WASHINGTON - June 29

BARBARA OLSHANSKY
Olshansky is director counsel of the Guantanamo Global Justice Initiative at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has been representing several of the Guantanamo detainees including Jumah Al Dossari, who has repeatedly attempted suicide. She said today: "This is a major victory for our democratic institutions and for our organization. The Supreme Court is saying that the president can't go and create some new legal universe where he makes the rules -- there's due process. He must allow trials or release the detainees. This is an astounding blow to the notion of a unitary executive."
more information

LEONARD RUBENSTEIN
Rubenstein is executive director of Physicians for Human Rights, which has closely tracked developments at Guantanamo. He said today: "The Supreme Court has rejected the legitimacy of the president's authority outside any kind of legal framework. This could be a real milestone in the restoration of legal process." Rubenstein is an attorney.
more information

FRIDA BERRIGAN
Berrigan is with Witness Against Torture: A Campaign to Shut Down Guantanamo. On Monday, which was the UN International Day in Support of Torture Victims and Survivors, she and 60 other activists -- including rabbis, priests and nuns -- attempted to confront UN ambassador John Bolton at the U.S. Mission to the UN about U.S. torture policies. In December, Berrigan and 23 other activists, many affiliated with the Catholic Worker movement, marched 100 miles in Cuba in an attempt to visit the prisoners in Guantanamo.
more information

###