April, 28 2010, 01:40pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Brenda Bowser Soder,bowsersoderb@humanrightsfirst.org,O -202/370-3323, C - 301/906-4460
DOD Issues Newest Set of Rules For Military Commissions
Tribunals Likely To Face Further Constitutional Challenges
WASHINGTON
The Pentagon published the newest version of the Manual for
Military Commissions late yesterday, one day before proceedings in the
Omar Khadr case were scheduled to commence at the U.S. detention
facility at Guantanamo. Those on the ground at the base--including
judges, attorneys, and observers--have yet to receive a copy of the new
rules. For months, since the latest amendments to the Military
Commissions Act, military commission proceedings have taken place
without clear guidance, leaving many participants unable to make basic
decisions in these cases. According to Human Rights First, the new
rules and guidelines, while welcome, fall short of due process
requirements and mean the commissions will be vulnerable to years of
constitutional challenges.
"While having a set of rules to govern these proceedings beats all
the participants making it up as they go along," said Human Rights
First President and CEO Elisa Massimino, "these rules do not cure the
fundamental defects of military commissions. Allowing evidence obtained
by interrogations that violate the Geneva Conventions and trying people
for conduct that was not designated as a war crime when
committed--these are the reasons why commissions lack the legitimacy of
regular federal courts. Their continued use threatens to perpetuate
the legacy of failed trial and detention policies at Guantanamo."
Over the past seven years, military commissions have convicted only
three prisoners. During that same time, the commissions have been
reformed three times. By contrast, according to Department of Justice
figures, federal courts have tried more than four hundred terrorism
cases.
The new manual issued by the Pentagon provides some needed reforms,
such as giving defendants in capital cases the right to at least one
additional counsel who is learned in applicable law relating to death
penalty cases. Under the old rules, defendants in capital cases had no
such right.
But the manual includes troubling rules that likely will undermine
the constitutionality of future convictions. For example, the manual
continues to permit the introduction of coerced statements under
certain circumstances. In addition, unlike in courts-martial or regular
federal courts, it permits evidence from third parties obtained by
cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment if "use of such evidence would
otherwise be consistent with the interests of justice." In addition,
the manual, consistent with the 2009 Military Commissions Act,
continues to permit defendants to be tried ex-post facto for conduct
not considered to constitute a war crime at the time it was committed,
such as material support for terrorism.
"Why would we risk relying on an untested military commissions
system for these important cases when our nation's federal civilian
courts have proven hundreds of times over that they can deal with
complex terrorism cases?" asked Massimino. "Our civilian courts have
stood the test of time since the days of Adams and Jefferson. It would
be a grave--and unnecessary--error to abandon them now."
Human Rights First is a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in New York and Washington D.C. Human Rights First believes that building respect for human rights and the rule of law will help ensure the dignity to which every individual is entitled and will stem tyranny, extremism, intolerance, and violence.
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Critics Blast 'Reckless and Impossible' Bid to Start Operating Mountain Valley Pipeline
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Mountain Valley Pipeline LLC sent a letter Monday to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Acting Secretary Debbie-Anne Reese seeking final permission to begin operation on the MVP next month, even while acknowledging that much of the Virginia portion of the pipeline route remains unfinished and developers have yet to fully comply with safety requirements.
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"MVP brazenly asks for this authorization while simultaneously notifying FERC that the company has completed less than two-thirds of the project to final restoration and with the mere promise that it will notify the commission when it fully complies with the requirements of a consent decree it entered into with the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration last fall," she continued.
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Russell Chisholm, co-director of the Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR) Coalition—which called MVP's request "reckless and impossible"—said in a statement that "we are watching our worst nightmare unfold in real-time: The reckless MVP is barreling towards completion."
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Appalachian Voices noted that MVP's request comes days before pipeline developer Equitrans Midstream is set to release its 2024 first-quarter earnings information on April 30.
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On Monday, climate and environmental defenders also petitioned the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, challenging FERC's approval of the MVP's planned Southgate extension, contending that the project is so different from original plans that the government's previous assent is now irrelevant.
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Democracy defenders on Tuesday hailed a ruling from a U.S. federal judge striking down a 19th-century North Carolina law criminalizing people who vote while on parole, probation, or post-release supervision due to a felony conviction.
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