After Split Decision In Guantanamo, Legal Debate Rages On
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/08/07/10864/
Showing posts with label GITMO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GITMO. Show all posts
Thursday, August 07, 2008
nytimes.com - Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term
Military Panel Sentences bin Laden Driver to a Short Term
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/washington/08gitmo.html?hp
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/washington/08gitmo.html?hp
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
You Tube - Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD
You Tube - Critical Mass Bicyclist Assaulted by NYPD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUkiyBVytRQ
Sunday, July 27, 2008
nytimes.com - Mr. Mukasey’s Justice
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/27sun2.html
http://www.nytimes.com
Mr. Mukasey’s Justice
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com
Mr. Mukasey’s Justice
The New York Times
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Dr. Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace
April 12, 2008
Dr. Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
VIRGINIA-- At 1 a.m. on Saturday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was moved by
hostile prison guards from a regular holding cell at the Howard County
Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland, to the "Special Housing Unit."
The SHU is an extremely punitive and restrictive section of the prison
where inmates are placed in solitary confinement 23 hours a day,
usually in freezing temperatures. Prisoners are normally moved there
for violating prison rules. However, in the case of Dr. Al-Arian, he
has always been placed there without reason or any explanation. In the
SHU, prisoners are subjected to continuous, deafening alarm sounds and
have little contact with the outside world. With no medical
supervision, this is an extremely dangerous place for Dr. Al-Arian to
be during his hunger strike, which is on its 41st day. Dr. Al-Arian
was also held in solitary confinement for 37 months before and during
his trial. This was a deliberate attempt by the government to break
him down physically and psychologically and to prevent him from
preparing for his trial.
Amnesty International has written several letters decrying the prison
conditions of Dr. Al-Arian, calling his treatment "gratuitously
punitive" and "inconsistent with international standards for humane
treatment."
The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace urges all conscientious
individuals and organizations to contact the Howard County Detention
Center and call for humane treatment of Dr. Al-Arian. We also call on
media outlets to cover these abuses, which so far have received no
attention.
TAKE ACTION
Call the Howard County Detention Center and ask that Dr. Al-Arian be
removed from the Special Housing Unit, where he does not belong, and
that the prison ensures he is given proper medical treatment during
his hunger strike. The number is (410) 313-5200.
--
PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY TO DEMAND RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN
Press Release:
Contact: Dowoti Desir,
Executive Director
The Shabazz Center
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org
Dept. of Justice Must Keep its Promise
to Release Palestinian Professor on Hunger Strike
Press Conference:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
To Demand the Release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian
Who:The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and
Cultural Center, American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights, and the
Council on American Islamic Relations
WHAT: Press Conference to Call for the Release of Hunger Striking
Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian
WHEN: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 11 A.M.
WHERE: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational
Center 3940 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10032 (212) 568.1341
SPEAKERS:
THE HONORABLE RAMSEY CLARK
SARA FLOUNDER,Co-Director, The International Action Center
IMAM SIRAJ WAHAJ
IMAM TALIB ABDUR-RASHID, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, Sr.
HEIDI BOGHOSIAN, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild
ALIYA LATIF, Civil Rights Director Council on American-Islamic Relations
LAILA AL-ARIAN, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian
MALAAK SHABAZZ, Daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz -- Malcolm X
NEW YORK, NY. - Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of Dr.
Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has
been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of
Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is
threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years.
This Tuesday, April 15, at 11 A.M., American Muslim Taskforce on Civil
Rights and Elections, hosted by the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz
Memorial, Educational Center and Cultural Center, will hold a press
conference to demand Dr. Al-Arian's release as promised.
Sami Al-Arian, 50, was a tenured professor of computer engineering at
the University of South Florida. He was arrested in February 2003 with
much fanfare, and charged in a bloated terrorism conspiracy case. A
jury acquitted him of the most serious charges in December 2005.
Under a plea agreement reached in 2006, Dr. Al-Arian should have been
released last April at the latest. By forcing him to testify,
prosecutors are violating that agreement. For more on the case, please
visit www.freesaminow.com
Dr. Al-Arian began a hunger strike on March 3 to protest continued
government harassment. That day, Dr. Al-Arian was informed that he
would be called to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. "The
mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian is part of the overall oppression of the
Palestinian people. This is cruel punishment," said Agha Saeed,
chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and
Elections (AMT). "The government is playing a cat and mouse game with
him. They did not decide to do this until the last minute, just as
he's about to be released. This amounts to psychological torture."
"Malcolm X stated, "Any person who claims to have deep feelings for
other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to
have other men kept behind bars - caged. Behind the bars, a man never
reforms- he can't forget those bars." The past decades have been
marred by the erosion of civil liberties and the systemic silencing
through incarceration, torture, and deportation of non-conformist
voices. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in the Islamic
community are the latest victims of such practices. The continued,
unwarranted incarceration of Dr. Al-Arian is a violation of his human
rights." Dowoti Desir, Executive Director, The Shabazz Center,
If you'd like more information on this topic, please visit
www.freesaminow.com , or to schedule an interview with any of the
speakers at the press conference, please call 212-568.1341 or email
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org
--
PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAM COVERS AL-ARIAN CASE:
Please click on the link below to listen:
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0408c08.mp3/mediafile_view
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
=============================================================
source of forwarded message:
[Ppnews] Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 ...
