NEW YORK - April 27 - Today the American Civil Liberties Union decried the Justice Department’s effort to restrict lawyers who represent detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from accessing their clients and evidence in their cases.

The following statement can be attributed to Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU:

"Rather than closing Guantanamo and restoring the rule of law, the President now wants to close Guantanamo to lawyers, to outside scrutiny, and to the bedrock protections of habeas corpus. If it remains open, the Guantanamo prison needs more openness, not less.”

“Creating a legal black hole where rights are denied is as un-American as it is illegal. Depriving detainees of the right to meet with lawyers and monitoring mail communication between attorneys and their clients are not the actions of a proud democracy.  It is time to close Guantanamo once and for all, and to either charge or release the detainees held there."

More information on the ACLU’s efforts to restore due process rights is at: www.aclu.org/mca or www.findhabeas.com.

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