Guantanamo Bay detainees assert right to claim mistreatment

Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees accused of the 9/11 attacks said Tuesday their defendants’ rights were violated because they are prevented from open discussion of alleged mistreatment in secret prisons.

Speaking at a hearing in Guantanamo as the five detainees listened, lawyers for the men asked for the death penalty to be eliminated as a possible sentence, in light of alleged torture the inmates had undergone while being held by the United States, before their 2006 transfer to Guantanamo.

Detainees could not file complaints under the U.N. Convention against Torture, their lawyers said, because their treatment in U.S. detention was a classified matter.

White House official fired over anonymous tweets

A senior White House official who was helping negotiate nuclear issues with Iran has been fired after being unmasked as the acidic voice behind a Twitter account known for its insults of public figures at the White House and on Capitol Hill, a government official said on Tuesday.

Jofi Joseph was director of nuclear non-proliferation on the White House National Security Council staff, but for more than two years sent hundreds of anonymous and abrasive tweets using the handle @NatSecWonk.

He was fired last week after he was caught, the official said.

A White House official confirmed Joseph no longer worked there, but would not comment on personnel matters. The firing was first reported by the website Daily Beast.

U.S. to release $1.6bn in military, civilian aid to Pakistan

A $1.6 billion aid boost to Pakistan will be released by the United States, the State Department said on Tuesday, before leaders of both countries were due to meet.

The bulk of the funding is made up of $1.38 billion in military aid, State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said. The rest is $260.5 million in civilian aid.

Congress has been notified by the State Department that the funds already budgeted for in previous years including the fiscal year 2012 will be released, according to Agence France-Presse.