Where are Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's wife and sons? What is the name of his wife? Were the children really brought to the U.S. for questioning or were they kept in detention in Pakistan, Afhanistan or elsewhere? Were they tortured? Were they ever released? Who got the reward for KSM's capture?

Back in 2003, when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured, there were varying reports on his capture and the seizure and detention of his children. In 2004, Amnesty International wrote this open letter to Pakistan President Musharraf inquiring as to their whereabouts (See page 11.)

The timeline appears to go like this: [More...]

While the focus on Guantanamo this week has been on the 10 who will be charged in federal court or military commission trials, the AP today has a report on the 15 Judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia who have been holding habeas hearings for the Guantanamo detainees not charged with crimes. The hearings have been ongoing as a result of the Supreme Court's decision that detainees have the right to challenge their detention and conditions of confinement. So far, 30 have been ordered released, and 8 have been ordered detained. The scorecard is here.

• Total Habeas Cases Decided: 38
• Habeas Cases Granted: 30
• Habeas Cases Denied: 8
• Habeas Granted and Released: 18
• Habeas Granted and Still Detained: 12
• Current Guantanamo Population: 215

The court's public website for the cases is here. Some ruling excerpts:

The Bureau of Prisons may buy Thomson Correctional Center, about 150 miles from Chicago, and use it to house the remaining Guantanamo detainees. Officals will be visiting Monday.

Officials from the department of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, and the federal Bureau of Prisons will be will be visiting the maximum-security Thomson Correctional Center, about 150 miles west of Chicago, on Monday, the officials said.

... If the Bureau of Prisons purchases the site, it would operate primarily as a federal prison and a portion of it would be leased to the Defense Department to house the Guantanamo detainees, the official said.

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Happy Birthday, Gitmo? Former President George W. Bush signed the order authorizing detention at Guantanamo on November 13, 2001:

On Nov. 13, 2001, President George W. Bush signed what has become known as Military Order No. 1 [4] in what he termed a Global War on Terrorism. Without informing his national security adviser, his secretary of state, his chief of staff or his communications director, Bush approved [5] what would appear three days later in the Federal Register as: "Military Order of November 13, 2001: Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain Non-Citizens in the War Against Terrorism."

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A bi-partisan group of dignatories (list here, pdf)has issued a declaration for safely closing Guantanamo. It is backed by the Constitution Project and Human Rights First. The plan supports trying detainees in federal court and opposes indefinite detention. The declaration is available here (pdf).

The largest bipartisan group of prominent Americans to propose a plan for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility has backed a single scheme for the disposition of cases of current and future detainees.

• close Guantanamo on schedule;
• use federal courts, not military commissions, to prosecute accused terrorists; and
• prohibit forever the practice of indefinite detention without charges.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled against Maher Arar in his extraordinary rendition and torture lawsuit against the Government. Arar, a Canadian, was detained at JFK, flown to Syria where he was tortured for almost a year, before being returned to Canada. The Canadian government found that Mr. Arar had no connection to terrorism and apologized to him. It also awarded him a multi-million-dollar settlement for its role in the mess. Not our government. Georgetown law professor David Cole, who argued the case, which was brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights says:

“This decision says that U.S. officials can intentionally send a man to be tortured abroad, bar him from any access to the courts while doing so, and then avoid any legal accountability thereafter. It effectively places executive officials above the law, even when accused of a conscious conspiracy to torture. If the rule of law means anything, it must mean that courts can hear the claim of an innocent man subjected to torture that violates our most basic constitutional commitments.”

The opinion is available here. The dissent, which begins on p. 61 of the 184 page opinion, is well worth reading. All of our Maher Arar coverage is accessible here.

The Center for Constitutional Rights announced that six of the Uighur detainees at Guanatanamo arrived at their new temporary home in the Pacific island of Palau today (no link yet, received by e-mail). The CCR represents three of the six men:

Ahmad Tourson, Adel Noori, and Abdulghappar Abdulrahman arrived to freedom in Palau today, following nearly eight years of unjust and unlawful imprisonment in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The men, who are ethnic Uighurs from far-western China, were being held in Guantánamo despite having been cleared for release by the U.S. government years ago. Palau has generously and courageously agreed to provide a temporary home for the three men while the United States continues to search for a country where they can be permanently resettled.

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The ACLU has rreceived and posted new torture documents obtained in its FOIA lawsuit. What's in them? Thanks to CBS Legal Analyst Andrew Cohen for doing the heavy lifting, via Twitter:

• US interrogation team sought explicit permission to question Saddam Hussein without reading him Miranda rights.

• Judge" Alberto Gonzales complicit in torture tactics

• The rationale behind military's treatment of Saddam Hussein upon capture

• Saddam Hussein interrogation document memo

More below:

Yesterday, President Obama signed the Homeland Security appropriations bill passed last week by Congress that prevents the release of photos depicting torture and abuse of detainees and allows the transfer of detainees from Guantánamo Bay to the U.S. for prosecution -- but won't allow those acquitted to remain in the U.S or those convicted to serve their sentences in U.S. prisons.

Last week, the ACLU sent this letter (pdf) to Defense Secretary Gates on why the photos should not be excluded from Freedom of Information Act Requests. [More...]

This ad to close Guantanamo will air on cable tv channels for a week beginning tomorrow. From the press release (received by e-mail, no link)

The campaign, called the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo, was launched with a press call with Retired Generals Bob Gard and John Johns, VoteVets.org Chairman Jon Soltz and former US Congressman and Director of the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo Tom Andrews. The campaign will support President Obama’s call to close the prison and urge Congress to reject the scare tactics of Dick Cheney, and the far right, and shut down the Guantanamo.

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The Supreme Court today granted cert in the case of Kiyemba v. Obama, brought by the Chinese Uighurs held at Guantanamo despite being cleared for release.

Kiyemba v. Obama is a habeas corpus petition filed in the D.C. District Court on behalf of 17 innocent Uighur men who have been imprisoned in Guantánamo Bay for almost seven years. The government acknowledged as early as 2003 that the imprisoned Uighurs were improperly detained and eligible for release. They remain imprisoned because a transfer to China would be illegal as they would be at grave risk of torture or other forms of persecution; and the US government has both refused to accept the men into the US and been unwilling or unable to find other countries willing to accept them.

The issue is whether a court can order the Uighurs released into the United States when there is no other remedy. Of the 30 detainees found to be improperly detained, 18 are still being held. [More...]

An Obama Administration official said Saturday that a decision on where to move the 223 remaining Guantanamo detainees is in the final stages:

"We are doing everything we can to close it by the date," the official said, declining further identification. "We are in the final stages of locating a secure facility in the U.S. where detainees can be held."

Not likely to be chosen: Standish, MI and Fort Leavenworth, KS. That seems to leave Supermax in Florence, CO, also known as "Alcatraz of the Rockies" and U.S. military brigs. More than 200 prisoners convicted on terror charges are currently in U.S. prisons.

Supermax sounds like the most likely choice. The offical said Obama hasn't been briefed yet on the possibilities, which means a decision is not imminent.