Searching for Justice at Guantanamo

Podcast

23 June, 2023

When the prison at Guantanamo Bay was opened, it was announced that it would hold terror suspects, picked up by the US in their War on Terror.

It quickly became a dungeon that tortured its inmates and violated some of the most basic principles of humanity.

Subsequent presidents, although not all, have said that they will close down the site and release the prisoners. However this task has been fraught with difficulties.

While the vast majority have been never been found guilty, or even been charged with a crime; those that have been charged, have claimed that the evidence against them was extracted by torture, and was only given to make the abuses stop.

Such is the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

In May, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention condemned his continued detention, and the torture that he suffered in prison, and how he had been denied rights to guarantee and fair trial.

This week on The New Arab Voice, we look at the case of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, how the torture he endured at the hands of his captors is playing into his trial, how efforts to close the prison have failed, and what needs to happen to ensure that victims of Guantanamo get justice.

We speak with Katie Carmon, a lawyer for the Military Commissions Defense Organization, and one of the lawyers representing Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Also, Andy Worthington (@GuantanamoAndy), an investigative journalist, activist, and author of The Guantanamo Files.

And Mansoor Adayfi (@MansoorAdayfi), a Yemeni national who was picked up by the US 2002, accused of being a member of a terrorist organisation and sent to Guantanamo, where he would remain until 2016. Adayfi has accused the US of torturing him during his interrogations

This podcast is written by Nadine Talaat and produced by Hugo Goodridge.

Theme music by Omar al-Fil.

Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.

To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice.