Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif
They are artists of torture,
They are artists of pain and fatigue,
They are artists of insults and humiliation.
Where is the world to save us from torture?
Where is the world to save us from the fire and sadness?
Where is the world to save the hunger strikers?
- Adnan Latif
Poems from Guantánamo*
Poems from Guantánamo is a collection of 22 poems from seventeen of the detainees. A brief biographical statement about each detainee is provided before the poems. As the collection’s editor Mark Falkoff writes, “Many of the men at Guantánamo turned to writing poetry as a way to maintain their sanity, to memorialize their suffering and to preserve their humanity through acts of creation…. Perhaps their poems will prick the conscience of the nation.”
...in July of 2010, Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. granted the Habeas corpus petition for Adnan Latif, now 34, and instructed the Obama administration to “take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps to facilitate Latif’s release forthwith.”
For many years now, Adnan Latif has lived in suicidal despair and is held in the psych ward. According to his lawyer, he sees “death as the only way out.” Adnan Latif once referred to himself as “a caged bird.”
...In 2007, Adnan Latif participated in a hunger strike which lasted for over six months. As a result, Mark Folkoff explains, “Twice a day, the guards immobilize Latif’s head, strap his arms and legs to a special restraint chair, and force-feed him a liquid nutrient by inserting a tube up his nose and into his stomach a clear violation of international standards. The feeding, Latif says, ‘is like having a dagger shoved down your throat.’”
In 2008, Latif Adnan lost a Federal Court case for his plea to get a blanket and mattress in his cell... the physical and psychological torture perpetrated at Guantánamo is systematically and legally upheld.
...As David Remes, one of Adnan Latif’s attorneys, responds, “Why they continue to defend holding him is unfathomable. Adnan’s case reflects the Obama administration’s complete failure to bring the Guantánamo litigation under control.”
For an article and the journal of Mark Falkoff’s meetings with Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, please follow our links to the documents at www.witnesstorture.org
Adnan Latif was held indefinitely and ultimately for life because of his Yemeni citizenship, not his conduct.
CCR Blames Courts and Obama for Tragedy
press@ccrjustice.org
September 11, 2012, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement in response to the Defense Department’s announcement today of the death of Adnan Latif at Guantanamo—the ninth man to die since the prison opened, and the fourth on President Obama’s watch.
Adnan Latif is the human face of indefinite detention at Guantánamo, a policy President Obama now owns. Mr. Latif, held without charge or trial, died a tragic and personal death—alone in a cell, thousands of miles from home, more than a decade after he was abducted and brought to Guantánamo Bay. Like other men, Mr. Latif had been on hunger strike for years to protest his innocence. His protests were in vain.
Adnan Latif was indeed innocent of any wrongdoing that would have justified his detention. President Obama’s Justice Department knew he was innocent but appealed a district court order directing his release rather than send him home to Yemen. The president has imposed a moratorium on all transfers to Yemen, which is why more than half of the remaining detainees are Yemenis.
Adnan Latif was held indefinitely and ultimately for life because of his Yemeni citizenship, not his conduct.
When the D.C. Circuit overturned the order for Adnan Latif’s release, a strong dissenting opinion criticized the majority for not just “moving the goal posts, [but calling] the game in the government’s favor.” At the end of the day, the U.S. Supreme Court remained locked away in its ivory tower, ignoring an innocent man’s plea and its own promise of “meaningful review.” They all share in the responsibility for this innocent man’s fate.
Adnan Latif’s death is a stark reminder that locking up someone for more than a decade with no foreseeable end has irreparable human consequences. More men will die needlessly unless President Obama finally closes the prison. Adnan Latif’s death must be a clarion call to resume transfers and end this dark period.
The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for the last 10 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center represents the families of men who died at Guantánamo, and men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts. In addition, CCR has been working through diplomatic channels to resettle men who remain at Guantánamo because they cannot return to their country of origin for fear of persecution and torture.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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Leaving the urls as they are for easier use in disseminating:
Statement from Lawyers for Adnan Latif, Most Recent Prisoner to Die at Guantánamo [ http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/7977-lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement ]
Andy Worthington writes:
Over the weekend, Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, a Yemeni, became the ninth prisoner to die in Guantánamo. *Adnan had been repeatedly cleared for release* - under President Bush and President Obama, and by a US court - *but had never been freed*, like so many others in that disgraceful prison [ http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2012/09/11/lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement/# ], which remains an insult to the rule of law ten years and eight months since it first opened. Read more... [ http://www.worldcantwait.net/index.php/home-mainmenu-289/7977-lawyers-for-adnan-latif-the-latest-prisoner-to-die-at-guantanamo-issue-a-statement ]
4 comments:
I read this quote on another's thought-provoking blog today and I thought that this speaks so well to the treatment by empty lost human hearts which produce such lost - caged lives in others. (Whom I can only believe and pray will one day have souls which will fly higher than most because of their mistreatment.)
What did one of our Prophet's say -- that by their fruits we shall know them (the true leaders of peace.)
As Khalil Jibran said:
“I am the lost human heart, imprisoned in the foul dungeon of man’s dictates, tied with chains of earthly authority, dead and forgotten by laughing humanity whose tongue is tied and whose eyes are empty of visible tears.”
In response to this tragic story, we published an article, entitled, Lawyers' Statement on Adnan Latif, the Latest Prisoner to Die at Guantánamo, which includes a powerful statement by his attorneys, which we hope you will circulate to your friends and family, to encourage them to join our campaign.
Just an email is required to help us to continue to build our campaign to persuade the government that Guantanamo must be closed now! We must make sure that Adnan Latif's death was not in vain.
Thanks for your support, as ever.
The "Close Guantanamo" team
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Don't let the death of Adnan Latif, a Yemeni at Guantanamo, be in vain!
This week, we marked a terrible anniversary -- the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks -- with an article entitled, On the 11th Anniversary of the 9/11 Attacks, A Call to Free 90 Men from Guantánamo.
This was a heartfelt call for 87 cleared prisoners at Guantanamo - and three others, designated for indefinite detention without charge or trial -- to be released immediately, as their ongoing imprisonment is a monstrous betrayal of justice. The three additional men are the last two Kuwaitis in Guantanamo, Fayiz al-Kandari and Fawzi al-Odah, and Shaker Aamer, the last British resident in the prison.
However, almost as soon as we published the article, we received terrible news -- a prisoner had died at Guantanamo at the weekend, the ninth prisoner to die at the prison. On Tuesday, it was announced that the man in question was Adnan Farhan Abdul Latif, who was cleared for release in 2006 by a military review board under George W. Bush, and in 2009 by Barack Obama’s interagency Guantánamo Review Task Force. He also had his habeas corpus petition granted by a federal judge in July 2010.
However, instead of being released, Latif had his successful habeas petition thrown out by the D.C. Circuit Court last October, and in June this year the Supreme Court also failed him, refusing to get involved when he -- and six others -- appealed for justice.
He and 57 other Yemenis cleared for release were also failed by Congress, who took advantage of the capture, on Christmas Day 2009, of a failed plane bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian recruited in Yemen, to insist that no more Yemenis should be released from Guantánamo, and by President Obama, who issued a moratorium on releasing any Yemenis that is still in place, and that led directly to Adnan Latif's death.
Be sure to also see and follow (emails are free) the very active group:
No More Gitmos or GO here:
http://www.nogitmos.org
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