Cristina Mateo-Yanguas's Notebook:

US citizens pursued by Spain’s National Court

There are currently four cases open involving the United States in Spain’s National Court: two related to Guantanamo; one to the killing of a Spanish news cameraman by the U.S. military in an attack on a hotel in Baghdad; and one about CIA flights taking prisoners to Guantanamo or other prisons, which is investigating whether Spanish authorities knew about and allowed stopovers of those flights in Spain.

Spain's principle of universal jurisdiction allows it to prosecute crimes, such as genocide and torture, that are so hideous that they must be tried in some court, even if Spain has no connection to the case.

Spanish politicians across the political spectrum have joined prosecutors and judges in condemning Guantanamo. Many Spaniards hope Spain’s National Court cases on Guantanamo will prompt the United States to conduct its own investigation.

“In principle, universal jurisdiction should not be applied to democratic countries. A democratic country is understood to have its own courts. But the United States used a base in Guantanamo to violate democratic principles in that country and avoid its own courts,” said international law professor Francisco Jimenez, from King Juan Carlos University.

It wouldn’t be the first time that a case in Spain’s National Court was followed by trials in the countries where the crimes were committed. Antonio Segura, a lawyer in the National Court’s trial that sent an Argentine military officer to prison, said trials took place in Argentina after Spain’s court sentenced the officer for crimes against humanity. Jimenez said that one of the practical effects of universal jurisdiction is that “it creates awareness that impunity is not possible.” He said that following the National Court case against Pinochet, “judicial actions were activated in Chile” even though Pinochet was ultimately not brought to Spain.

If the United States does not open investigations, there is a good chance these cases will continue in Spain, even if the planned reform to the legislation takes effect, as there were Spanish prisoners in Guantanamo. Since it is unlikely the United States would extradite its nationals to Spain, international arrest warrants would be issued, and those accused would risk detention if they traveled abroad.

Garzon stops at nothing

Spanish National Court investigative judge Baltasar Garzon opened an investigation on torture in Guantanamo and other prisons and initiated preliminary proceedings against “the possible authors, instigators, necessary cooperators, and accomplices,” according to a court document. These would include “members of the American air forces or military intelligence and all those who executed and/or designed a systematic torture plan and inhuman and degrading treatment against prisoners under their custody.”

This is separate from the possible probe on six former Bush administration officials for allegedly devising the legal framework to allow torture, which you can read more about here.

On that issue, the judge has yet to decide how to proceed, but Candido Conde-Pumpido, Spain’s attorney general, made clear his opposition to Spain’s taking on the case. Reports by Spanish media say members of the U.S. and Spanish governments agreed not to support the case.

Garzon’s document states that four former prisoners of Guantanamo and other detention centers reported suffering physical and psychological aggression “always under the authority of American armed forces personnel,” and it provides a detailed description of some of these practices: 50 cm by 50 cm cells; interrogations without the presence of a lawyer; constant electrical light, loud music (“American patriotic songs”) and noise to produce sleep deprivation; threats, insults, and humiliations; isolation; beatings; electrical shocks; nudity; feces spread on their bodies; chemicals that impaired breathing introduced in the cell; food deprivation; extreme hot and cold temperatures; water boarding; sexual aggression; and more.

Spanish law includes the principle of universal justice, which allows its National Court to try some crimes committed in other countries. Moreover, crimes of torture are defined in international treaties, signed by both the U.S. and Spain, such as the Geneva Conventions and the Convention Against Torture.

Garzon says documents recently declassified in the U.S. and reported by the media reveal “what it was sensed before: a systematic and authorized torture and mistreatment plan on people deprived of freedom without charges and without the prisoners’ fundamental rights set and demanded by international conventions.”

The former Guantanamo prisoners named in the document are Hamed Abderraman Ahmed, Lachen Ikassrien, Jamiel Abdultaif Al Banna and Omar Deghayes.

Hamed Abderraman, a Spanish citizen, was tried and sentenced to prison by Spain’s National Court for belonging to Al Qaeda, but the Supreme Court overturned the sentence and absolved him, deeming all evidence obtained in Guantanamo null. Later, the National Court, applying that Supreme Court’s resolution, also acquitted Lachen Ikassrien, charged with belonging to a terrorist organization.

