[News] 'Faces of Guantánamo' By Center for Constitutional Rights
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Thu Sep 14 17:17:14 EDT 2006
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=uyKAxgvOvy&Content=827
ATTORNEYS ARGUE MILITARY COMMISSIONS BILLS WOULD
ALLOW FOR LIFELONG DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL, TORTURE WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY
'Faces of Guantánamo' By Center for
Constitutional Rights Offers Rare Glimpse Into Lives of Men at Guantanamo
Attorneys Demand That Congress Not Suspend
Fundamental Right to Challenge Indefinite Detention
Synopsis
On September 14, 2006, the Center for
Constitutional Rights released Faces of
Guantánamo, a report offering a revealing glimpse
of the lives of men currently detained at
Guantánamo. While recent news has focused on
information about the 14 "high-value" detainees
recently transferred from secret CIA prisons
abroad to Guantánamo, the realities for more than
450 detainees already imprisoned at the base have
been pushed to the background. Faces of
Guantánamo highlights the cases of nearly thirty
men who have been held in Guantánamo for nearly
five years-despite significant evidence that they
are innocent of any wrongdoing.
Among the men profiled are:
Haji Bismullah, an Afghan who fought against the
Taliban and served as a provincial government
official during the transitional Afghan government;
Adel Hassan Hamad, a Sudanese relief worker,
whose detention was described as "unconscionable"
by a military official at his Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT);
Dr. Hafizullah Shaba Khail, an Afghan who was the
victim of a false arrest while serving on a local
commission of elders attempting to root out government corruption; and
Haji Nusrat, an eighty year old Afghan, arrested
and transferred to Guantánamo after he protested his son's arrest.
Under two military commission bills currently
being considered in the Senate, all of these men
would no longer be able to contest their
detentions in U.S. court. Both bills contain
provisions that would retroactively strip U.S.
courts of jurisdiction over the habeas petitions
of the more than 450 men currently imprisoned at
Guantánamo Bay. In addition, the courts would
also be barred from hearing the habeas petitions
of any future detainees. A simple determination
that someone-even a U.S. citizen taken into
custody abroad-is an 'enemy combatant' would be
enough to detain them indefinitely.
The military commissions created by the
legislation will try only those accused of
violations of the laws of war; many of the men
imprisoned at Guantánamo have been held for
nearly five years without ever having been
charged with a crime. These men depend on the
right of habeas corpus to have their cases heard.
By eliminating the power of the federal courts to
hear pending habeas cases, the legislation would
effectively render the McCain Amendment
prohibiting cruel, inhumane or degrading
treatment of detainees unenforceable and prevent
any accountability for the torture or abuse of detainees.
CCR Staff Attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez said:
"These bills would be a gross miscarriage of
justice not only for these men but for the laws
and values American is based upon. How can the
President accuse one man of being a terrorist
'mastermind' and give him a trial while
simultaneously authorizing the United States to
lock up a Sudanese relief worker or a foreigner
swept up in the fog of war for the rest of his
life without any trial is incomprehensible. All
detainees in U.S. custody must be able to contest
their detention in a U.S. court. Otherwise, these
innocent men may be trapped in Guantánamo, never
to be heard from again. We as a country cannot
afford to have this on our conscience."
Complete Report:
http://ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/docs/FACES_OF_GUANTANAMO.pdf
The Freedom Archives
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(415) 863-9977
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