SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
May, 29 2015, 03:45pm EDT
Contact:
Reprieve's London office can be contacted on: communications [at] reprieve.org.uk / +44 (0) 207 553 8140.,Reprieve US,, based in New York City, can be contacted on Katherine [dot] oshea [at] reprieve.org
US Government Ordered to Prepare Guantanamo Force-Feeding Videos for release
An appeal court has today ordered the Obama Administration to redact 12 hours of secret Guantanamo force-feeding footage in preparation for its public release, rejecting the Administration's argument that not one single frame should be seen by the public.
WASHINGTON
An appeal court has today ordered the Obama Administration to redact 12 hours of secret Guantanamo force-feeding footage in preparation for its public release, rejecting the Administration's argument that not one single frame should be seen by the public.
The classified videos, which show Guantanamo prisoner Abu Wa-'el Dhiab being forcibly removed from his cell and force-fed by the US military, were ordered to be released to the public by federal Judge Gladys Kessler in October 2014, following a First Amendment intervention from 16 US press organizations in the abuse case Dhiab v Obama.
The Obama Administration defied Judge Kessler's order to prepare the videos for release, complaining that the process was too much work and insisting that revealing even one frame from the videos posed a national security risk. Leaving the videos unredacted, the Administration took the case straight to D.C.'s federal Court of Appeals in an attempt to get the order overturned.
In a judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeals ruled that the Administration's refusal to comply with the lower court's order was wrong, and rejected its attempt to use the 'burdensome' task of redacting videos as a reason to circumvent the First Amendment.
The Obama Administration must now comply with Judge Kessler's original order to redact the videotapes to address national security concerns, and submit the redacted tapes to her court for reconsideration ahead of their release.
Alka Pradhan, Reprieve US attorney for Mr Dhiab, said: "The Obama Administration's defiance of Judge Kessler's order suggests a basic contempt for both the court's authority and our First Amendment rights, which the Circuit judges recognized.
"The Administration is fighting hard because once those videotapes are redacted, they are one step close to public release - and the government is one step closer to being held accountable for their treatment of Guantanamo detainees. Yet the harder the Administration resists, the more they confirm that they have much wrongdoing to hide.
"It is time to stop running absurd arguments, and simply to do the right thing: expose and end the ongoing abuse of hunger-strikers at Guantanamo Bay."
Reprieve is a UK-based human rights organization that uses the law to enforce the human rights of prisoners, from death row to Guantanamo Bay.
LATEST NEWS
Former Sen. Fred Harris, Champion of Economic Populism, Dies at 94
"The fundamental problem is that too few people have all the money and power, and everybody else has too little of either," said Harris in 1975.
Nov 25, 2024
Former Oklahoma Senator Fred Harris, a moderate Democratic lawmaker who fully embraced economic populism in his later political career and ran what one journalist called a "proto-Bernie" presidential campaign in 1976, died on Saturday at the age of 94.
Harris' death inspired tributes from an array of Democratic politicians and progressives, who remembered the former senator's outspoken support for working people and his championing of Indigenous rights.
Harris was voted into the Senate to replace Sen. Robert Kerr (D-Okla.) in 1964 after Kerr died of a heart attack. He began as a close ally of President Lyndon Johnson, supporting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and Johnson's Great Society programs aimed at reducing poverty.
But he "underwent a dramatic passage from moderate-conservative to liberal ideas," as The New York Times reported, embracing a "new populism" that was centered on promoting racial equality and a redistribution of economic and political power and fighting against the exploitation of workers. He also gradually changed his stance on Vietnam, calling for troop reductions and eventually a full withdrawal of the U.S. military in the region.
In 1967 he was a member of the Kerner Commission on Civil Disorders, convened to determine the root cause of riots in Black communities across the country. He concluded that "entrenched racism" was to blame.
He was also credited with sponsoring a bill that pushed President Richard Nixon to return Blue Lake, a site that was sacred to the people of the Taos Pueblo tribe, to them.
"In Senator Harris, Oklahoma sent a public servant to Washington, D.C. who gave voice to those in need, lifted up those the economy left behind, was a champion of civil rights, and was a friend to Indian Country," said Chief Chuck Hoskin, Jr. of the Cherokee Nation.
"His story is one that too few people know—the story of an Oklahoman who championed working families and fought for justice and equity at every turn."
Running for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1976, Harris called for higher taxes on the richest Americans and lower taxes for the rest of the country, stricter regulations on large corporations, a "moral" foreign policy, abortion rights, and "community control" of police forces.
Columnist John Nichols of The Nation said Harris adopted the slogan "No More Bullshit" during his presidential campaign.
Harris' presidential bid, said journalist Ryan Grim of Drop Site News, "was a road-not-taken that would have led to a much better world than we have now."
Harris told the Times in 1975 that the issue he was most concerned with was "privilege."
