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Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law.

Because no one
is above the law!

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Public Education - The International Program

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 213 hearings to date.

See ARCHIVE section HERE.

 

Hearing Summaries

Military Commissions:

Pre-Trial Hearings 

ISN 10024 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed et. al. 

November 6-10, 2023, 9-11 Commissions 

On 18SEP2023, the military judge ordered the sealing of Ramzi Bin Al Shibh’s mental health documents pursuant to AE 906 M/914 AA and a closed 909 hearing for the assessment of the detainee’s capacity/competency to stand trial.1 On 21SEP2023, the military judge issued AEs 906 O and 914 EE, which are both titled “Ruling and Order: Rule for Military Commissions 909 Competency Determination and Severance.” These orders remain under classification review, but considering Ramzi Bin Al Shibh’s absence at subsequent pre-trial hearings, it appears he has been severed from the proceedings. 

Events: 

The pre-trial hearings scheduled to start on 6NOV2023 were postponed until 8NOV2023 because an undisclosed member or members of the defense teams on island demonstrated Covid-19 symptoms. Proceedings were briefly interrupted but not recessed in the afternoon on 10NOV2023 when a member of the defense team for Hawsawi, who had been attending from the Remote Hearing Room (RHR), tested positive for Covid-19 and was sent home. Several personnel in both the expeditionary courtroom and the RHR opted to wear face masks throughout the proceedings, but no other visible measures were taken. All witnesses testified without masks. 

Prior to calling the first witness, the defense teams for Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM), Ali/Baluchi, and Hawsawi raised concerns about the microphones in the expeditionary courtroom and the RHR, asserting that the government may have, either accidentally or in bad faith, equipped both locations with microphones that could transmit sound even when in the “off” position. The defense team for Hawsawi also objected to a procedure at the RHR that required that defense teams be segregated (whether from other defense teams or from other users is unclear) in elevators and asserted that WHS (Washington Headquarters Services) reactions to his team’s objections to the procedure had led to a frivolous investigation that had a chilling effect on counsel assistance. The judge briefly recessed the commission for the government team to retrieve specifications on the microphones and any information on the RHR procedure and WHS investigations. When court resumed, the government asserted that the microphone specifications indicated that they only received and transmitted sound when the “push to talk” buttons were engaged. Additionally, the RHR was equipped with a few models of microphones where the “push to talk” button locked in the “talk” position, so had to be pressed again to disengage it. If the button was not engaged on any given microphone, nobody could listen in or was listening.2  

Several further arguments occurred before calling witnesses, including whether the government should be permitted to re-prepare witnesses who have been recalled after multi-year gaps in testimony; whether the government should be granted an extension, and if the defense would also be granted one in that event; and if JTF-GTMO was really allowed to change Ali/Baluchi’s medications “without asking him.”  

The first witness to be called was Agent Abigail Perkins of the FBI. The defense teams examined her in open session about the process of investigating Hawsawi, the means of sending collection requirements from the FBI to the CIA while the detainees were at the black sites, the involvement of New York law enforcement departments, legal admonishments that were given in place of Miranda warnings, and agent efforts to convince Director Mueller III to allow the FBI to directly interview detainees.  

The second witness to be called was Assistant Director Jacqueline MacGuire of the FBI Training Division, who was the case agent for investigating Flight 77 in the 9-11 PENTTBOMB investigation. The defense teams examined her in open session about the involvement of members of the New York Police Department in the investigation, her investigations of Ali Al Marri (an enemy combatant who had telephone contact with Hawsawi, was indicted twice in Illinois, and was detained in the Charleston Brig), how FD-302 pass lines were populated, her investigations into Farouq Al Najdi and Zaid Al Rashid, her investigations into Al Bayoumi and Osama Bassnan, her interviews of Al Bayoumi and Bassnan and Tamari in Saudi Arabia in conjunction with the 9-11 Commission, her understanding of the term “clean team,” and her awareness of agent efforts to lobby Director Mueller III for FBI direct access to detainees. The government cross-examined her about the timelines of the 9-11 hijackers who took up residence in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas, her conclusions about Al Bayoumi’s lack of involvement in or prior awareness of 9-11 and the hijackers’ purposes, the independent review by the 9-11 Commission that concluded the same, and the two re-investigations in 2007-2016 and 2019 that ultimately reaffirmed the conclusions.  

 

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, 2017

About Thomas Wheatley, https://www2.gmu.edu/news/424386

International Visitors and United Nations DGC Briefing

  • 2018
  • 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
  • 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
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