The House International Relations Committee is meeting this afternoon to consider three resolutions on torture. The ACLU reports (no link yet, received by e-mail):

These resolutions would direct the executive branch to provide the House of Representatives with information about the use of torture, extraordinary rendition and compliance with the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture. According to the Congressional Research Service, these resolutions of inquiry make "a direct request or demand of the President or the head of an executive department to furnish the House of Representatives with specific factual information in the possession of the executive branch."

by TChris

Shawqi Ahmad Omar, an American citizen, has been detained in Iraq for more than a year. No charges have been filed, and he's had no access to a lawyer. His wife says he traveled to Iraq to seek construction contracts, while the military insists that Omar was harboring insurgents and plotting against the interests of the United States.

If Omar is placed on trial for treason, with counsel and an opportunity to confront his accusers, the truth might come out. The Bush administration has an aversion to the truth, and to due process; it prefers to hold Omar without being bothered to prove that he assisted insurgents.

Lawyers assisting Omar's wife have asked a federal court to protect Omar's rights, but the Justice Department argues that Omar has no rights. Besides, the Department contends, Omar isn't in American military custody. Rather, he's being held by the "Multi-National Force" -- the infamous "coalition of the willing." Omar's lawyers argue that the U.S. military is playing a shell game to thwart federal court jurisdiction.

The Council of Europe's interim report on U.S. secret prisons in Europe is out. The report says there is evidence that the U.S. outsourced torture and European Governments likely were aware of it.

"There is a great deal of coherent, convergent evidence pointing to the existence of a system of "relocation" or "outsourcing" of torture," Marty said in the report to the Council of Europe, the human rights watchdog on whose behalf he is investigating.

"Acts of torture or severe violation of detainees' dignity through the administration of inhuman or degrading treatment are carried outside national territory and beyond the authority of national intelligence services," Marty said. He added that more than 100 suspects may have been transferred to countries where they faced torture or ill treatment in recent years.

U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, one of my favorites (for many reasons, including this one) has ordered the Pentagon to release the names of the Guantanamo detainees.

U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff told the government to provide the information in the form of unredacted copies of transcripts and documents related to 558 military hearings in which detainees were permitted to challenge their incarcerations.

AP attorney David A. Schulz said he expected the government to appeal. "The judge has rejected the Defense Department's effort to use the privacy interests of detainees to prevent the public from learning information about the actions taken at Guantanamo Bay," he said.

The ruckus over Bush's signing statement attached to the McCain anti-torture amendment continues. 22 high-ranking former military officers have written a letter to President Bush asking him to enforce the amendment.

When U.S. President George W. Bush in December signed the law banning cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of detainees championed by Sen. John McCain R-Ariz., he did so with a caveat: As commander-in-chief, he can waive the limits when he deems necessary for national security.

The generals and admirals who signed the letter Thursday, including a former four-star commander of Central Command, said the issue is less about the detainees as it is about the values that the military holds dear.

There's a lot of news in Europe the past two days on the CIA's extraordinary renditions of terror suspects via Ghost Air:

• Europe sets up CIA prison inquiry
  The European Parliament is setting up a committee to investigate claims that the CIA has been transporting suspects to secret prisons in Europe....The committee's inquiry will run alongside the investigation by human rights watchdog the Council of Europe....46 members of the new committee are set to be announced on Thursday.

• Scotland has been asked to cooperate in the investigation . There are allegations Ghost Air landed at Scottish airports.

• A British Foreign Office memo has been leaked showing that British airports may have been used and UK leaders were concerned about the legality of the CIA's rendition program.

• A Swiss Senator says Switzerland has known about the CIA program for at least two years.

Unbelieveable. Literally. Think Progress reports Press Secretary Scott McClellan today said he never heard of the U.S. sending detainees to Syria. When told it had been well-publicized, he asked, "by who, bloggers?"

