National Lawyers Guild (NLG): Students Demonstrate to Draw Attention to Supreme Court Case That Will Determine Justice for Detainees at Guantánamo
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 4, 2007
10:15 AM
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CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG)
Míchel Angela Martinez, National Lawyers Guild Student Organizer,
studentorg@nlg.org; 212-679-5100x12
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director,
director@nlg.org; 212-679-5100
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Students Demonstrate to Draw Attention to Supreme Court Case That Will Determine Justice for Detainees at Guantánamo
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NEW YORK - December 4 - Tomorrow, December 5, 2007, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in the cases of Boumediene v. Bush and Al Odah v. U.S., brought on behalf of men imprisoned for over five years at Guantánamo Bay and deprived of any meaningful court review. Today, National Lawyers Guild students and allies in Boston, New York city, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the country, will gather for peaceful demonstrations to direct attention to these important cases.
In New York city students and other concerned citizens will meet from 12:00pm-1:00pm EST in Foley Square in front of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Wearing orange jumpsuits and black hoods as a gesture of solidarity with the detainees at Guantánamo, participants will give speeches and chant to draw public attention to this landmark case.
The student organizers from universities such as Columbia, the City University of New York, and New York University coordinated the action in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Lawyers Guild, as well as the grassroots organization, Witness Against Torture. As the detainees approach the beginning of their sixth year of detention at Guantánamo, student-initiated events such as these seek to increase awareness of the ongoing injustice. The strength and breadth of this collaborative action demonstrates that the public now sides with the students standing in solidarity with the detainees. As Rahul Saksena, NLG student and organizer at American University Washington College of Law said, “This case is about human rights and the Rule of Law. It's about the full restoration of the Constitution of the United States, and it's about Congress's and the President's egregious abuse of power. We are hitting the streets because people need to know that it is not okay for our government to continue to deny anyone the fundamental, constitutionally-guaranteed right of habeas corpus. We are here to speak out for those people who have been denied that opportunity.”
Additional participants in this action will hold events in Boston and Washington, D.C., with other locations reserving details.
Boston: The Harvard College Human Rights Advocates and the Harvard College Democrats will host an all day event in Harvard Yard outside the campus science center. Contact Nina Catalano at catalano@fas.harvard.edu for more details.
Washington, D.C.: At 10:00am students wearing orange jumpsuits will gather in front of the D.C. Circuit Court at 333 Constitution Avenue for a demonstration. Contact Rahul Saksena at rahul.saksena@gmail.com for more details.
Photographs from these events will be made available on the on the Harvard Anti-Torture Coalition Website as well as the Witness Against Torture Website.
For more information on the national events, please visit: http://ccrjustice.org/get-involved/calendar/gtmo-student-action
Founded in 1937 as an alternative to the American Bar Association, which did not admit people of color, the National Lawyers Guild is the oldest and largest public interest/human rights bar organization in the United States. Its headquarters are in New York and it has chapters in every state.
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