European arrest warrants issued by Spain to the U.K. against Jamiel Abdultaif Al Banna and Omar Deghayes were canceled after doctors confirmed physical and psychological injuries. Their medical reports included depression, post-traumatic stress, hypertension, lumbar pain, arthrosis, nasal obstruction, and blindness in one eye, among other issues.

Should this investigation eventually lead to arrest warrants, Spanish commentators are skeptical the U.S. would extradite its nationals, and some question the practicality of pursuing a case like this. Others, however, hope court investigations by Spain or other European countries pressure the U.S. to open their own.

The Spanish press gives Obama mixed reviews

The Spanish media have focused on highlighting President Barack Obama’s high popularity rates in the U.S., while underscoring his style, “diametrically opposed” to his predecessor’s: pragmatism over ideology and willingness to listen before making a decision, abroad and at home.

Some dailies, such as El Periodico and El Mundo, define President Obama’s work on these first 100 days as “hyperactivity” in a positive way, while the conservative ABC points out he has done “nothing deserving praise.”

His order to close Guantanamo and his plans for the economy are the two policies most mentioned by Spanish analysts. The possible investigation of those responsible for tortures in Guantanamo and the injection of money in the economy are two of the most divisive issues,  according to analysts.

Guantanamo torture is a hot topic in Spain because a Spanish Court is considering whether to open an investigation on six former Bush administration officials.

In an editorial, the leading daily El Pais says President Obama’s measures to help the economy establish a different scale of values in American society, but ABC states the crisis has not changed Americans’ philosophy of fierce individualism and distrust of the centralized government.

Obama's efforts to improve the image of the U.S. in the world are commended by some analysts. Castro and Ahmadineyad will not change suddenly but “at least they will not be able to blame all their problems on US arrogance and unilateralism,” reads El Mundo’s editorial. But ABC warns that some conflicts cannot be solved with smiles.

Bush’s “bad heritage and bad memories” are helping Obama, affirms El Periodico. In a survey conducted on El Pais website by 11 a.m. 45 percent of the readers gave him an A, while 38 percent gave him a B. El Mundo argues that it would have been very difficult for President Obama to solve the numerous troubles in these 100 days but contends that he has not made errors to raise suspicion about his capacity to solve problems either.

Joaquin and Goliath

The news that Spain could open an investigation on Guantanamo has sparked a media storm in Europe and the United States.

The document filed in the Audiencia Nacional, Spain’s national court, urging an investigation of six former Bush administration officials for devising the legal framework for torture in the island’s detention center, has experts on both sides of the Atlantic debating matters of jurisdiction, politics and international law.

Who’s behind the case? The lawyers who prepared the document do not represent victims, but a small citizens’ group — the Association Pro Dignity of Prisoners.

The group, which has about 20 members, was created in 2005 when Joaquin Rodriguez Suarez, a criminologist and prison official, retired.

“After more than 40 years working in prisons, I thought somebody had to speak up for the dignity of prisoners,” explained the 73-year-old Rodriguez.

In a phone conversation, he said he believes universal jurisdiction should be applied to investigate the abuses of prisoners in Guantanamo, adding, “With the arrival of Obama, the environment and the time looked more favorable to present a case like this.”

He hopes the case will move forward, in spite of the opposition from Spain’s attorney general and the national court’s chief prosecutor. “Judge Garzon is not a coward. The important thing is that he opens proceedings in this case,” he said. He finds Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido’s comments that the claim is fraudulent “insulting.”

He is not “too surprised” by the wide news coverage of this issue in America. “The U.S. is a big country, there are dark things happening there, but also people are very interested in defending human rights, and the media there reflect this.”

Protecting humans

Spain is set to change its 20-year-old abortion law. To counter increased social acceptance of abortion in traditionally Catholic Spain, the Bishops’ Council launched a campaign against the proposal for a draft bill with the slogan, “Protect My Life.”

Posters and pamphlets distributed in Catholic schools and parishes feature a photo of a baby crawling next to a lynx cub. A stamp over the cub reads, “Lynx: protected.” The baby asks, “And what about me?” Other photos in the leaflets — which will be distributed throughout 2009, which was designated the “Year of Prayer for Life” by Spain’s Catholic Subcommission for the Family and Defense of Life — include a whale, a turtle and an eagle. The message the Catholic hierarchy wants to spread is that species of flora and fauna are more protected than human life.

Jose Antonio Martinez Camino, the spokesman of the Bishops’ Council, said recently in a press conference, “If many animal species are highly protected, even under criminal law, why is the life of human beings less protected?”

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