November, 09 2011, 09:10am EDT
Comment from ACLU Attorney Attending Al-Nashiri Hearing at Guantanamo
Military Commissions Especially Unfit to Try Death Penalty Cases, Says ACLU
GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba
The American Civil Liberties Union is at Guantanamo today to monitor the pretrial proceedings of Abd al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri, who could face the death penalty if convicted. No capital case has been completed by the Guantanamo military commissions. Al-Nashiri, who was tortured while in U.S. custody, is accused of planning the 2000 bombing of the U.S.S. Cole.
Zachary Katznelson, senior staff attorney with the ACLU National Security Project, is at Guantanamo observing al-Nashiri's hearing. "This military commission threatens to put someone to death based on coerced evidence and hearsay. That is no way to run a trial, let alone convince the world that America is committed to justice." Katznelson said. "Terrorism suspects should be tried in our time-tested federal courts, and that is especially true where the government is seeking to impose the death penalty."
More from Katznelson on military commissions and the proceedings is available at:
www.aclu.org/blog/tag/guantanamo
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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