Monday, February 5, 2007

How can you help?

Friends,

Some of you have offered to contribute funds to support Candace's work. She is moved by your generosity and by your passion for justice. However, Candace pledged to fund the effort herself when she took the case pro bono and she intends to abide by that commitment.

The Center for Constitutional Rights in New York has been the backbone of Guantánamo litigation. It has played a major role in recruiting and training habeas counsel, coordinating strategy and providing resources and guidance. Candace urges citizens and activists angered by the injustice of Guantánamo to support CCR's invaluable work.

In solidarity,

The Guantánamo Blog

New on Huffington Post:

Candace was recently informed that a letter from her Libyan client, Mr. Al-Ghizzawi, had been classified and placed in her "secret drawer" in the government's "secret facility." Candace flew to D.C. last week to read Mr. Al-Ghizzawi's super top-secret missive. Candace recounts the adventure in a new piece on Huffington Post - "John Lennon and Mr. Al-Ghizzawi: Two Peas in a Secret Pod."

The title of the post alludes to recently released documents in John Lennon's FBI file (the documents contained no new or "sensitive" information about the singer/activist). In her latest Huff Po piece, Candace offers these observations on how the government uses and abuses its power to declare things "secret":
I had thought these secret policies were particular to the massive and unconscionable illegalities of the Bush administration, but the episode with Mr. Lennon's FBI file shows, at least to a certain degree, that this is a long standing governmental policy. Professor Wiener referred to it as "excessive government secrecy" in his recent Nation article. Maybe, but it seems more likely that this is our government's way to make it seem, in Lennon's case, like there was something to justify the illegal spying and intrusion into his life, and in Mr. Al-Ghizzawi's case, to justify his illegal imprisonment. It is a policy of covering up illegal activity by declaring it "secret" and thereby making it seem like something sinister is going on that they just cannot tell us about for our own protection

H. Candace Gorman on the Radio

H. Candace Gorman was recently featured on The Story, a radio program produced by North Carolina Public Radio. Check out WUNC's digital archive and listen to the program here.

A Digest of GTMO News:



The AP covers GTMO's newest facility, the maximum security Camp 6. The Article quotes Wells Dixon and Sabin Willett.
The Star covers conditions in Camp 6, with a special focus of the situation of Canadian prisoner Omar Khadr, who was captured at the age of 15.
The family of a Saudi man who had been missing for five years discovers that he had been "disappeared" to Guantánamo Bay.

David Hicks' Australian attorney, David McLeod, calls it like he sees it and accuses the U.S. government of moral "bastardry."



- Adrian Bleifuss Prados