From: "Political Prisoner News"
April 12, 2008
Dr. Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
VIRGINIA-- At 1 a.m. on Saturday, Dr. Sami Al-Arian was moved by
hostile prison guards from a regular holding cell at the Howard County
Detention Center in Jessup, Maryland, to the "Special Housing Unit."
The SHU is an extremely punitive and restrictive section of the prison
where inmates are placed in solitary confinement 23 hours a day,
usually in freezing temperatures. Prisoners are normally moved there
for violating prison rules. However, in the case of Dr. Al-Arian, he
has always been placed there without reason or any explanation. In the
SHU, prisoners are subjected to continuous, deafening alarm sounds and
have little contact with the outside world. With no medical
supervision, this is an extremely dangerous place for Dr. Al-Arian to
be during his hunger strike, which is on its 41st day. Dr. Al-Arian
was also held in solitary confinement for 37 months before and during
his trial. This was a deliberate attempt by the government to break
him down physically and psychologically and to prevent him from
preparing for his trial.
Amnesty International has written several letters decrying the prison
conditions of Dr. Al-Arian, calling his treatment "gratuitously
punitive" and "inconsistent with international standards for humane
treatment."
The Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace urges all conscientious
individuals and organizations to contact the Howard County Detention
Center and call for humane treatment of Dr. Al-Arian. We also call on
media outlets to cover these abuses, which so far have received no
attention.
TAKE ACTION
Call the Howard County Detention Center and ask that Dr. Al-Arian be
removed from the Special Housing Unit, where he does not belong, and
that the prison ensures he is given proper medical treatment during
his hunger strike. The number is (410) 313-5200.
--
PRESS CONFERENCE ON TUESDAY TO DEMAND RELEASE OF SAMI AL-ARIAN
Press Release:
Contact: Dowoti Desir,
Executive Director
The Shabazz Center
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org
Dept. of Justice Must Keep its Promise
to Release Palestinian Professor on Hunger Strike
Press Conference:
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
To Demand the Release of Dr. Sami Al-Arian
Who:The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial, Educational and
Cultural Center, American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights, and the
Council on American Islamic Relations
WHAT: Press Conference to Call for the Release of Hunger Striking
Palestinian Professor Sami Al-Arian
WHEN: Tuesday, April 15, 2008, 11 A.M.
WHERE: The Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz Memorial and Educational
Center 3940 Broadway, New York City, N.Y. 10032 (212) 568.1341
SPEAKERS:
THE HONORABLE RAMSEY CLARK
SARA FLOUNDER,Co-Director, The International Action Center
IMAM SIRAJ WAHAJ
IMAM TALIB ABDUR-RASHID, CAIR-NY Civil Rights Director, Sr.
HEIDI BOGHOSIAN, Executive Director of the National Lawyers' Guild
ALIYA LATIF, Civil Rights Director Council on American-Islamic Relations
LAILA AL-ARIAN, Daughter of Sami Al-Arian
MALAAK SHABAZZ, Daughter of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz -- Malcolm X
NEW YORK, NY. - Friday, April 11, is the scheduled release date of Dr.
Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian professor on a hunger strike, who has
been imprisoned for more than five years. But the Department of
Justice, through its continuous abuse of the grand jury system, is
threatening to keep him imprisoned for many years.
This Tuesday, April 15, at 11 A.M., American Muslim Taskforce on Civil
Rights and Elections, hosted by the Malcolm X & Dr. Betty Shabazz
Memorial, Educational Center and Cultural Center, will hold a press
conference to demand Dr. Al-Arian's release as promised.
Sami Al-Arian, 50, was a tenured professor of computer engineering at
the University of South Florida. He was arrested in February 2003 with
much fanfare, and charged in a bloated terrorism conspiracy case. A
jury acquitted him of the most serious charges in December 2005.
Under a plea agreement reached in 2006, Dr. Al-Arian should have been
released last April at the latest. By forcing him to testify,
prosecutors are violating that agreement. For more on the case, please
visit www.freesaminow.com
Dr. Al-Arian began a hunger strike on March 3 to protest continued
government harassment. That day, Dr. Al-Arian was informed that he
would be called to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. "The
mistreatment of Dr. Al-Arian is part of the overall oppression of the
Palestinian people. This is cruel punishment," said Agha Saeed,
chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and
Elections (AMT). "The government is playing a cat and mouse game with
him. They did not decide to do this until the last minute, just as
he's about to be released. This amounts to psychological torture."
