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Habeas Corpus Update - Take Action

Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Dalia Hashad update listeners on recent decisions regarding Guantanamo prisoners and habeas corpus. Dalia Hashad alerts listeners to upcoming event supported by a coalition of civil liberties groups.

Day of Action to Restore Law & Justice - June 26, 2007 - Sponsored by Amnesty International, the National Lawyers Guild, the Center For Constitutional Rights, the ACLU, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, the National Religious Campaign Against Torture and other groups in this historic Day of Action.

War Czar.

Michael Ratner and Dalia Hashad discuss the position of War Czar and what it means regarding the longevity of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why Did 3 Generals Refuse This Position?

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Demonstrators Worldwide Protest the Release of Luis Posada Carriles

In Canada, Mexico, Central and South America and across dozens of major cities in the United States, demonstrators worldwide took to the streets to protest the release of admitted former CIA operative, Luis Posada Carriles. He’s accused of being one of the masterminds of a l976 mid-air explosion that demolished a Cuban airliner, killing 73 people. Meanwhile the Cuban Five remain in prison. Look at photographic evidence here against Luis Posada Carriles / Washington Post Article - Free Ride For A Likely Killer

A message from Mumia Abu-Jamal : For over four decades, the US empire has been waging a secret and deadly war against Cuba. They have bombed fields, poisoned grain, hijacked planed, and plotted invasion. They have trained, paid and protected terrorists who have cost the lives of thousands of Cubans and virtually crippled their economy through a seemingly everlasting embargo. The Cuban Five, young men who tried to protect their people from these instances of U.S. state terrorism, who have bombed on one, nor planned to, who poisoned no one, nor planned to, who hurt non one, nor planned to, who merely reported the plotting of crimes against their people, face the full foul fury of the empire’s judiciary for trying to stop crimes. We must all, all of us protest the unjust convictions of Rene Gonzalez, Fernando Gonzalez, Antonio Guerrero, Gerardo Hernandez and Ramon Labanino.

We hear the voices of activists and lawyers speaking at the New York protest, including former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark and our own Heidi Boghosian.

Demonstraters Show Support For Mumia Abu-Jamal

Oral arguments were heard by 3 judges last week who will decide the fate of imprisoned former Black Panther and award winning journalist, Mumia Abu-Jamal at the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia. Abu-Jamal has been on death row for 25 years after being convicted of killing a police officer following a controversial trial before a predominantly-white jury. The Third Circuit Court heard oral arguments that will rule whether Abu-Jamal gets life in prison, a new trial or execution. Our own Heidi Boghosian was in the courts and the streets with the hundreds of demonstrators. We hear the voices of lawyers and activists Heidi interviewed on that day outside the Third Circuit Court in Philadelphia.

Hip Hop News Update / International Herald Tribune / Crime Scene Photos

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Eric Schlosser on the United States Prison System
We’ve covered in depth on Law and Disorder the US run prison industry abroad, from Guantanamo Bay prison, Cuba, Bagram prison in Afghanistan and Abu Ghraib in Iraq. These are the exports of one of the most highly profitable businesses in the United States. The prison industrial complex in this country has reached record breaking occupancy. Nearly 2.1 million Americans are behind bars, the majority of them nonviolent offenders, they’re usually poor, many have substance abuse problems and many have are mentally ill. This according to exhaustive research by Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser who spoke at Bluestockings Bookstore in New York about his compendium on the American Prison system.

Law and Disorder caught up with Eric during this talk and we listen to the second part of his one hour speech. In his talk he warns our society of the perils of a profit driven penal system and backs his research with well-documented facts and staggering statistics.

Muhammad Salah Case - Update

Hosts talk with Salah’s attorney Michael Deutsch on the latest in the case involving a Palestinian businessman accused of funding Hamas in 1993. His defense argues he was tortured and his confessions coerced.

The government also called to the witness stand former New York Times reporter Judith Miller. Law and Disorder hosts fill in the background of this reporter who was fired from the NY Times for writing numerous stories backing the Bush administration’s war campaign chant, “weapons of mass destruction.” Miller was allowed to witness Israeli agents interviewing Salah in 1993. She testified a month ago that Salah seemed comfortable and that he boasted about Hamas operations.

Guest - Michael Deutsch, Muhammad Salah’s attorney with the People’s Law Office in Chicago.

The Mishandled Lethal Injection of Florida death row inmate Angel Nieves Diaz

Angel Diaz was executed by lethal injection for killing a Miami topless bar manager 27 years ago. He was given a rare second does of deadly chemicals as he took more than twice the usual time to succumb. Needles that were supposed to inject drugs in the 55 year old man’s veins were instead pushed through the blood vessels and into the surrounding soft tissue.

The error in Diaz’s execution led Florida Governor Jeb Bush to suspend all executions. Bush still defends the death penalty itself and rejects calls for its abolition. In a separate case, a federal judge extended a moratorium on executions in California, declaring that its method of legal injection violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

Those are just the latest challenges to lethal injection, which is the preferred method in 37 states. Missouri’s injection method, similar to California’s was declared unconstitutional last month by a federal judge.

