September, 21 2009, 10:35am EDT
ACLU at Guantanamo This Week Monitoring Unconstitutional Military Commissions
Despite a pledge from President Obama to close Guantanamo and
controversy over the legitimacy and continuation of the military
commission system, proceedings resumed there today. Anthony D. Romero,
Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Jamil Dakwar,
Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program, and Denny LeBoeuf, Director
of the ACLU John Adams Project, will be in Guantanamo to observe the
proceedings.
GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba
Despite a pledge from President Obama to close Guantanamo and
controversy over the legitimacy and continuation of the military
commission system, proceedings resumed there today. Anthony D. Romero,
Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Jamil Dakwar,
Director of the ACLU Human Rights Program, and Denny LeBoeuf, Director
of the ACLU John Adams Project, will be in Guantanamo to observe the
proceedings.
Hearings scheduled for this
afternoon will most likely focus on the Obama administration's request
for an additional two-month delay in the military commissions
proceedings of the defendants charged in the 9/11 attacks. On
Wednesday, a hearing is scheduled in the case of Ahmed al-Darbi, who is
charged with conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism
based on alleged connections to al-Qaeda.
Through its John Adams Project, the
ACLU, in partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense
Lawyers, provides lawyers to assist the under-resourced military
defense counsel in the Guantanamo military proceedings. On Thursday, an
attorney with the John Adams Project asked the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia to intervene in the military commissions
proceedings of 9/11 defendant Mustafa al Hawsawi and to halt the
commissions and declare them unconstitutional.
More information about the John Adams Project is online at: www.aclu.org/johnadams
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.
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