Obama administration moves to block release of Guantanamo force feeding
tapes
July 23, 2015
The Obama administration last night asked a federal judge to reconsider her
order to release the Guantánamo force-feeding tapes.
In the ongoing First Amendment battle by 16 press
organizations seeking to publish the video tapes of former detainee Abu Wa’el
Dhiab being force-fed, Judge Gladys Kessler issued an order
on July 10th that the government complete key redactions and prepare
the tapes for release by September 30th.
Last night, however, the Obama administration filed a motion for
reconsideration of that order with Judge Kessler. Justice Department
lawyers claim in their filing that releasing the footage will aid extremist
groups and say the press have no First Amendment right to the evidence.
The tapes were first filed to court as classified evidence in a legal
challenge to prison conditions at Guantanamo Bay, Dhiab v Obama. 16
press organizations, including Associated Press, the Washington Post and the
New York Times, intervened seeking the videos’ release to the public on press freedom
grounds. Judge Kessler ordered them to be released; the Obama administration
then appealed in what Judge Kessler called “as frivolous an appeal as I’ve
seen.’
Meanwhile, the military nurse who objected to brutal force-feeding at Gitmo
is today being presented with the Year of Ethics
award by the American Nurses Association (ANA). The nurse, who has chosen to
remain anonymous, previously faced dismissal
from the military after he refused to force-feed detainees because of the
suffering it was causing men held without charge or trial at the prison.
Commenting, Reprieve director and attorney for Abu Wa’el Dhiab, Cori Crider, said: “Judge Kessler said the Obama administration’s initial appeal was
as ‘frivolous’ as she’d ever seen – well, the government decided to top that
with another frivolous request for a do-over. Yet it has put no fresh evidence
before the Court that would justify censoring the force-feeding
tapes. Once again, the government’s argument boils down to the same old
tripe: if people see the truth about Gitmo today, the ‘terrorists’ will win. We
don’t deny the footage is upsetting stuff – some of it deeply so – but
that’s precisely why it should be released. Americans deserve to see what is
being done in their name. Releasing crucial parts of this footage will provide
yet more reason the President should fulfil his promise to shut Gitmo down.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
1. For more information please call Clemency Wells on + 44 (0) 207 553 8161
or in the US, Katherine O’Shea on (+1) 917 855 8064 / clemency [DOT] wells@reprieve.org.uk
/ katherine [DOT] oshea@reprieve.org
2. Reprieve is an international human rights group.
3. The relevant filings are available upon request.
Donations can be sent
to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD
21218. Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/
"The master class
has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles.
The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject
class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their
lives." Eugene Victor Debs
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