Are we supposed to believe that McClelland never heard of the lawsuit filed against Attorney General Ashcroft and others over Maher's seizure at JFK, extraordinary rendition to Syria and alleged torture? The Toronto Star reported that the U.S. tried to have the lawsuit dismissed claiming the litigation would jeopardize national security. Here's the Justice Department's brief, filed in the lawsuit. (Via Democracy Now.)

Did you know about the 9 Chinese detainees at Guantanamo? They are Uighurs, Muslims from western China, who are now in their 5th year of imprisonment. The Bush Administration acknowledged in 2004 they had been imprisoned by mistake and should be released since they are not enemy combatants. But they are still there. And Bush won't let them go.

They can't go back to China because they would be persecuted there. No other country will take them. Even though other Uighurs have been granted asylum in the U.S., Bush won't allow them to stay here. And so, they must stay at Guantanamo indefinitely, perhaps for life.

Meet Omar Khadr. He's a Canadian teenager who has been held at Guantanamo for 39 months, since he was 15 and captured in Afghanistan. You can read his story at our earlier posts here and here.

He is one of the 9 detainees at Guantanamo who has been charged with a crime -- murder of an American medic. His military tribunal proceeding began last week. The first issue taken up was the improper comments of the military prosecutor to the press.

The second issue was Omar's request, made through his American lawyer, Muneer Ahmad,for a new military lawyer.

Khadr will be formally represented by Capt. John Merriam, a U.S. army judge advocate with no trial experience, "even on charges of jaywalking," said Ahmad, who is asking that he be replaced by someone with more experience.

"It would be laughable if the stakes weren't so high," he said.

Bump and Update: Here is the Der Spiegel interview with Chancellor Merkel in which she discusses her view of U.S. interrogation tactics applied to terror detainees.

SPIEGEL: The US government feels it is legitimate to hold prisoners under water until they believe they are drowning. Is this acceptable to you?

Merkel: There was a similar debate in Germany over the 2002
kidnapping of Jakob von Metzler, the banker's son. The issue then was whether it is legitimate to threaten or use torture to save the life of a child. The public debate showed that the overwhelming majority of citizens believed that even in such a case, the end does not justify the means. That is also my position.

SPIEGEL: Do you agree with Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble's view that in the fight against terrorism, it is necessary to use information that may have been obtained through torture?

Merkel: Not in a criminal proceeding. Information obtained under dubious circumstances cannot play a role in legal proceedings in a constitutional state. But everything that's available must be taken into account in threat prevention. What do you do when other countries' intelligence agencies give you information and you aren't entirely certain about its source? Simply ignore it? That's impossible. We have a duty to guarantee the safety of our citizens.

The Alito hearings are not the only hearings of note this week. Military tribunal hearings begin at Guantanamo. Ari Cover, a senior associate at Human Rights First is blogging live from Guantanamo.

The first hearings Wednesday will be pre-trial hearings of 19-year-old Canadian citizen Omar Khadr and 37-year-old Yemeni citizen Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul. Ari writes:

As pre-trial hearings resume Wednesday amidst all of this uncertainty, I’ll do my best to pass along what I learn from commission proceedings (the limit of my narrow invitation to GTMO). At the same time, I’ll try to explore many of the concerns mentioned above – the health of detainees; their possible transfer; and potential changes in military commission rules.

He does a great job today, covering everything from the hunger strike to the fact that this week marks the 4th anniversary of Gitmo detentions.

In December, 2002, Mullah Habibullah and a man named Dilawar died while being held for interrogation at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. Their deaths were ruled homicides, caused by blunt force trauma. In other words, they were beaten to death.

An investigation ensued but the military would not release the details. Subsequently it was revealed that both died while shackled to the ceiling of their cells, after repeatedly being kneed in the legs. (More details of their beatings and deaths are below.)

Capt. Christopher M. Beiring, then the leader of the military police company guarding the prisoners, was charged with lying to investigators and being derelict in his duties. He was the only officer charged in the deaths.

Friday, the military announced that charges against Beiring have been dropped.