Legal Commentary

Spanish Judge Opens Guantanamo Torture Investigation

By Jeralyn

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón has decided he will investigate allegations of torture by four released Guantanamo detainees.

Via Center for Constitutional Rights:

The writ did not name specific officials as defendants but speaks of investigating the roles of those responsible for authorizing, planning and executing the torture program, particularly in light of the newly release torture memos and the Senate Armed Services Committee report. The case could lead to arrest warrants in Europe....

This is a different and broader investigation than the one we've written about here. [More...]

According to CCR:

Last month, Spain moved to begin criminal investigation into the role of six Bush administration lawyers responsible for creating the legal justification and framework for the torture program. The brief history of that case is as follows: Judge Garzon accepted the initial complaint; the Spanish prosecutors were set to recommend pursuing it; in an effort to stop the case, the Spanish attorney general intervened to recommend against it; a lottery reassigned the lawyers case to Judge Eloy Velasco, who now has the authority to decide whether to open the investigation..

In the present case, the Guardian reports:

The Spanish investigation was sparked by torture complaints from former Guantánamo detainees Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Lahcen Ikassrien, Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes.

The four men, who had terrorism allegations made against them in Spain dropped by the courts, told the judge that they had been tortured "under the authority of personnel from the US Army".

Judge Garzón reportedly cited "documents declassified by the US administration" as giving evidence "of what previously could be intuited: an official plan of approved torture and abuse of people being held in custody while facing no charges and without the most basic rights of people who have been detained."

Scott Horton at Daily Beast has more.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 29, 2009 (boomark / email).