A federal appeals court on Friday decided not to block the release of controversial videotapes of a prisoner being force fed at Guantánamo Bay, as the U.S. government had requested. But it’s still not clear when the public might actually see the videos.
Sixteen media organizations, including The Intercept’s publisher First Look Media, are seeking footage of Abu Wa’el Dhiab, who was repeatedly restrained and force fed while on hunger strike.
Dhiab, a 43-year-old Syrian who was sent to Guantánamo in 2002, protested his treatment in the U.S. District Court in Washington D.C., and the footage was introduced as evidence under seal. Lawyers for Dhiab, who have seen the videos, have called them “extremely disturbing.” Dhiab was released to Uruguay in December, but the fight over the videos continues.
The government has argued that releasing the videos would harm national security by, among other things, inflaming “Muslim sensitivities overseas.” Last October, District Judge Gladys Kessler rejected their arguments and ordered the videos made public, with redactions to protect the identity of Guantánamo guards. The government then appealed.
Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals in the Washington, D.C., called the government’s appeal “premature,” and declined to weigh in on the merits of releasing the videos.
Kessler’s order required further negotiations over redactions, the appeals judges wrote in their opinion, and “it is possible that appropriate redactions will limit the scope of, or perhaps eliminate altogether, the government’s concerns over release of the videotapes.”
And while that may seem like a setback for the Obama administration, the appeals court’s decision also noted that sending the case back to the district court would give that court a chance to consider more detailed government declarations about “the harm associated with the release of the videotapes.”
In the meantime, as the case continues, the footage will stay sealed, and “the cat will remain comfortably in the bag,” the judges wrote.
Alka Pradhan, an attorney with Reprieve, the human rights organization representing Dhiab, said in a statement that “once those videotapes are redacted, they are one step closer to public release — and the government is one step closer to being held accountable for their treatment of Guantánamo detainees.”
Illustration by Lewis Peake courtesy of Reprieve
(This post is from our blog: Unofficial Sources.)
Americans must have something to worry about because they’re hiding something.
Government and co believes releasing these videos will threaten national security. The identity of the guards are being protected but are they going to get into any trouble? Are the people who ordered the force feeding in any trouble for threatening national security? This involves the CIA so most likely the answer “wouldn’t you like to know.” CIA doesnt get in trouble for anything other than upsetting the CIA and they appear to be running everything nowadays. They can never admit to doing anything wrong I guess because their entire organization will dissolve or something.
I know these people aren’t all bad but why is it that national security, military and law enforcement rely on rewarding the worst in human nature? Why does life have to be an unimaginable horror show for so many people “in defense of America” supposedly. If the country and its laws are worth protecting, how does enforcing these laws by employing and protecting people willing to break them in the nastiest way possible promote and encourage or defend the validity of the laws? Because somewhere I got the impression that is what law enforcement was supposed to do.You start to wonder if the act of enforcement and authority to protect can only be criminal. Respect for protection is a curse on all of us when used as a means and excuse to kill and or abuse with impunity.
If the CIA wants information why can’t they try the higher ground for a change. If protection is good then how you protect has to be honorable and I don’t mean “there can be only one” kind of honor.
> > TRUTH > > JUSTICE > > The American Way?? Torture Videos DESTROYED in violation of COURT ORDER > > no charges BECAUSE the statute of limitations expired… The C.I.A. TORTURE REPORT > I haven’t seen it ( public release????). FORCED FEEDINGS? TORTURE?? > > > > TO BE RELEASED. . . . W H E N
Yes I see the cover-ups . . I hear the LIES…. I don’t see TRUTH – there doesn’t appear to be any JUSTICE…. BUT even a fool would question ” is that the American Way”???
> > > > > VOTE THIS GARBAGE OUT OF ( OFFICE) WASHINGTON
. . the first. comment ” blames President Obama”. Interestingly Foolish – George Bush opened GITMO > when there was a comment about “secret prisons overseas” so-called high value prisoners appeared at GITMO the following day. . . . President Obama’s campaign promise to close it within the first “six months” of his taking office – – has been blocked by Republicans with the worst lies possible It is FUNNY – the Republicans block all of the presidents legislation and who gets the blame??
WHOSE IMAGINATION IS WORKING OVERTIME…. are you safer today?? high value intelligence through torture?? NSA? CIA ? Failure to connect the dots? on an inside job 9/11 NARAD on stand-down. along with SAC – – Do You Think bin Laden gave those orders? The Taliban and George Bush having a BBQ at his ranch in Texas……
The videos will prove that Obama, like he does with virtually everything else, lied about torture at Gitmo. That would embarrass the Thug-in-Chief, which is “the harm associated with the release of the videotapes.”
I think it will be extremely good PR to release all force-feeding videos right now, especially when they can compare our pious videos with the satanic head-chopping rituals that their own friends are starring in. In fact, the force-feeding videos will show everyone our deep respect for Muslim lives and the trouble we go through in order to deliver them from evil and into the safe hands of their Allah in one single piece.
It would be extremely good if Americans to learned something about themselves once in a while.
What does this have to do with inflaming ‘Muslim’ sensitivities? If you saw video of Saudi Arabians doing this to a pretty white American, how would you feel? Seems like plain old nationalism to me, or even genuine humanitarianism.
“the cat will remain comfortably in the bag,”
That phrase strikes me as dismissive, not cognizant of the gravity of the subject.
Or did they mean to say, for now “the fat cats will remain comfortably protected”.
“inflaming muslim sensitivities overseas” don’t they know that sensibilities are ablaze and have fuel enough.
More likely the worry is that the US would be indicted by the world and a good part of its citizenry for this barbaric practice (for being uncivilized), this time based on hard evidence instead of hearsay and belief. Not to mention the fallout for the power-brokers, architects, instigators and judges, lawyers, military, the hands on torturer’s themselves all “just doing their job”. Where have I heard that before?
“government declarations about “the harm associated with the release of the videotapes.””
Doesn’t the government always tell us that if we’re not doing anything wrong we don’t have anything to fear? I guess that’s one of those “do as we say, not as we do” types of things.
There’s also the Abu Ghraib pictures in an ACLU/CCR FOIA lawsuit in the southern district of Manhattan (currently on appeal at 2nd Circuit).
Kind of like Mohamed cartoons? In that case, the release of the videos should be celebrated, and the videos should be widely distributed.
If the US government is so worried about inflaming Muslim sensitivities overseas, officials might consider avoiding behavior that is likely to inflame those sensitivities. But their real concern is about outraging sensitivities here at home. Muslims overseas already know how captives were treated at Abu Ghraib and other prisons. Their sensitivities are already inflamed. It’s the domestic audience that remains ignorant or complacent or somewhat upset but not totally outraged at what our government has done in our name and continues to do in our name.
@tortoiseshell-The judge has to see how foundationless the governments position is when their using “inflaming muslim sensitivities overseas” as the reason to not release the pics/videos. The government is assassinating “overseas muslims”, the government is waging war on “overseas muslims” etc etc and they walk into a court of law with their heads held high while verbally vomiting that filth.
Agreed. It’s obviously a bogus argument. I’m guessing it is an appeal to “patriots” who don’t want to see “our boys” who are fighting the good fight to protect us, being put in any more danger than they already are in. It’s an old legal ploy, to argue that innocents will suffer if the guilty folks are held to account, so the best course is to let the guilty folks off the hook.