The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

James Freedland, (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

ACLU at Guantanamo Monitoring Unconstitutional Military Commissions This Week

The
American Civil Liberties Union is at Guantanamo this week to monitor
the military commission hearings of Sudanese national Ibrahim al-Qosi
and Afghan national Mohammed Hashim. The ACLU has been present as an
independent observer at nearly every military commission hearing since
2004 and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair,
impartial or in accordance with constitutional principles.

ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Chris Anders will be observing this week's proceedings.

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba

The
American Civil Liberties Union is at Guantanamo this week to monitor
the military commission hearings of Sudanese national Ibrahim al-Qosi
and Afghan national Mohammed Hashim. The ACLU has been present as an
independent observer at nearly every military commission hearing since
2004 and continues to see no indication that the proceedings are fair,
impartial or in accordance with constitutional principles.

ACLU Senior Legislative Counsel Chris Anders will be observing this week's proceedings.

Charges against al-Qosi, 48, include
conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism based on
alleged connections to al-Qaeda. Hashim, 32, is accused of spying and
providing material support to terrorism.

More information about the ACLU's
call for President-elect Obama to shut down Guantanamo and the military
commissions is available online at: www.closegitmo.com

Additional information about the
ACLU's involvement surrounding the detention of prisoners at Guantanamo
Bay can be found online at: www.aclu.org/gitmo

The American Civil Liberties Union was founded in 1920 and is our nation's guardian of liberty. The ACLU works in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to all people in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States.

(212) 549-2666