International Visitors
Developing nations, especially ones with emerging or fledgling democracies, look to America to study its institutions, laws and the ingenious balance of powers created by our Founding Fathers. Through various programs sponsored by the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), delegates from these nations visit the United States and are put into contact with organizations like Judicial Watch. Since 2001, Judicial Watch has been a major participant in the Department of State’s IVLP and other leadership exchange programs, having received over 83 visiting delegations. As the premier Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) litigator in America today, Judicial Watch is one of the most sought after transparency and accountability organizations for personal meetings with emerging leaders from around the world who are interested in learning how they can stop corruption and demand accountability from their judges, government officials, and political parties.
The United Nations Department of Global Communications
The United Nations Department of Global Communications hosts monthly briefings and other workshops and an annual conference where representatives of NGOs from every corner of the world come together for the purpose of networking and collaborating on solutions to some of the world’s most challenging problems, from security issues such as crime and violence, hunger and disease, persecution and war, to major development issues of education, job opportunities, and women’s empowerment.
Judicial Watch is associated with the United Nations Department of Global Communications (UN DGC) as a nongovernmental organization whose mission is to promote transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law. It fulfills its educational mission through litigation, investigations, and public outreach. Its International Program serves as an integral part of its educational program.
Judicial Watch GTMO Observer Program
Judicial Watch was granted observer status by the Pentagon to observe the arraignment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in June of 2008. Since the recommencement of the 9/11 hearings at Guantanamo Bay in November 2011, JW has attended 95 percent of the hearings held at the detention facility, as well as Periodic Review Board Proceedings (PRBs) currently held at the Pentagon. Judicial Watch staff and representatives have attended and monitored over 256 hearings to date.
See ARCHIVE section HERE.
Hearing Summaries
Military Commissions:
ISN 10026 Abd Al Hadi Al Iraqi
Sentencing Hearing
June 20, 2024
On June 20, 2024, the members of the Sentencing Panel for ISN 10026 Abd Al Hadi Al Iraqi, also known as Al Tamir, reached a sentencing verdict of 30 years’ confinement.1 This was the maximum number of years available to the Sentencing Panel to apply, with a required minimum sentence of 25 years of confinement.2 The judge accepted the Sentencing Panel’s verdict. After dismissing the Sentencing Panel, the judge interpreted the Pretrial Agreement into the record, under which the detainee pled guilty with the understanding that the Convening Authority is allowed to suspend any confinement that would continue beyond June 13, 2032.3
At no time were the terms of the Pretrial Agreement published or shared with the Sentencing Panel. No indication of the location or form of confinement that Hadi Al Iraqi will complete was placed on the record.
Observations:
While the Sentencing Panel returned the maximum verdict available, this was unlikely to have been a unanimous sentencing verdict, given that panel member 15 submitted questions while hearing testimony that leaned toward the presumption that GTMO had been negligent in or incapable of providing proper medical care.4 There was an absence of testimony by witnesses covering defense’s efforts at obtaining medical records that would allow for the evaluation of a third country’s ability to provide the detainee with proper medical care. Unless the defense included that information in the initial evidence packet, the Sentencing Panel could possibly assume that ISN 10026 will spend his incarceration at GTMO.
Hadi Al Iraqi’s sentencing requirements have been the second longest to date and also exhibit the greatest variance between the maximum verdict sentenced and the sentence established by the pretrial agreement.
Majid Khan’s sentence of confinement was required to fall between 25 and 40 years, and he received a near-minimum sentence with an additional undisclosed reduction in time recommended in clemency.5 His Pretrial Agreement also gave him credit for time served resulting in his release and transfer to the Bahamas within two years of his sentencing, ostensibly having only served half of the recommended sentence.
