Lawyers: No Legal Basis for Keeping Libyan Detainee at Sea
Liby Being Held on Ship Without Legal Access
by Jason Ditz, October 09, 2013
Defense lawyers in the US are demanding the Obama Administration bring captured Libyan detainee Abu Anas al-Liby before a federal judge and appoint him a defense counsel, saying there is no legal basis not to do so.
Liby was captured outside his home by US troops over the weekend, and is currently being held on a warship in the Mediterranean Sea, where he is subject to interrogation by US troops and has no access to a lawyer.
Administration officials are arguing the exact contrary on the matter, arguing that there is no legal basis to not keep a captive indefinitely in military custody at sea, and that therefore President Obama can keep him in a legal black hole as long as he wants, since a ship in international waters is neither US territory nor the territory of any other nation.
The Geneva Convention requires that “prisoners of war” must be held on land, exactly for this reason, and while the administration made some vague references to Liby’s capture being in keeping with the ongoing global war, they have yet to call him a “prisoner of war.”
US Assumed Libya’s ‘Tacit’ Approval of Saturday Raid
Reiterates That No Advance Notice Was Provided of Raid
by Jason Ditz, October 09, 2013
US officials say that they had fully expected Libya would claim to have “known nothing” about the weekend US raid into the capital city of Tripoli to capture a Libyan citizen, and that shouldn’t be surprising, since they reiterated today that they had not actually told Libya in advance of the operation.
At the same time, officials say they assumed they had Libya’s “tacit” approval to carry out such a raid because of comments made during talks in previous weeks and months, and didn’t feel the need to inform them of the specifics of what they were doing.
Libyan officials have insisted they are very much not okay with the kidnapping operation, demanding the return of Abu Anas al-Liby, and saying that the raid violated Libyan sovereignty.
The Obama Administration has refused to address the actual legality of the operation, much in keeping with their attacks on Pakistan, during which they likewise claimed an understand existed.
Obama Swaps ‘Black Sites’ for ‘Justice at Sea’
Detainee Faces Open-Ended Interrogation in International Waters
by Jason Ditz, October 08, 2013
Over the past 12 years, captives disappeared off the streets of foreign cities have regularly found themselves in CIA “black sites,” held incommunicado for indefinite periods of time for “enhanced interrogation.”
President Obama harshly criticized this policy at one point, but the weekend capture of Abu Anas al-Liby has set up a distinction without a difference, as he is being held in similar circumstances at sea.
Liby’s capture by US ground troops sparked an immediate rebuke from the Libyan government, and the Obama Administration is now holding Liby on the USS San Antonio, an amphibious warship, and arguing that it can more or less keep him there as long as it likes, and since it’s in international water, it’s outside of the US justice system.
Officials say that Liby has not been Mirandized, and is facing open-ended interrogation on the ship without access to a lawyer, with officials saying they intend to bring him up for charges at some unspecified point in the future, at some unknown venue. Until then, if “then” ever comes, he remains in the same legal limbo as many other US detainees, with the ship just the latest excuse to avoid an actual trial.
Libya Demands US Return Kidnapped Citizen
PM Says Operation Won't Hurt US-Libyan Relations
by Jason Ditz, October 08, 2013
Libya’s National Congress has today issued a statement condemning a weekend operation by US troops on the streets of the capital city of Tripoli, demanding the immediate return of Abu Anas al-Liby and giving him access to a lawyer.
At appears to be entirely optional from the perspective of Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan, who says that Libyans have a right to be tried at home for alleged crimes, but that the US operation won’t do anything to damage relations with the US.
Officials have summoned the US ambassador over the matter to make clear their displeasure, but that might well be the beginning and end of it from their government’s perspective, despite an admission that the USconducted the raid without contacting them about a possible extradition.
The assorted calls for clarification, for release, or even just for letting the captive Liby speak to his family are all unlikely with the Obama Administration apparently just planning to leave him in international waters until the heat dies down, and expecting the problem to simply go away over time.
Obama Ducks Question of Libyan Raid’s Legality
Officials Say Obama Can Keep Captive Libyan Indefinitely at Sea
by Jason Ditz, October 08, 2013
The Saturday raid in Libya, which saw US ground troops marching into the capital city of Tripoli without any permission from the Libyan government and kidnapping a Libyan citizen at gunpoint has fueled considerable controversy, and questions about whether or not it violated international law.
President Obama was presented the question today and refused to answer, taking a long pause and then insisting only that he has considerable secret evidence against the captive, Anas al-Liby.
Amnesty International and others have argued that launching military operations just to abduct suspects abroad violates international law, and was doubly concerning in that Liby’s family hasn’t been informed officially of his detention or of any charges against him, and that the only way they knew who had kidnapped him was from the news.
The evidence against Liby seems very much beside the point since the administration doesn’t appear to have even attempted to have him extradited, and officials argue that the US can legally just keep Liby detained at sea for as long as it wants, so presenting that evidence to an actual court seems low priority.
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