"The fundamental problem is that too few people have all the money and power, and everybody else has too little of either," he said. "The widespread diffusion of economic and political power ought to be the express goal—the stated goal—of government."
Harris' campaign garnered enthusiastic support from many voters, with the former senator taking aim at "the superrich, giant corporations" and leading efforts to gain the confidence of blue-collar workers, farmers, poor Black and white voters, and unemployed people.
"Those in the coalition don't have to love one another," Harris said. "All they have to do is recognize that they are commonly exploited, and that if they get themselves together they are a popular majority and can take back the government."
After his presidential run, Harris became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque and left politics to raise chickens on a farm in Corrales, New Mexico.
In conversations with Axios reporter Russell Contreras in his later years, Harris expressed frustration with the Democratic Party, saying leaders didn't discuss poverty as much as they should.
"It's harder to get out of poverty today than it was back then," he told Contreras.
He added that showing a commitment to fight for working-class and low-income people would motivate people in Appalachia, the Mississippi Delta, and on Native American reservations across the country.
"We are grateful to see national media highlighting the life and legacy of former Senator Fred Harris," said the Oklahoma Democratic Party. "His story is one that too few people know—the story of an Oklahoman who championed working families and fought for justice and equity at every turn."
Keep ReadingShow Less
With Cease-Fire Deal in Sight, Israeli Bombings Kill at Least 12 in Lebanon
The Israeli military carried out airstrikes across Lebanon as negotiators worked to finalize the details of a cease-fire agreement that would end fighting for at least 60 days.
Nov 25, 2024
A cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah appeared to be within reach on Monday amid reports that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who has repeatedly scuttled diplomatic efforts in recent months—has broadly accepted the proposed terms of a truce after months of devastating bombing that has ramped up in recent days.
Citing an unnamed senior U.S. official, Axiosreported Monday that "Israel and Lebanon have agreed to the terms of a cease-fire agreement to end the Israel-Hezbollah conflict."
The proposed agreement could still collapse: Netanyahu sparked fury within the Biden White House by publicly dismissing a U.S.-led cease-fire push in late September, and the far-right prime minister has been an obstacle to diplomatic attempts to end Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip.
According to Axios, Israel's Security Cabinet is expected to approve the newly proposed deal as early as Tuesday.
"We think we have a deal. We are on the goal line but we haven't passed it yet," the anonymous U.S. official said. "The Israeli cabinet needs to approve the deal on Tuesday and something can always go wrong until then."
Michael Herzog, Israel's ambassador to the U.S., said in a radio interview Monday that "we are close to a deal."
In its current form, the deal would reportedly entail an initial 60-day halt to fighting and a withdrawal of the Israeli military from Lebanon. During that two-month period, according to the Financial Times, "Lebanon and Hezbollah would move its weapons north of the Litani river, which runs 30 kilometers from the U.N.-drawn border."
The Israeli outlet Channel 12reported Monday that the Biden administration has signaled U.S. support if Israel decides to attack Lebanon again "whenever it sees an immediate threat."
Israel's large-scale bombardment of Lebanon—which began in mid-September and was soon followed by a ground invasion—has killed more than 3,000 people, including hundreds of children; displaced more than a million; and sparked a massive humanitarian crisis.
Hezbollah rocket fire has killed dozens of civilians in Israel, according toThe Associated Press, and more than 50 Israeli soldiers have been killed on the ground in Lebanon.
"There's nothing complicated about the fact that children in Lebanon deserve protection, and they're getting none," reminds UNICEF Spokesperson @1james_elder.
Ceasefire for the children of Lebanon NOW. pic.twitter.com/4krwuf1A6N
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) November 19, 2024
Israel bombings intensified in densely populated areas of Lebanon over the past several days as negotiators raced to finalize a cease-fire agreement. One Israeli attack on a multistory residential building in central Beirut on Saturday killed at least 29 people and injured dozens more.
In response, Hezbollah fired a large barrage of rockets into Israel in what was described as the group's largest attack in weeks. Reutersreported that "the Israeli military said houses had been destroyed or set alight near Tel Aviv" as a result of the rocket attack.
Israel's military launched fresh attacks across Lebanon on Monday, killing at least a dozen people.
"Israeli strikes hit commercial and residential buildings in Beirut as well as in the port city of Tyre," APreported. "Military officials said they targeted areas known as Hezbollah strongholds. They issued evacuation orders for Beirut's southern suburbs, and strikes landed across the city, including meters from a Lebanese police base and the city's largest public park."
Humanitarian organizations and United Nations officials have been pleading for a cease-fire in Lebanon for weeks amid the surging death toll and intensifying humanitarian emergency sparked by Israel's assault.
James Elder, a spokesperson for the U.N. Children's Fund, told reporters last week that "for the children of Lebanon, it has become a silent normalization of horror."