"Malcolm X stated, "Any person who claims to have deep feelings for
other human beings should think a long, long time before he votes to
have other men kept behind bars - caged. Behind the bars, a man never
reforms- he can't forget those bars." The past decades have been
marred by the erosion of civil liberties and the systemic silencing
through incarceration, torture, and deportation of non-conformist
voices. Unfortunately our brothers and sisters in the Islamic
community are the latest victims of such practices. The continued,
unwarranted incarceration of Dr. Al-Arian is a violation of his human
rights." Dowoti Desir, Executive Director, The Shabazz Center,
If you'd like more information on this topic, please visit
www.freesaminow.com , or to schedule an interview with any of the
speakers at the press conference, please call 212-568.1341 or email
ddesir@theshabazzcenter.org
--
PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAM COVERS AL-ARIAN CASE:
Please click on the link below to listen:
http://wunc.org/tsot/archive/sot0408c08.mp3/mediafile_view
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
=============================================================
source of forwarded message:
[Ppnews] Al-Arian Placed in Punitive Detention
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 2008 ...
From: "Political Prisoner News"
Thursday, May 24, 2007
The National Lawyers Guild Denounces Diaz Sentencing
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, 212-679-5100 x11
Paul Wright, NLG / Prison Legal News, 802-257-1342
May 24, 2007
The National Lawyers Guild Denounces Diaz Sentencing
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) deplores the conviction and sentencing of Lt. Commander Matthew Diaz for disclosing the names of those imprisoned at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We applaud Diaz for his courage. In releasing information that should have been public, under domestic and international law, he exercised sound legal and moral judgment.
“History books will look back on this administration’s practice of secret detention and torture –illegal under the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996—as a dark stain on our constitution and the rule of law,” said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. “The Guild hopes that more members of the military will join the ranks of Lt. Diaz, for they are true heroes and national patriots.”
The NLG believes that the trial and sentencing of Lt. Cmdr. Diaz is an attempt to silence whistleblowers and would-be critics who would shed light on the illegality of Guantánamo Bay. The legal basis for the case is flimsy; the political motivations for seeking his conviction, at a time when soldiers and the American population are turning against an Administration that condones torture and continues a losing war, are strong.
Says Paul Wright, NLG Vice President and editor of Prison Legal News: “The imprisonment of Mr. Diaz is part of the ongoing purge of military officers who have protested or attempted to stand up to the litany of human rights abuses at the Guantánamo Bay concentration camp. This includes Chaplain Yee, unjustly prosecuted after speaking out about abuses of detainees, and the military attorneys who have been expelled for successfully defending their clients in court.”
Diaz, a soldier and also a lawyer, and he says that his actions were motivated by the belief that they were required by the law, including the Geneva Conventions that protect captured soldiers during wartime. The NLG agrees with Diaz that the government acted illegally in classifying this information in the first place. We do not believe that the government has any legal basis in prosecuting an officer for disclosing information that was never legitimately classified in the first place. Rather than being criminal, Diaz’s actions ultimately brought the United States into compliance on this one point of law.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated bar association in the United States. As during the "McCarthy era," the Guild's 6,000 members and activists remain committed to defending the rights of those who speak out against unconstitutional government practices and policies.
--30--
Contact:
Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director, 212-679-5100 x11
Paul Wright, NLG / Prison Legal News, 802-257-1342
May 24, 2007
The National Lawyers Guild Denounces Diaz Sentencing
New York. The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) deplores the conviction and sentencing of Lt. Commander Matthew Diaz for disclosing the names of those imprisoned at the U.S. military facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. We applaud Diaz for his courage. In releasing information that should have been public, under domestic and international law, he exercised sound legal and moral judgment.
“History books will look back on this administration’s practice of secret detention and torture –illegal under the Geneva Conventions and the War Crimes Act of 1996—as a dark stain on our constitution and the rule of law,” said Heidi Boghosian, Executive Director of the National Lawyers Guild. “The Guild hopes that more members of the military will join the ranks of Lt. Diaz, for they are true heroes and national patriots.”
The NLG believes that the trial and sentencing of Lt. Cmdr. Diaz is an attempt to silence whistleblowers and would-be critics who would shed light on the illegality of Guantánamo Bay. The legal basis for the case is flimsy; the political motivations for seeking his conviction, at a time when soldiers and the American population are turning against an Administration that condones torture and continues a losing war, are strong.
Says Paul Wright, NLG Vice President and editor of Prison Legal News: “The imprisonment of Mr. Diaz is part of the ongoing purge of military officers who have protested or attempted to stand up to the litany of human rights abuses at the Guantánamo Bay concentration camp. This includes Chaplain Yee, unjustly prosecuted after speaking out about abuses of detainees, and the military attorneys who have been expelled for successfully defending their clients in court.”
Diaz, a soldier and also a lawyer, and he says that his actions were motivated by the belief that they were required by the law, including the Geneva Conventions that protect captured soldiers during wartime. The NLG agrees with Diaz that the government acted illegally in classifying this information in the first place. We do not believe that the government has any legal basis in prosecuting an officer for disclosing information that was never legitimately classified in the first place. Rather than being criminal, Diaz’s actions ultimately brought the United States into compliance on this one point of law.
The National Lawyers Guild was founded in 1937 as the first racially integrated bar association in the United States. As during the "McCarthy era," the Guild's 6,000 members and activists remain committed to defending the rights of those who speak out against unconstitutional government practices and policies.
--30--
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