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Defense secretary overrides plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind and two other defendants
Read full article: Defense secretary overrides plea agreement for accused 9/11 mastermind and two other defendantsDefense Secretary Lloyd Austin has overridden a plea agreement reached earlier this week for the accused mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and two other defendants, reinstating them as death penalty cases.
Families of those killed in the 2002 Bali bombings testify at hearing for Guantanamo detainees
Read full article: Families of those killed in the 2002 Bali bombings testify at hearing for Guantanamo detaineesRelatives of some of the more than 200 people killed in 2002 bombings on the resort island of Bali are testifying at a sentencing hearing at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Pakistan: Oldest prisoner freed from Guantanamo, back home
Read full article: Pakistan: Oldest prisoner freed from Guantanamo, back homePakistan's foreign ministry says that a 75-year-old from Pakistan who was the oldest prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center has been released and returned to his home country.
Iraqi held by US at Guantanamo pleads guilty to war crimes
Read full article: Iraqi held by US at Guantanamo pleads guilty to war crimesAn Iraqi man who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for more than 15 years has pleaded guilty to war crimes charges for his role in al-Qaida attacks against U.S. and allied forces along with civilians in Afghanistan.
Judge Jackson grilled on Guantanamo detainee representation
Read full article: Judge Jackson grilled on Guantanamo detainee representationFour men once held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center were central to some of the questions Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson fielded during her Supreme Court confirmation hearing.
Ketanji Brown Jackson's Guantanamo clients an issue for GOP
Read full article: Ketanji Brown Jackson's Guantanamo clients an issue for GOPPresident Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee will face sharp questions from Republican lawmakers this coming week about the work she did as a public defender representing four Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Freed Guantánamo inmate with Moroccan family after 19 years
Read full article: Freed Guantánamo inmate with Moroccan family after 19 yearsThe lawyer for a Moroccan held for 19 years without charges at the U.S. detention facility for terror suspects at Guantánamo Bay says he has rejoined his family after questioning by police in this North African kingdom.
Guantanamo prosecutor retires as 9/11 trial remains elusive
Read full article: Guantanamo prosecutor retires as 9/11 trial remains elusiveAn Army general who spent the past decade leading an oft-stalled effort to prosecute five men held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is retiring from the military, leaving his post as chief prosecutor as a trial remains elusive.
High court to hear Guantanamo prisoner's state secrets case
Read full article: High court to hear Guantanamo prisoner's state secrets caseThe Supreme Court will decide whether a Palestinian man captured in the wake of 9/11 and detained at the prison on the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay can get access to information the government classifies as state secrets.
New bill calls for free online classes at state universities for vets, active military
Read full article: New bill calls for free online classes at state universities for vets, active militaryThe State University Free Seat Program is created to24 encourage veterans, active duty members of the United States25 Armed Forces, active drilling members of the Florida National26 Guard, and nontraditional students to enroll in an online27 baccalaureate degree program at a state university.
Former Gitmo commander hit with wrongful death lawsuit while in prison
Read full article: Former Gitmo commander hit with wrongful death lawsuit while in prisonJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The family of a civilian contractor who died on Guantanamo Bay has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against a former commander of the Naval base. In January 2020, he was convicted on federal charges including obstruction of justice and making false statements related to Tur’s death. AdRELATED: Ex-Gitmo commander reports to prisonHe was not criminally charged or tried for anything related to Tur’s death. The civil lawsuit notes that the burden for a civil wrongful death claim is instead a “preponderance of the evidence,” so they only have to prove Nettleton’s culpability “is more likely than not.”Against Nettleton, the civil lawsuit claims include wrongful death, assault and battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, failure to render aid and tortious interference with a dead body. “We believe that if he does invoke his Fifth (Amendment rights) in this civil trial, then we will win on the wrongful death and the other causes of action we have against him.”
Ex-Gitmo commander reports to prison
Read full article: Ex-Gitmo commander reports to prisonJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A retired Navy captain convicted of lying and obstructing justice in the investigation into a 2015 death at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay reported to federal prison this week. Nettleton and Tur, 42, had a fight two nights before the Coast Guard recovered Tur’s body. Prosecutors believe the fight spilled over into Nettleton’s home, where Tur’s blood was found in the living room. An autopsy found that Tur drowned, though a manner of death was not determined. Federal prisoners typically only serve about 85% of their sentences in prison.
Biden's win means some Guantanamo prisoners may be released
Read full article: Biden's win means some Guantanamo prisoners may be releasedThis undated image provided by the counsel to Saifullah Paracha shows Paracha at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. President Donald Trump had effectively ended the Obama administration's practice of reviewing the cases of men held at Guantanamo and releasing them if imprisonment was no longer deemed necessary. His reticence is actually welcome to those who have pressed to close Guantanamo. At its peak in 2003 — the year Paracha was captured in Thailand because of suspected ties to al-Qaida — Guantanamo held about 700 prisoners from nearly 50 countries. But his closure effort was thwarted when Congress barred the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo to the U.S., including for prosecution or medical care.
