Adnan Latif : 12 years later TRAGIC Injustice!

UPDATED from lawyers and Andy Worthington below

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 ]