Guantanamo detainee lawsuit claims torture prior to authorization of techniques News
Guantanamo detainee lawsuit claims torture prior to authorization of techniques

[JURIST] The lawyer for Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Rafik Alhami [NYT profile] filed suit [complaint, PDF] Thursday in the US District Court for the District of New Jersey [official website] alleging that Alhami was tortured before the Bush administration approved of the techniques. The suit claims [Star-Ledger report] that Alhami was kicked, punched, stripped naked, and threatened with dogs beginning in 2001 and continuing after his transfer to Guantanamo Bay in 2003. Last week, the Senated Armed Services Committee declassified a report [JURIST report] that indicated the enhanced interrogation techniques were not authorized until 2002. Alhami is being represented in the suit by Joshua and Mark Denbeaux [profiles], who have been involved in detainee rights for several years as members of the Guantanamo Bay Teach-In [advocacy website] at Seton Hall University School of Law.

Alhami's complaint is the latest in a number of allegations of torture performed at Guantanamo Bay. Earlier this month, Mohammed El Gharani alleged in a phone interview [JURIST report] with Al-Jazeera that he had been beaten to the point of having his teeth broken. Prior to El Gharani's claim, the Red Cross released a report [JURIST report] that stated doctors at Guantanamo Bay had violated codes of medical ethics by assisting in ill-treatment of detainees at the prison facility.

THIS DAY @ LAW

No lynchings reported in US for first time

On December 30, 1952, the Tuskegee Institute reported that 1952 was the first year of no lynchings of African Americans in the United States in the 71 years it had kept records. Learn more about lynching and listen to Billie Holiday's jazz recording of the 1938 protest song Strange Fruit.

USSR established

On December 30, 1922, representatives of Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the Transcaucus approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, creating the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). During World War II, the USSR would also annex Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Moldova. Learn more about the history of the USSR from the BBC.