ACLU Resumes Vigilant Watch as Unconstitutional Guantánamo Hearings Continue This Week
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 8, 2008
1:40 PM
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CONTACT: ACLU
Will Matthews, ACLU, (212) 549-2582 or 2666;
media@aclu.org
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ACLU Resumes Vigilant Watch as Unconstitutional Guantánamo Hearings Continue This Week
Military Commission Hearings Continue to Jeopardize Credibility of US Justice System
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NEW YORK - May 8 - The American Civil Liberties Union is at Guantánamo Bay this week observing the military commission hearings of Canadian national Omar Ahmed Khadr, Afghan national Mohammed Jawad and Yemeni national Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul. The ACLU has been present as an independent observer at each and every commission hearing and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair, impartial or in accordance with constitutional or universal human rights principles.
"The United States' historic reputation as a nation committed to the rule of law and the principle of due process continues to be thrown into question as a result of the government's insistence on continuing to carry out these military commission hearings," said Amrit Singh, an ACLU staff attorney who is present at the hearings, which are continuing today. "It is imperative that these proceedings be exposed as being at odds with both the U.S. Constitution and international law.”
The proceedings have been riddled with ethical and legal problems from the very beginning, as they could permit, among other things, the admission of coerced evidence that may have been obtained through torture, secret evidence that a defendant cannot rebut and hearsay. CIA Director Michael Hayden has admitted that at least one of the men in this system, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was waterboarded by CIA agents during interrogations.
The ACLU is one of four organizations that have been granted status as human rights observers at the military commission proceedings. In addition to monitoring the proceedings, the ACLU has repeatedly called on Congress and the Bush administration to shut down the U.S. prison at Guantánamo Bay.
During a hearing yesterday involving al-Bahlul, the defendant criticized the proceedings as being inherently unfair and said he would boycott the proceedings and that he wanted to serve as his own defense counsel, a right granted by Congress in the 2006 Military Commissions Act.
The case against al-Bahlul, who in 2004 first announced his desire to represent himself or be assisted by a Yemeni lawyer rather than be represented by his appointed military defense counsel, centers on charges of conspiracy and making al-Qaeda recruiting videos while serving as Osama bin Laden’s media secretary.
During a subsequent hearing involving Jawad, Jawad’s attorney informed the court that while Jawad believes he cannot get justice before the military commission, he nonetheless would allow his military attorney to represent him in an effort to challenge the legitimacy and legality of the commission proceedings.
Jawad was 16 when he was captured by U.S. forces. He is accused of throwing a grenade at a U.S. military vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan in 2002 and injuring two American soldiers and their Afghan translator. At his military commission arraignment in March, Jawad refused to accept the assistance of his military counsel and announced he did not want to proceed with the trial. The military judge went forward with the arraignment and ordered Jawad’s military lawyer to continue to represent him.
Today’s hearings involve Khadr, who was 15 when he was captured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Now 21, he is charged with murder, attempted murder, conspiracy, material support and espionage. The murder charge in Khadr’s case relates to a 2002 incident in Afghanistan in which Khadr is alleged to have thrown a grenade, killing a U.S. soldier. The other charges are based on his alleged links to, and support for, al-Qaeda. In a signed, nine-page affidavit filed in March, Khadr charges that he was repeatedly threatened with rape by interrogators while held both in Afghanistan and at Guantánamo Bay.
In May 2007, the ACLU endorsed legislation introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) that would close the Guantánamo facility and end the practice of indefinite detention. It would also provide a push for the government to finally charge the detainees - some of whom have been held without charge for a long as six years - it believes are guilty of crimes against the United States.
Singh is posting a series of blogs containing her comments and observations from the hearings on the ACLU's diary on Daily Kos, which can be found at: www.aclu.dailykos.com
Her posts can also be found on the ACLU's blog at: blog.aclu.org
Additional information about the ACLU's involvement surrounding the detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay can be found online at: www.aclu.org/gitmo
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