Bin Lep’s and Bin Amin’s sentences were required to fall between 20 and 25 years, and they received a sentence of 23 years each,6 but their Pretrial Agreements limited the maximum confinement duration to six years each reducing each of their sentences by 17 years.7
Hadi Al Iraqi’s sentence was required to be between 20 and 30 years, and the Sentencing Panel sentenced him to 30 years with no recommendations of clemency, but his Pretrial Agreement limited the maximum duration of confinement to 10 years and backdated his service to 2022, reducing his sentence by 20 to 22 years.8
Given that the Sentencing Panels are instructed to consider the quadripartite purposes of a sentence (rehabilitation of the sentenced, punishment of the sentenced, protection of society from the sentenced, and deterrence of the sentenced and those considering similar acts from performing those acts), as well as mitigating factors in determining the justice of a sentence, the pretrial agreements shortening sentence duration could prove to be endangering society by preventing rehabilitation of the accused and encouraging repetition of the crimes by its leniency.
Further, since the pretrial agreements to date have all dictated confinements that are much shorter than the minimum durations the Sentencing Panels are allowed to assign, holding these sentencing hearings could be considered a waste of resources and a mark of disrespect for all the service members who are called to serve on the Sentencing Panels, whose determinations are ignored.
If these pretrial agreements are encouraged by political pressures to see the detainees cleared out of the GTMO facilities, the pretrial agreements represent corruption and a miscarriage of justice.
See ARCHIVE for full summary
In the Media
The Hill published the following article by Thomas Wheatley, a participant in Judicial Watch’s GTMO Observer Program.
“Trump, honor Obama’s agreement to release Guantanamo detainee,”
The Hill, October 4, 2017About Thomas Wheatley, https://www2.gmu.edu/news/424386
International Visitors and United Nations DGC Briefing
- 2018
- 2017
- Summary of UN Event: The Trade in Minors in the Digital Age – September 28, 2017
- 2016
- Countries represented by international visitors to Judicial Watch in 2016:
Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Albania, Czech Republic, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine, Macedonia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Congo, The Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Swaziland, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Togo, Finland, Georgia, Guatemala, India, Ireland, Kuwait, Lesotho, Nepal, Netherlands, Philippines, Vietnam, and South Sudan
- United Nation’s Commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons – September
- Observance of the International Day Against Nuclear Tests – August
- Summary of Meeting with North Africa and the Near East Delegation – February
- 2015
- Wrap up for 2015
- Countries represented by international visitors to Judicial Watch in 2015:
Macedonia, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH),Bulgaria, France, Georgia, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, Ukraine, Algeria Brunei, Croatia, Egypt, Hungary, India, Lithuania, Malawi, Nepal, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Tunisia, and Venezuela
- Summary of Meeting with Macedonian Delegation – July
- UNESCO Event Summary SREBRENICA – July
- 2014
- Wrap up for 2014
- Countries represented by international visitors to Judicial Watch in 2014:
China, Argentina, Columbia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela, Argentina, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Republic of Kosovo, Moldova, Netherlands, Serbia, , Kenya, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Honduras
- Western Hemisphere – September
- 65th UN DPI/NGO Conference – August
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- 2010
- Croatia
- India and Bhutan
- UN-DPI, Washington, DC – “Rediscovering Preventive Diplomacy for Peace in the World’s Hotspots: A View from the United Nations”
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Vietnam
- French Counterterrorism Officials
- 2009
- 2008
- Thailand
- Multi-Regional Delegation – The US Judicial System – Bosnia-Herzegovina, Burma, Timor-Leste, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Malaysia, Nigeria, Malawi, Pakistan, Portugal, Romania, People’s Republic of China, South Africa
- France
- 11 Latin American Countries – Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
- 2007
- 2006
- Croatia – Law Enforcement and the Judiciary
- Tanzania
- France- French Ministry of Justice
- The Multi-Regional Project
- Italy
- Ukraine
- France
- Kyrgyzstan
- Cambodia
- Croatia
- Fulbright Fellows
- The Sun Shines in Over 60 Countries Worldwide
- 2005
- 2004
- Latvia
- West Africa delegation
- Czech Republic
- Ghana
- 2003
- Brazil
- Russia
- Republic of China
- 2002
- Japan
- Turkey
- 2001
- Moldova