"In Lebanon, much the same as has become the case in Gaza, the intolerable is quietly transforming into the acceptable. And the appalling is slipping into the realm of the expected," said Elder. "And once more, the cries of children go unheard, the world's silence grows deafening, and again we allow the unimaginable to become the landscape of childhood. A horrific and unacceptable new normal."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Wall Street Cheers Trump's Treasury Pick, Corporate Tax Cut Proponent Scott Bessent
"For all his talk of looking out for working class Americans, President-elect Trump's choice of a billionaire hedge fund manager to lead the Treasury Department shows he just wants to keep a rigged system," said one critic.
Nov 25, 2024
With the stock market surging Monday morning after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to be treasury secretary, some Wall Street executives said they were celebrating a "reasonable" pick who would moderate some of Trump's most extreme proposals.
But economic justice advocates and experts said the jubilation was likely over expectations that Bessent will deliver "trillions in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy."
Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, founder and president of the Yale Chief Executive Institute, toldCNN that the billionaire Key Square Group executive is a "pragmatic" choice who supports only "selective tariffs" and could dial back Trump's plan to introduce across-the-board tariffs of up to 20% on imported goods—a plan that economists say would raise prices for U.S. households.
But Bessent himself told radio host Larry Kudlow on Saturday that tariffs "can't be inflationary."
David Kass, executive director of the economic justice group Americans for Fair Taxation (ATF), said that during Bessent's confirmation process, the organization will work to ensure lawmakers get answers to questions about whether the Wall Street billionaire plans to use tariffs to fund another Trump plan Bessent has endorsed: the renewal of the 2017 tax cuts.
"As income inequality is soaring and Americans are being crushed by the rising costs of living, we have to ask why billionaire Scott Bessent supports renewing the Trump tax bill, which gives trillions in tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations," Kass said. "Moreover, we also need to know how Mr. Bessent would fund this massive tax giveaway. Will he make working and middle-class Americans foot the bill by enacting wide-ranging cuts to vital government programs like Social Security and Medicare? Will he squeeze Main Street by raising prices on essential goods through tariffs?"
The government watchdog Accountable.US noted that Bessent has defended Trump's tariff plan, which analysts found would raise annual household costs by an average of $3,900, while backing the extension of Trump's tax plan, which overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and corporations.
"For all his talk of looking out for working-class Americans, President-elect Trump's choice of a billionaire hedge fund manager to lead the Treasury Department shows he just wants to keep a rigged system that only works for big corporations and the very wealthy," said Accountable.US executive director Tony Carrk. "If confirmed, Scott Bessent's first order of business will be to push trillions of dollars in more tax giveaways to the very well-off and at the same time essentially enact a $3,900 tax increase for the typical American family."
"This is yet another disastrous cabinet nomination by Donald Trump, and a further indication of the administration's plans for massive giveaways to the superrich and slashing of regulatory safeguards that guarantee the well-being of the American people."
As the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged by 500 points on Monday, National Association of Manufacturers CEO Jay Timmons told CNN that Bessent is likely to try to rein in what he called President Joe Biden's "out-of-control government spending." Republican leaders have signaled that with the GOP set to control both chambers of Congress as well as the White House starting in January, the party is likely to try to make cuts to Medicare and Social Security—long derided by the right as too expensive and wasteful.
"Wall Street may be breathing a sigh of relief at Scott Bessent's nomination, but working people see no help coming their way," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who is set to be the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said Monday. "Mr. Bessent's expertise is helping rich investors make more money, not cutting costs for families squeezed by corporate profiteering."
Earlier this year, Bessent told his clients at Key Square Group that a second Trump turn would mean an "economic lollapalooza" for them, with the Republican lowering taxes for his wealthy investors and bringing about an era of deregulation.
The Republican megadonor has proposed a "3-3-3" policy approach to Trump, which would include cutting the budget deficit by 3% by 2028, boosting GDP growth by 3%, and urging Big Oil to produce another 3 million barrels of crude oil per day.
Bessent has also expressed support for Trump's embrace of the cryptocurrency industry, which poured more than $110 million into federal election spending this year and spent an all-time high of $24.7 million on anti-regulatory lobbying in 2023.
Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of financial tech firm Ripple, said Friday that he expects Bessent to be "the most pro-innovation, pro-crypto treasury secretary we've ever seen." Critics have warned that the unregulated and highly speculative crypto industry has little to offer working people.
"America doesn't need a hedge fund executive to lead its economic policymaking, least of all one under the delusion that tax cuts for the rich, rollbacks of public regulatory protections, and an increase in oil drilling is somehow the way to strengthen the nation's economy," said Robert Weissman, co-president of consumer advocacy group Public Citizen. "This is yet another disastrous cabinet nomination by Donald Trump, and a further indication of the administration's plans for massive giveaways to the superrich and slashing of regulatory safeguards that guarantee the well-being of the American people."
Despite some proponents' claims that Bessent is a more mainstream pick than some other names that were floated for treasury secretary, Carrk said the nomination is from "the same old playbook, and it will have the same results of an economy that only works for a select few, not everyone."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular