Timeline of Guantanamo Bay Military Commissions

In response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and subsequent military operations, existing migrant detention facilities at Guantanamo were repurposed to hold detainees in the “war on terror“.

Please see the timeline below to track important events concerning Guantanamo and the Military Commissions.

View the timeline of 9-11 hearing that occurred VS those that were canceled.

View the schedule for upcoming 9-11 hearings.

1900 – 2001

Picture

The new Republic of Cuba leases 45 square miles of land in Guantanamo Bay to the United States for construction of a naval station. Building on the naval station begins that same year.

1903

Picture

Cuba and the United States sign a perpetual lease that rents the 45 square miles of Cuba to the US for $4,085.00 a year. The lease can only be terminated by mutual agreement.

1934

Picture

Approximately 34,000 Haitian refugees are detained on the base after they flee a coup in Haiti.

1991

Picture

More than 55,000 Cubans and Haitians captured at sea are kept at Guantanamo.

1994-1995

Picture

9/11

19 hijackers fly four planes into the World Trade Centers, the Pentagon, and a field in Pennsylvania, Killing 2,976 people

9/11/2001

Picture

George Bush, the US president, issues a military order on the “Detention, Treatment, and Trial of Certain non-Citizens, in the War Against Terrorism.” The order authorizes the US to hold foreign nationals in custody without charge indefinitely.

11/13/2001

Picture

A memorandum from the US Justice Department to the Pentagon explains that prisoners held in Guantanamo Bay are not eligible for habeas corpus rights because they are not on US soil.

12/28/2001

2002

Picture

The first 20 detainees from Afghanistan and Pakistan arrive at the temporary facility of Camp X-Ray.

1/11/2002

Picture

The International Committee of the Red Cross begins visiting prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. On the same day, the Bush administration rules that Guantanamo prisoners do not qualify as prisoners of war and are not entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention.

1/18/2002

Picture

The Centre for Constitutional Rights files Rasul v Bush, a habeas petition, in the Washington circuit court on behalf of prisoners David Hicks, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal.

2/19/2002

Picture

US Federal judge dismisses the challenge to the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.

2/21/2002

Picture

The Bush administration announces new military tribunal regulations.

3/21/2002

Picture

A memorandum from the Justice Department to then White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales advises that the president can authorize a wide range of “enhanced interrogation techniques” that would not amount to torture and therefore not be prosecutable under US law.

8/1/2002

2003

Picture

Federal appeals court rules that Guantanamo detainees have no legal rights in the United States.

3/11/2003

Picture

Bush designates six suspected members of al-Qaeda eligible for the first military tribunals since the second World War.

7/3/2003

Picture

David Hicks (Australian) becomes the first Guantanamo prisoner to be given a lawyer.

12/3/2003

2004

Picture

Five military lawyers assigned to defend detainees say that they believe that some of the rules drawn up for the military tribunals are unconstitutional.

1/12/2004

Picture

The Bush administration brings the first charges against detainees. al-Bahlul from Yemen and al-Qosi from Sudan are charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes.

2/23/2004

Picture

Supreme Court rules in Rasul v Bush that the federal courts have the authority to decide whether non-US citizens detained in Guantanamo Bay are wrongfully imprisoned, and in Hamdi v Rumsfeld that the Executive Branch does not have the power to hold indefinitely a US citizen without basic due process protections enforceable through judicial review.

6/28/2004

Picture

The Pentagon launches military panels, known as Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT). The tribunal involves three officers who present the unclassified summary evidence against the detainee and question him about his role in events. The three-judge panel then decides whether the detainee is an “enemy combatant” or if he may be released. They are permitted to rely on classified or coerced evidence against detainees denied legal representation.

8/23/2004

Picture

US District Judge James Robertson orders the halt of the military commissions, saying they are unlawful and cannot continue in their current form.

11/8/2004

2005

Picture

The Supreme Court refuses to consider whether the government’s plan for military trials unfairly denies the detainees basic legal rights.

1/18/2005

Picture

The CSRT process is completed. Of the 558 detainees assessed, 38 were judged as “no longer enemy combatants” and were made eligible for release.

3/29/2005

Picture

Following a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the Associated Press, the Pentagon releases the most detailed and extensive list of detainees ever provided. It provides the names and nationalities of 558 detainees who’ve gone through a hearing at Guantánamo Bay.

4/19/2005

Picture

The Defense Department releases another list of current and former detainees to the AP. It says this list of 759 names includes everyone who has ever been held at Gitmo, since 2001. The list does not include the names of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or Ramzi bin al Shibh.

5/15/2005

Picture

A report presented to the Senate Armed Services details the interrogation of the suspected “20th hijacker” in the 9/11 attacks, Mohamed al-Khatani.

7/13/2005

Picture

Judge Robertson’s order to halt military commissions is overturned by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Court.

7/15/2005

Picture

US Senate approves an amendment that continues to withhold the right for the prisoners to file habeas corpus petitions.

11/10/2005

Picture

District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly rules that the Pentagon cannot resume Hicks’s military commission proceeding until the Supreme Court rules on its constitutionality in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld.

11/14/2005

Picture

The Detainee Treatment Act comes into law. The Act bans the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners, but severely curtails their right to challenge their detention.

