Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the UN report on widespread torture in Afghan-run detention facilities; the difficulty of assessing US torture-prevention programs that are kept secret; discarding established conventions for prisoners of war, as the US makes up new rules and prisoner classifications on the fly; and how, ten years after 9/11, indefinite detention in military custody has become the new normal.

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses her recent report about the shoddy and lawless process for dealing with detainees at Bagram prison in Afghanistan, the secret JSOC prison nearby, the huge numbers of people swept up in night raids and the many at Bagram arrested on accusations from informers who use US to settle tribal/personal vendettas.

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the relatively fair federal trial that ended in Ahmed Ghailani‘s conviction of a conspiracy charge related to the 1998 (US) Africa embassy bombings, another example of a civilian terrorism trial with a guilty verdict and no security threats (despite the fear-mongering of Liz Cheney's Keep America Safe group), the far harsher sentences given in federal terrorism trials than in Guantanamo's military...

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the circumstances surrounding Omar Khadr's capture and incarceration in Afghanistan at the age of 15 in 2002, the Military Commissions judge's decision to allow the admissibility of a confession extracted under threat of death, the irony of the U.S. prosecuting Khadr for war crimes while sponsoring amnesty and rehabilitation for child soldiers in Africa, the purging of jurors who had any negative opinion on...

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the trial of Guantanamo prisoner Omar Khadr, the unconstitutional retroactive application of the Military Commissions Act, the US government’s apparent loss of faith in the civilian criminal court system, why the most radical of legal proposals come from supposed political 'moderates' like Joe Lieberman, the sparse US mainstream media presence at Khadr’s hearings and the individual frustrations of those...

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the inefficient and bizarre proceedings of Guantanamo's military commissions, the steady erosion of Constitutional protections for foreigners and US citizens alike, the few indications that Obama has improved on Bush administration torture practices and the revelation from Lawrence Wilkerson (former chief of staff  to Secretary of State Colin Powell) that Bush knew many Gitmo inmates were innocent.

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the preemptive legal defenses trotted out by John Yoo and Dick Cheney, information missing or withheld from the DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility's torture memo investigation, the incompatibility of Yoo's extralegal commander-in-chief theory with any semblance of Constitutional rule of law and why a post-apartheid South Africa-style truth commission may be the best resolution of Bush administration...

Daphne Eviatar, Senior Associate in Law and Security for Human Rights First, discusses the Brookings Institution study that recommends codifying indefinite detention without trial, the government’s refusal to release some Guantanamo detainees who won their habeas corpus hearings and how the never ending 'war on terror' complicates the traditional practice of holding prisoners 'for the duration.'

Lawyer and freelance journalist Daphne Eviatar discusses the upcoming release of the DOJ misconduct investigation OCR report, the possible impeachment of federal judge (and former White House OLC lawyer) Jay Bybee, the numerous excuses Obama and Eric Holder invent to avoid prosecuting Bush administration officials, the Republican fear of public trials for terrorism suspects and how Holder's guarantee of terrorist convictions suggests that the justice system is rigged.

Lawyer and freelance journalist Daphne Eviatar discusses newly discovered interrogation video of Guantanamo detainee Mohammed al Qahtani, how Obama’s 'move forward' rhetoric undermines Eric Holder’s torture investigation, the broad application and abuse of increased law enforcement powers meant to specifically combat terrorism, John Durham’s glacial-paced investigation of missing CIA tapes and the minimal protests in Congress against renewing the Patriot Act.

Lawyer and freelance journalist Daphne Eviatar discusses Guantanamo detainee Mohamed Jawad’s legal limbo, the DOJ/U.S. military payment to prosecution witnesses in Afghanistan, the political peril in releasing the 'worst of the worst' from custody and how even a limited torture investigation could potentially climb up the chain of command.

Daphne Eviatar, writer for The Washington Independent, discusses the torture evidence against Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad that Obama’s DOJ won’t drop, routine torture at Bagram, Eric Holder’s use of verbal gymnastics to avoid explicitly calling the Bush wiretapping policy a crime and the disappearance of the 'enemy combatant' designation but not the policy of indefinite detention.

Lawyer and freelance journalist Daphne Eviatar discusses Obama's plan to keep Bush's Military Commissions Act powers over the American people and bring the Guantanamo legal system to the U.S. and the recent Supreme Court ruling