza Strip, and the growing menace of catastrophic climate change. All are thoroughly depressing topics, of course, but our conversation was threaded through with resistance and hope, based on my assessment that societal tipping points may arrive unexpectedly when we are failed so persistently by our leaders, whichever political party they represent, as is very clearly the case right now.

Guantánamo: Two Malaysians Convicted of Terrorism Repatriated to Serve Out the Rest of Their Sentences; 18 Men Never Charged Are Still Held

18.12.24

My report about the release of two more men from Guantánamo, following yesterday’s release of Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu. Former “black site” prisoners Mohammed Farik bin Amin and Mohammed Nazir bin Lep have been repatriated to Malaysia to serve out the rest of the sentences they received as part of plea deal at Guantánamo. While their release is appropriate, it also cannot help but shine a light on the 18 other men still held who were never charged with a crime at all — 15 long approved for release, whose freedom must be restored before President Biden leaves office, and three others, the “forever prisoners”, who have never been charged, but have not been approved for release either.

Guantánamo’s Sole Kenyan Prisoner Is Freed; 15 Other Men Long Approved for Release Must Now Be Freed Too

17.12.24

Wonderful news from Guantánamo, as Mohammed Abdul Malik Bajabu, the prison’s sole Kenyan prisoner, and one of 16 men who had long been approved for release, has been repatriated and reunited with his family, leaving 29 men in total still held at the prison. It is very much to be hoped that this release is followed by the release of more of, or, preferably, all of the 15 other men who have long been approved for release and who have been waiting for so long for their freedom to be restored.

Guantánamo Art Exhibition in London Humanizes Men Maligned as the “Worst of the Worst”, Shows How Artwork Gave Them Hope

13.12.24

My report, illustrated with photos, and including videos, of the inspiring launch of the first UK exhibition of Guantánamo prisoners’ art, which took place on December 5 at Rich Mix in east London, and which runs until January 5. Mansoor Adayfi and I spoke at the well-attended event, with Mansoor, in particular, eloquently explaining how, after years of isolation and oppression, the opportunity to create artwork, after Barack Obama became president, was an absolute lifeline for many of the men, allowing them to express their creativity, and to connect with their memories and with the outside world. I also discuss the history of the exhibitions, which began in New York in 2017, but led to a clampdown by the Pentagon, and highlight the six artists featured in the exhibition, pointing out how one of them, Moath Al-Alwi, is still held despite having been approved for release for many years (as is the case with another artist, Khaled Qassim, not featured in the exhibition). I also note how, even for the other five men, who have been released, their post-Guantánamo existence is, in many cases, still profoundly and unjustly affected by the stigma of having been held at Guantánamo.

Is Hope Still Alive on the Anniversaries of the Genocide and Torture Conventions, and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights?

10.12.24

My analysis of the significance of December 9 and 10, as the dates when the Genocide Convention and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights were adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1948. December 10 also marks the 40th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention Against Torture, and December 9 the 10th anniversary of publication of the executive summary of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s groundbreaking report about the CIA’s post-9/11 torture program. In a world of increasing chaos and depravity, in which it can appear that the mechanisms put in place after the Second World War no longer have any meaning, I argue that, in fact, efforts to prosecute individuals for genocide, and for war crimes and crimes against humanity, initially by UN-backed courts, and, since 2002, by the International Criminal Court, shouldn’t be dismissed, as demonstrated by the recent arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant. I also celebrate the importance of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, particularly on generations of young people, assess the significance of the Senate torture report, and note how both the US and Israel remain in the spotlight for the torture and abuse in their prisons — at Guantánamo, and in Israel’s prisons for Palestinians. I also note how the sands of time can shift swiftly, as has just happened in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad has fallen, and his almost indescribably monstrous prisons have suddenly been liberated.

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