Chester County Religious Campaign Against Torture - CCRCAT

“Bates’ opinion ignores the underlying injustice that pervades al-Ghizzawi’s case and Guantánamo generally: The US has imprisoned him for more than five years without charge or a fair hearing. Worse, after the Defense Department’s status review tribunal initially found al-Ghizzawi was not an “enemy combatant,” the Defense Department ordered a “do-over.” (Where lo and behold, the tribunal found al-Ghizzawi an “enemy combatant.”) So, if, al-Ghizzawi is distrustful of Guantánamo’s medical staff, as Bates noted, he has good reason: he knows the status review tribunals are a sham and the results rigged. ”

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/convictions/archive/2008/04/15/more-hypocrisy-at-guantanamo.aspx

NEW URGENT ACTIONS!! from Attorney Candace Gorman:
1. Sign the online petition…..

Mr. al-Ghizzawi’s attorney thanks everyone who wrote letters and signed the online petition. She requests  no more petitioning Judge John Bates on her client’s behalf, as he has ruled (unfavorably) on his case.

http://gtmodocuments.blogspot.com/2008/04/his-own-fault.html

“Judge Bates entered the order yesterday… I know I shouldn’t be surprised that the judge continues to believe everything the government says and refuses to allow us to even see the medical records… but I am. In fact one would think that even if the judge was not going to allow Al-GHizzawi his records… that he would ask to see them himself to clarify the misstatments of the government… sigh…The judge actually goes so far as to blame Al-Ghizzawi for his health problems and trivializes his condition….”

from the blog of attorney H. Candace Gordon
http://gtmoblog.blogspot.com/2008/04/no-medical-care-for-al-ghizzawi.html

See also: A Sickening Truth at Guantánamo

A gravely ill detainee I represent, never charged with a crime, has been neglected by military doctors. Will he be the next to die inside the notorious prison?

By H. Candace Gorman

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/03/14/sick_in_guantanamo/

Good Friday

Today, like many Christians, I pause between noon and 3:00 to remember the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ. However, when I contemplate the crucified Jesus, I see the face of Guantánamo detainee #654.

An innocent shopkeeper, he was betrayed to the Northern Alliance by his neighbors for 5,000 pieces of silver and subsequently handed over to US forces. He was transported to Guatanámo Bay,where the members of his Combatant Status Review Tribunal washed their hands of him, though they found that he had committed no prosecutable offense.

His wrists and ankles bleed from the shackles that cut into his skin when his led from one part of Camp 6 to another. The biting pain in his side emanates from his liver, infected with hepatitis B. Afflicted with tuberculosis as well, yet denied proper medical attention, his cell has become his living tomb.

This Good Friday, the crucified Jesus has the face of Abdel Hamid Al-Ghizzawi.

Habeo corpus

for Abdul Hamid Al-Ghizzawi

I ask myself
Why should I care
about some terrorist
sick, dying a slow death
in a prison
in solitary
on an island?

Why should I care
about his yellowed skin and eyeballs
his cold sweats
the searing pain eating into his side?

Why should I care
if he never sees his wife again
if his daughter was an infant
when last he kissed her
six years ago?

Why should I care?
He put himself there
He and his kind
that threaten us
deserve to rot in prison forever

Why should I care?
Am I this prisoner’s keeper?

Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, one of the Guantanamo detainees who is very ill and whose condition we’ve been following, has told his attorney, Candace Gorman, that the Guantanamo doctor informed him he has AIDS, contracted only after arriving at Guantanamo. Here’s the story from Andy Worthington, author of The Guantanamo Files:

Horror at Guantánamo: Libyan detainee infected with AIDS

It really doesn’t get any worse than this.

Candace Gorman, lawyer for Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi, a Libyan detainee at Guantánamo, reports that her client has been infected with AIDS. Mr. al-Ghizzawi explained to his lawyer in a letter that he was told about his infection by a doctor at Guantánamo, adding that he believes that the infection took place in 2004, when he was given a blood test, which “resulted in alarm amongst the hospital staff,” although he was not given any explanation for the alarm at the time….
Read the rest at:
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/?p=215

Now’s the time for those letters! Candace Gorman says to contact all of the following:

Condoleezza Rice
U.S. Department of State 2201 C Street NW Washington, DC 20520
+202-647-4000 (main switchboard)

John. B. Bellinger III
Legal Advisor
Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Rm. 6423
Washington D.C. 20520
VIA FACSIMILE +202-647-7096

DON’ FORGET
Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, Commander Joint Task Force Guantánamo
Department of Defense , Joint Task Force Guantánamo, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, APO AE 09360
Fax: +1 305 437 1241
Salutation: Dear Rear Admiral

THEN THERE IS ALSO:
J. Alan Liotta, Principal Director, Office of Detainee Affairs
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, 2900 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-2900, USA
Email via: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
Salutation: Dear Director

PLEASE SEND COPIES TO:
Member of US Congress
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, 1027 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515, USA
Fax: + 1 202 226 6890

REPRESENTATIVE SCHAKOWSKY (Candace’s REPRESENTATIVE) HAS BEEN WONDERFUL AND IT IS GOOD TO LET HER KNOW THAT WE APPRECIATE HER HELP…..

