May, 10 2010, 01:27pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Riptide Communications (212) 260-5000 or Donna O'Connor (315) 559-2183
9/11 Families Oppose Holder Proposal to Modify Miranda
Family Members of 9/11 Victims Comment on A.G. Holder’s Proposal that Congress Modify the Miranda Warning
NEW YORK
The following statement may be
attributed to
Donna Marsh O'Connor, spokesperson for September 11th
Families
for Peaceful Tomorrows:
Last
week law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the NYPD
successfully
aborted an attempt to kill Americans by following the rule of law.
According
to Attorney General Holder the suspect Faisal Shazad was apprehended,
read his
Miranda rights, and began to proffer information vital to US interests,
continuing to speak to this day. There is already room in Miranda for
postponing the reading of rights in the interests of public safety and
this
was, indeed, invoked. Surprisingly, in the face of this success, Holder
now maintains that we should "revisit" Miranda laws for those
apprehended for alleged terrorist activities. We urge caution and we
invoke
reason: we have laws that work to protect our citizens and our
security.
We should not proceed down a road that may become a slippery slope
towards the
curtailment of fundamental due process rights that have served this
nation
well.
To arrange an
interview with a member of September 11th Families for
Peaceful
Tomorrows, please contact David Lerner or Shonna Carter, Riptide
Communications, 212-2605000 or dlerner@riptideonline.com,
shonnac@riptideonline.com
Peaceful Tomorrows is an organization founded by family members of those killed on September 11th who have united to turn our grief into action for peace. By developing and advocating nonviolent options and actions in the pursuit of justice, we hope to break the cycles of violence engendered by war and terrorism. Acknowledging our common experience with all people affected by violence throughout the world, we work to create a safer and more peaceful world for everyone.
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