Reposted with permission from Andy Worthington’s blog, Guantanamo hunger striker Younus Chekhouri describes what happened when prison camp authorities raided the hunger strikers on April 13. Chekhouri also describes his own physical and mental anguish, as he experiences both the abuse and torture inside the prison and the effects of the hunger strike undertaken out of desperation, as he has been imprisoned without charges for over 11 years, and while cleared for release, has no idea when or if he will ever leave the U.S. military prison.

A prisoner, who has been held in detention for eleven years without charge or trial, has told an attorney that the prison authorities are trying to “break Muslims.” He is participating in a major hunger strike that has been ongoing since early February and shared details on his health as a result of his participation [...]

For over eleven years, a British prisoner at Guantanamo Bay has been held in detention without charge or trial. He has been cleared for release twice and suffered torture. He has been subject to conditions of solitary confinement for his participation in hunger strikes and for asserting that others in the prison have human rights. [...]

The British High Court has refused to review whether intelligence agencies in the United Kingdom have been involved in passing on information that has been used by the CIA to carry out drone attacks.The Pakistani man, Noor Khan, whose father was killed by a US drone strike, intends to appeal the decision. On March 17, 2011, [...]

A former Director of Public Prosecutions in the United Kingdom was recently interviewed by The Times (UK) where he called upon the British government to reveal its involvement in supporting the US drone war in Pakistan. Former law chief Ken MacDonald QC, now a director of the human rights organization Reprieve, told the news organization, [...]

When drone strikes kill people, rarely do news media bother to name those dead from the attack if they are not alleged by some official to be an al Qaeda leader. The others who are killed in addition to the al Qaeda leader that is believed to be dead are reported as “militants.” Any more [...]

The United States Constitution and international law make it illegal to kill someone without due process except in armed conflict or where they pose an imminent threat and there is no other option available, staff attorney Maria Lahood of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) explains. The reality is the Obama Administration, in expanding the [...]

(photo: Wee in YYC) Around 1,700 pages on the US government’s use of private contractors for rendition flights have been disclosed in a case involving a business dispute between Richmor Aviation Inc. and SportsFlight Air. As AP reports, the documents “shed new light on the U.S. government’s reliance on private contractors for flights between Washington, [...]

The British press is reporting that ten major human rights and anti-torture organizations have announced they will not be cooperating or participating in the United Kingdom Torture Inquiry, headed by Sir Peter Gibson. The organizations, who sent a letter on August 3 to Sara Carnegie, Solicitor to the Detainee Inquiry, cited a lack of transparency and credibility in the proposed investigation, noting, “Plainly an Inquiry conducted in the way that you describe and in accordance with the Protocol would not comply with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.”

A new phase in the struggle for accountability for torture and war crimes is sure to begin.

“The first large array of photographs depicting the devastating impact of US unmanned aircraft (‘drone’) attacks on innocent civilians in Pakistan” goes on display in London today. Its photographic evidence belies claims by the U.S. of no collateral killing of civilians by the drone attacks. The exhibit opens just as former CIA counsel John Rizzo is being charged for murder in Pakistan for his role in approving the attacks, and as Human Rights Watch has begun a campaign to seek the prosecution of Bush administration officials for torture. Is the Obama administration listening? Not only are they against investigations or prosecutions of past officials, they have engaged in war crimes of their own, most particularly around the controversial drone program of targeted killings.