from the blog of H. Candace Gorman, attorney for Abdul Hamid Al-Ghizzawi:

http://gtmoblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/amnesty-international-makes-plea-for-mr.html

Amnesty International has sent out the following worldwide URGENT request… Please contact the individuals listed at the bottom of the alert and help me to get desperately needed medical attention to Mr. Al-Ghizzawi now…. and please ask everyone you know to do the same…

Best regards.
Candace

APPEALS TO:
Rear Adm. Mark H. Buzby, Commander Joint Task Force Guantánamo
Department of Defense , Joint Task Force Guantánamo, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, APO AE 09360
Fax: +1 305 437 1241
Salutation: Dear Rear Admiral

J. Alan Liotta, Principal Director, Office of Detainee Affairs
Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense, 2900 Defense Pentagon, Washington DC 20301-2900, USA
Email via: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.html
Salutation: Dear Director
Points to cover in letter:

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
- expressing your serious concern that Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi may not be receiving appropriate medical care for his illnesses;
- urging that Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi be given immediate access to a doctor, and to specialist medical attention if necessary as stipulated in the Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 22 (2), so that he can be properly diagnosed and provided with all the necessary treatment he may require;
- urging that independent medical experts be allowed to visit him regularly in Guantánamo to assess his medical condition and treatment requirements;
- urging that he be removed from Camp 6 immediately and transferred to facilities which will not be further detrimental to his physical and psychological health;
- stating that he should be allowed contact with his family through regular mail, with opportunities for phone calls and visits;
- calling for the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay to be closed and for the detainees held there to be released unless they are to be promptly charged with recognizable criminal offences and brought to trial in ordinary civilian courts in full accordance with international standards, without recourse to the death penalty

I called Sen. Specter’s office and –first of all– told the aide that I wanted to thank the senator for sponsoring the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act. I also asked when the bill will come up for a floor vote, but it hasn’t even been scheduled yet, and it’s almost time for summer recess. So, not until the fall.

Then –fully aware that the aide must wonder what planet I just dropped in from–I started to tell her about Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and how his condition is critical. I asked if I could email her the information so that she could forward it to somebody (the janitor, maybe?) who might care or bring some attention to his plight.She made it clear that, although Sen. Specter is our senior senator, the White House is not listening to anybody on this one. (As if I didn’t already know.) I pressed her for a suggestion of someone to contact. She suggested the ACLU. She was very understanding and listened patiently to my concern. I really have to thank her for that. So, next stop will be the ACLU-PA on Monday morning.

Then I called the FCNL … figuring they’d at least tell me who to write a letter to. I was referred to an intern specializing in human rights, torture, etc. As she wasn’t available when I called, I emailed her. She sent me a kind response, suggesting that I contact the Center for Constitutional Rights … which I’ll certainly do.

Civil liberties? constititutional rights? Of course, that’s the whole crux of the issue. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi doesn’t have any civil liberties or constitutional rights, according to our current administration. If he did, he wouldn’t be imprisoned for five years without a trial. Well, it’s worth contacting the organizations anyway. And I’m working on a letter to send to a deserving editor.

So, all this has taught me something about human rights activism: it has to be a sustained effort. Now I know what the meetings and grassroots organizing are all about…to stop things like this from happening.

Dear Friends,

I have been following the blog of H. Candace Gorman, an attorney who represents (or who has been trying, anyway) two Guantánamo detainees. One of her clients, Abdul Al-Ghizzawi, is seriously ill and, despite public claims that the detainees receive the best in medical attention, his condition has been worsening and is now at the point where his attorney is alarmed.

Please, write and phone anyone you can think of who might be able to intervene.

Here is Ms Gorman’s blog entry for today:

ARE THEY TRYING TO KILL HIM?
I just returned today from Gitmo. I will do a longer post in the next few days but many people have been emailing and asking me about Mr. Al-Ghizzawi and I feel compelled to alert you to what is happening to him. I do not have good news on that front. In fact everything about this latest trip was dismal. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was extremely weak and had a very difficult time communicating. He was confused, disoriented and depressed. We had planned on spending the first of our two days of meetings discussing legal issues and going over documents that we were readying for court…. but that was not to be as Mr. Al-Ghizzawi was not allowed to bring his documents (with all of his notes and questions) to our meeting. Our choice was to start from scratch or wait until the following day…given his medical condition I opted for waiting to review the legal documents the following day in the hopes that he would be allowed to bring the legal materials for that visit. Unfortunately the second day of meetings did not take place as Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, for the first time since I have been coming to the base, was too weak to attend the second day of meetings. Mr. Al-Ghizzawi sent me a heart wrenching note apologizing for not being able to meet with me; he explained to me not only the physical reasons why such a meeting was not possible but also the mistreatment he had received on the day of our meeting and the effects he was suffering from that ill treatment. I will share all of this with you soon but first I must prepare papers to file with the court seeking (perhaps in vein) the court’s intervention in what will otherwise result in the death of Mr. Al-Ghizzawi.