12/30/2005

2006

Picture

In a 5-3 ruling, the Supreme Court places new limits on the government’s ability to try detainees in military tribunals and upholds their right to challenge their detention in federal court. Congress never established the tribunals, the court declares, and the process violates the Geneva Conventions and the Uniform Code of Military Justice.

6/29/2006

Picture

Bush repeals his February 2002 directive and accepts that the Geneva Conventions apply to detainees.

7/12/2006

Picture

President Bush acknowledges that the CIA has held suspected terrorists in secret prisons overseas. He announces the transfer of 14 captured al Qaeda operatives, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Walid Bin Attash, Mustafa Hawsawi, and Ali Abdul Aziz, to Gitmo.

9/6/2006

Picture

The Military Commission Act (2006) is passed by Congress.

9/28/2006

Picture

President Bush signs the Military Commissions Act into law. The Act strips US courts of jurisdiction to hear habeas corpus appeals from any foreign national held as an “enemy combatant” in US custody anywhere in the world. It also narrows the scope of the War Crimes Act, by not expressly criminalizing Common Article 3’s prohibition on unfair trials or “outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment”.

10/17/2006

2007

Picture

Susan Crawford becomes Convening Authority

2/7/2007

Picture

All five 9-11 accused have a CSRT. Walid bin Attash admits to helping orchestrate the bombings of the US embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000; and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confesses to being the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

3/2007

Picture

David Hicks is transferred to Australian custody.

5/18/2007

2008

Picture

Alleged 9/11 conspirators Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi are arraigned.

6/5/2008

Picture

The United States Supreme Court rules on Boumediene v Bush and Al Odah v United States that detainees at Guantanamo Bay should have a constitutional right to challenge their detention in US Federal Courts through habeas corpus petitions.

6/12/2008

Picture

Military Commission charges sworn against Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

6/30/2008

Picture

Salim Hamdan is found guilty of five counts of material support to a terror organization, but not guilty of conspiracy. He is later sentenced to 5 ½ years in prison.

8/6/2008

Picture

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi tell a judge that they want to make a full confession.

12/7/2008

2009

Picture

Convening Authority Susan Crawford responding as to why she did not refer charges against alleged 20th hijacker Khatani: “We tortured Khatani. His treatment met the legal definition of torture. And that’s why I did not refer the case [for prosecution] … The techniques they used were all authorized, but the manner in which they applied them was overly aggressive and too persistent.”

1/14/2009

Picture

President Obama signs an executive order to close Guantánamo Bay within a year (number of detainees now at 245).

1/22/2009

Picture

Boumediene is transferred to France after his case had been used by lawyers to win the landmark Supreme Court case which ruled detainees at Guantanamo Bay had the right to habeas corpus.

5/15/2009

Picture

The first detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, who is not an American citizen is brought from Guantanamo Bay to the United States to face a federal trial.

6/9/2009

Picture

Military Commissions Act of 2009 is enacted

10/28/2009

Picture

Attorney General Eric Holder announces that the five 9-11 accused will be transferred to New York City to stand trial in a civilian court. Five other detainees will be transferred to the United States and have their cases heard before military commissions. They are: Omar Khadr, Mohammed Kamin, al Qosi, Noor Muhammed and al-Nashiri.

11/13/2009

Picture

The Obama administration announces that between 70-100 detainees will be moved to an empty prison in Thomson, Illinois.

12/15/2009

2010

Picture

Omar Khadr pleads guilty to all charges against him. Khadr is sentenced to 40 years in prison but will serve eight years as part of his plea agreement.

10/25/2010

2011

Picture

President Obama announces that the United States will resume the use of military commissions to prosecute detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

3/7/2011

Picture

Attorney General Eric Holder announces that five detainees will face a military trial at Guantánamo Bay.

4/4/2011

Picture

Nearly 800 classified US military documents obtained by WikiLeaks reveal details about the alleged terrorist activities of al Qaeda operatives captured and housed at the US Navy’s detention facility in Guantánamo Bay. Included are intelligence assessments of nearly every one of the 779 individuals who have been held at Guantánamo since 2002, according to the Washington Post.

4/24/2011

2012

Picture

the five 9-11 accused are arraigned by military commission at Guantanamo Bay: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Ramzi bin al Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Walid bin Attash and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi

5/5/2012

2015

Picture

A US military appeals court vacates the conviction of David Hicks, an Australian who pleaded guilty to providing material support to terrorism. Hicks was the first detainee at Guantánamo to be convicted in a military commission.

2/18/2015

2017

Picture

President Donald Trump is inaugurated. Number of detainees remaining at Guantanamo = 41

1/20/2017

Picture

pre-trial hearings for the 9-11 accused now enter their sixth year

5/5/2017

This timeline is a compilation of public timelines available online by CNN, The Hill, and al Jazeera.

Peaceful Tomorrows receives no money from 9/11 charities or disbursements. We depend entirely on individual and foundation grants to continue our work. More...

Editorial Policy: This website contains information related to the mission and goals of Peaceful Tomorrows and is intended for educational, non-commercial use. We highlight the projects undertaken by our organization, print essays and speeches made by 9/11 family members of our group, and post photo galleries which reflect the activities of our members around the world.

September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows is fiscally sponsored by Tides Center, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Please visit www.tides.org/state-nonprofit-disclosures/ for additional information.

 
Facebook   Twitter   YouTube