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<font size=3><a href="http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=dEOknpV1vL&Content=398" eudora="autourl">http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=dEOknpV1vL&Content=398<br>
</a>CCR WINS MAJOR VICTORY FOR THE RULE OF LAW IN GUANTANAMO
BAY<br><br>
Synopsis <br><br>
Supreme Court issued a historic ruling on Monday, June 28th, finding that
the hundreds of men detained as "enemy combatants" in
Guantánamo Bay can challenge their detention in federal courts.<br><br>
On June 28, The Supreme Court issued a historic ruling in <i>Rasul v.
Bush</i>, CCR’s challenge to the Bush Administration’s policy of
indefinitely holding detainees at Guantánamo Bay without judicial
review. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) hailed today’s
ruling, which held that foreign terrorism suspects may use the American
legal system to challenge their detention. <br><br>
The Center for Constitutional Rights began this case in February 2002,
shortly after the first detainees were sent to Guantánamo. Representing
two AustraliansDavid Hicks and Mamdouh Habiband two men from the
U.K.Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, CCR filed a petition seeking a writ of
habeas corpus in the District Court for the District of Columbia.
The petition challenged the Presidential Executive Order of November 13,
2001, which authorized indefinite detention without due process of law,
as a violation of international law and the U.S. Constitution. It
was shortly after 9/11 and a very different climate existed in the United
States at that time: no other legal organization was willing to join us
in our efforts, and CCR received scores of death threats and hate mail.
<br><br>
The core contention of the litigation was that the United States cannot
order indefinite detention without due process. The detainees have the
right to challenge the legality of their detention in court. To
make that challenge meaningful, they have the right to be informed of the
charges they face, and the right to present evidence on their own
behalves and to cross-examine their accusers. The failure of the
Bush Administration to provide these protections raises serious questions
about their commitment to the U.S. Constitution and international
law. <br><br>
The ruling was 6-3, with Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas dissenting.
Writing for the majority, Justice John Paul Stevens found that federal
courts do have jurisdiction to hear detainees’ challenges to their
detention. <i>Habeas Corpus</i>, the legal principle in question,
extends back hundreds of years in common law, and the decision cited
considerable historical as well as more contemporary evidence that it is
properly applied to cases even outside the territorial boundaries of the
nation. <br><br>
<br><br>
“The Supreme Court has not closed the doors of justice to the detainees
imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay,” said CCR President Michael Ratner, adding,
“this is a major victory for the rule of law and affirms the right of
every person, citizen or non-citizen, detained by the United States to
test the legality of his or her detention in a U.S. Court. The Center for
Constitutional Rights has long believed that even in a time of danger,
executive detentions have no place in a democracy.” <br><br>
<br><br>
CCR is reviewing the decision, in preparation for further action on
behalf of our clients, most of whom have been held for more than two
years with no legal basis, no opportunity to prove their innocence, and
no hope of release anytime in the foreseeable future. The mother of
one of our clients, Rabiye Kurnaz, expressed great relief on hearing that
her son will have his day in court:<br><br>
<br><br>
“Today, for the first time in two years I have hope. This is a
great day for justice. I hope that I will hear from my son soon and
can tell him that with this historic decision fair proceedings will start
and that all innocents will be released from U.S. custody in
Guantánamo.”<br><br>
<br><br>
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