Witness Against Torture: Supreme Court Upholds the Rights of Guantanamo Detainees
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2008
12:04 PM
|
CONTACT: Witness Against Torture
Matthew W. Daloisio, 201-264-2244 |
| |
|
Supreme Court Upholds the Rights of Guantanamo Detainees
A Victory for Justice – A Call to Further Action
|
| |
June 13 - With yesterday's Supreme Court's decision, there is now an unequivocal
mandate from the highest judicial body in the United Sates to close
the detention center at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and
bring cases of the detainees into the Federal Justice system.
In a mockery of justice, the Bush administration and Republican
Congress denied habeas corpus rights to Guantanamo detainees and
sought to prosecute them through a fraudulent military trial process
that fell well below accepted standards of due process. With its
ruling, the Supreme Court definitively rejected that scheme as
unconstitutional and un-American.
Witness Against Torture—a grassroots movement to shut down Guantanamo—
views the decision as a victory for justice and as a critical step in
the process of rolling back Bush's "war on terror" and restoring
American law, honor, and respect for human rights. It is a powerful
vindication of the efforts of countless individuals and groups, in
this country and abroad, to close Guantanamo and secure due process
for those held captive there.
Witness Against Torture has worked since 2005 to draw attention to the
injustice of Guantanamo and—through creative direct action—to chart a
course through the justice system for the detainees to follow. On
October 17, 2006, when the Military Commissions Act was signed into
law, Witness Against Torture members were arrested at the White House.
On January 11, 2007—the five-year mark of the detention camp's
opening—Witness took the names of the detainees into DC Federal
District Court, resulting in 80 arrests. Witness members vigiled
outside the Supreme Court on December 5, 2007, when oral arguments
were made in the case decided yesterday.
And on January 11, 2008, Witness was back at the Supreme Court,
serving writs of habeas corpus on behalf of the detainees. The protest
resulted in a trial of 35 Witness members in DC Superior Court in late
May, during which the defendants put Guantanamo itself on trial.
Yesterday's historic victory must be followed by concrete steps to at
last close Guantanamo and provide a fair and expeditious resolution to
the fate of the detainees. Witness Against Torture is alarmed by the
rhetoric of the Bush administration and its supporters pledging to
undo the Supreme Court's ruling with new legislation. We will work to
oppose any effort, from Congress or the next President, to breathe
life into Bush's illegal and disgraced detainee policy.
Witness is outraged by Justice Antonin Scalia's preposterous claim in
his dissenting opinion that the decision of his colleagues "will
almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed." This kind of
fear-mongering rhetoric—which has no place in a legal opinion and
fundamentally misrepresents the detainees' situation—is bound to
surface during the election season, and must be vigilantly combated.
Our work, in short, continues. Throughout the summer and fall, we will
continue to denounce Guantanamo and apply pressure to the President,
the presidential candidates, and Congress to close it. On January 11,
2009, we will again mobilize against Guantanamo, launching a "100
Days" campaign to shut the detention facility down early in the next
President's term. With this campaign, we will hold both contenders
for the Oval Office to their pledge to close Guantanamo.
To learn more about Witness Against Torture, visit www.witnesstorture.org
To access pictures from our protests at the Supreme Court, which may
be reproduced in media pieces, go to:
January 11, 2008
http://www.witnesstorture.org/node/876
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22784383@N08/2185350215/in/set-72157603689566626/
http://picasaweb.google.com/witnesstorture/January11th2008/photo#5154840282939211474
http://picasaweb.google.com/witnesstorture/January11th2008/photo#5154840484802674434
http://picasaweb.google.com/witnesstorture/January11th2008/photo#5154840974428946290
December 5, 2007 – Day of Oral Arguments
http://www.witnesstorture.org/node/940
###
|
|
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