Another judge steps away from stalled Guantanamo 9/11 trial
Read full article: Another judge steps away from stalled Guantanamo 9/11 trialWASHINGTON – Another military judge has stepped down from the Sept. 11 war crimes tribunal at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a further blow to an already long-stalled case. Keane said he believes he could serve as an impartial judge in the death penalty case. The men include Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, who has portrayed himself as the architect of the Sept. 11 attack and other plots. The initial judge, Army Col. James Pohl, announced his retirement in August 2018 after a long career. A third judge, also a Marine colonel, left to take another position last year, leaving a senior judge to preside for about six months until Keane was appointed to the case in September.
DOJ recommends at least 3 years in prison for retired Navy Capt. John Nettleton
Read full article: DOJ recommends at least 3 years in prison for retired Navy Capt. John NettletonJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The U.S. Department of Justice has recommended that retired Navy Capt. John Nettleton be sentenced to more than three years in prison on charges stemming from the 2015 death of a civilian employee at Guantanamo Bay – the base Nettleton commanded. Nettleton and Tur were in a fight two nights before the Coast Guard found Tur’s body floating in the bay. In a sentencing memo filed Thursday, the DOJ recommended Nettleton serve between 37 and 46 months. “There is no question that John R. Nettleton (“Defendant”) misled, concealed, and lied about facts he knew regarding the disappearance and death of Christopher Tur (“Tur”),” the memo states.
Medical review upheld for Saudi prisoner at Guantanamo
Read full article: Medical review upheld for Saudi prisoner at GuantanamoWASHINGTON – A federal judge has turned back an effort to delay an independent medical review for a Saudi citizen held at the Guantanamo Bay detention center who was so badly mistreated in American custody that he cannot be put on trial. The government has never said what it plans to do with him and his attorneys are seeking to have him returned to his native Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. The prisoner has been diagnosed with severe mental illness, including schizophrenia, apparently due to a brain injury from a childhood car accident in Saudi Arabia. Ramzi Kassem, an attorney for al-Qahtani, said he thinks the government is worried about what an independent medical panel would conclude about his client. “They’re concerned the mixed medical commission will come back and say he meets the criteria for medical repatriation,” said Kassem, a law professor at the City University of New York.
COVID-19 pandemic delays federal sentencing for retired Navy Capt. John Nettleton
Read full article: COVID-19 pandemic delays federal sentencing for retired Navy Capt. John NettletonJACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The COVID-19 pandemic has led to another delay for the federal sentencing of retired Navy Capt. John Nettleton, on charges stemming from the 2015 death of a civilian employee at Guantanamo Bay – the base Nettleton commanded. In January, a federal jury in Jacksonville convicted Nettleton on six of the eight charges he faced. In light of the pandemic, federal courts have been holding some sentencing hearings via video, rather than in person. The sentencing hearing is now set for Oct. 8 at 9:30 a.m.
ISIS fighters may not go to Guantanamo Bay, Trump says
Read full article: ISIS fighters may not go to Guantanamo Bay, Trump saysJoe Raedle/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON, D.C. - President Donald Trump Wednesday appeared to rule out sending the thousands of ISIS foreign fighters currently being detained by US allies in Syria to the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying that the ISIS detainees should be repatriated to their countries of origin. Trump's statement represents a shift from comments he made previously after he signed an executive memorandum which raised the prospect of sending ISIS fighters there. And in many cases for them it will now be Guantanamo Bay," Trump said at his State of the Union address in January. Also Wednesday, Trump repeated a threat to "release" ISIS fighters back to their country of origin. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces are currently holding more than 2,000 foreign ISIS fighters from over 50 countries in makeshift detention facilities in addition to some 8,000 Syrian and Iraqi prisoners.
Lawyers for ex-Gitmo commander concerned over pretrial publicity
Read full article: Lawyers for ex-Gitmo commander concerned over pretrial publicityJACKSONVILLE, Fla - Attorneys for a now-retired Jacksonville Navy captain who is accused of lying and covering up facts in the death of a former Marine on Guantanamo Bay have told a federal judge they are concerned about pretrial publicity in the case. John Nettleton is charged with obstructing justice and nine other charges related to the death of Christopher Tur four years ago on the Navy base. On Monday afternoon, his attorneys filed a number of motions ahead of the trial, which is scheduled to begin in January 2020. In one motion, attorneys cite a News4Jax story as one example of media coverage of the case. PREVIOUS STORY:Attorneys are asking a judge to let them submit a questionnaire that would be filled out before jury selection and to question potential jurors individually about those topics.
Lawyers for ex-Gitmo commander concerned over pretrial publicity
Read full article: Lawyers for ex-Gitmo commander concerned over pretrial publicityJACKSONVILLE, Fla - Attorneys for a now-retired Jacksonville Navy captain who is accused of lying and covering up facts in the death of a former Marine on Guantanamo Bay have told a federal judge they are concerned about pretrial publicity in the case. John Nettleton is charged with obstructing justice and nine other charges related to the death of Christopher Tur four years ago on the Navy base. On Monday afternoon, his attorneys filed a number of motions ahead of the trial, which is scheduled to begin in January 2020. In one motion, attorneys cite a News4Jax story as one example of media coverage of the case. Attorneys are asking a judge to let them submit a questionnaire that would be filled out before jury selection and to question potential jurors individually about those topics.