Guest - Kristin Houle with the Amnesty International Program to Abolish the Death Penalty

Lynch Mobs and the Killing State

Lynchings. That word alone is at the root of racism in the United States. Those who may regard lynching as a shameful part of the past need only read the book “From Lynch Mobs to the Killing State” edited by Austin Sarat and Charles Ogletree to realize that state-sanctioned executions are sanitized forms of lynching justified by society.

Professors Charles Ogletree and Austin Sarat have assembled a lucid and intelligent work in which essays from sociologists, historians, criminologists and lawyers weave toegether a social history that starkly reveals how this country’s death penalty is rooted in lynchings.

Racism informs both kinds of killings. The 985 lives lost to official lynchings in the United States since the practice resumed in 1976 symbolize according to one of the book’s contributors, a much broader and enduring culture of American apartheid.

Guest - Austin Sarat, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College. His books include Mercy on Trial: What it Means to Stop an Execution.

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Since the summer of 2004, Law and Disorder has brought Pacifica listeners the voices of activists, authors and attorneys from the front lines.

We’ve examined in a four part radio series, the foundation for what many view as a police state in the United States. In this series we’ve talked with guests about the post 9/11 blueprint of a police state build up and how the nefarious turn to war, the use of torture and the domestic propagation of fear unfolded.

We have examined at length topics such as torture, domestic surveillance, criminalizing dissent, racial profiling, indefinite detentions and the destruction of constitutional rights as vital information to bring an understanding to listeners as to how it happened and where we go from here.

In this fourth part of the series we look at the unjust and illegal war in Iraq.

We believe that taken together, the four-part series chronicle the events, policies and legislation that have shaped a police state in the United States. Law and Disorder calls attention to this emergence by bringing you the voices of strength and opposition from activists, authors and attorneys who are well informed, not silent and standing up against the strangling of democracy.

Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal

Law and Disorder invite Anthony Arnove back to talk more about his book Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, and discuss how is it possible to end the occupation in Iraq. Hosts look at the intentionality of stirring up an unnatural conflict among the Sunnis, Kurds and Shiites and later pull back to discuss the larger picture and draw comparisons to the anti-war movement during the Vietnam conflict.

Guest - Anthony Arnove, author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, He his also the editor, with Howard Zinn, of Voices of a People’s History of the United States (Seven Stories), the long-awaited primary-source companion to A People’s History of the United States.

Active Duty Anti-War Activist

Jonathan Hutto works and lives on a Norfolk, Virginia based aircraft carrier, the Theodore Roosevelt. Hutto strongly opposes the Iraq war. Supported by antiwar military family and veterans organizations, Hutto and a handful of other service members created a Web site called An Appeal for Redress. This site allows active-duty and reserve troops to e-mail their representatives in Congress for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Their message: “Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.” Anti-War Link - Citizen Soldier

The Case of Mohammad Munaf

US citizen Mohammad Munaf has been convicted of a death penalty crime involving his alleged connection with 3 kidnapped Romanian journalists in Iraq. It’s reported that there is little to no evidence against him in this case. Law and Disorder talk with Jonathan Hafetz who with others are trying to make a last ditch effort for appeal to keep Mohammad from being turned over to the Iraqis where it’s likely he will be executed. Originally from Iraq, Munaf immigrated to the United States and became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and in the following year he immigrated to Romania with his wife and three children. . . read more about Mohammad Munaf

Update - The Supreme Court has turned down Mohammad Munaf’s appeal. The US is free to turn Munaf over to the Iraqis where he may be executed.

Guest - Jonathan Hafetz - Associate Counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, and authored the amicus brief of British and American Habeas Corpus Scholars submitted on behalf of the Guant?namo detainees.

Pacifica’s Law and Disorder Update - The Insurrection Act - Download - [3.6 MB]

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Laying the Foundation for a Police State - Part 1 - Building Blocks

Since July of 2004, Law and Disorder has brought Pacifica listeners the voices of activists, authors and attorneys from the front lines.

In the weeks to come, Law and Disorder hosts will examine in a four part series, the foundation for what many see as a police state in the United States. In this series they will talk with guests about the post 9/11 blueprint of this dictatorship/ police state and how the nefarious turn to war, the use of torture and the domestic propagation of fear unfolded.

Law and Disorder hosts have covered at length topics such as torture, domestic surveillance, criminalizing dissent, racial profiling, indefinite detentions and the destruction of constitutional rights as vital information to bring an understanding to listeners as to how it happened and where we go from here.

In this first series, the hosts begin with a look back at where they were on the day of September 11th, and how the Patriot Act was pushed through the Legislature immediately after the attacks on that day. They look at the racial profiling and roundup of Muslims and the rush to invade Afghanistan and Iraq using the Authorization for Use of Military Force.

Later in the second, third and fourth parts of the series - a discussion on the recent signing of the military commission act of 2006 and the abolishment of habeas corpus. This, as well the Insurrection Act and the buildup of detention prisons in the United States. The plans for a police state and martial law are slowly locking into place. Law and Disorder will bring attention to this emergence by bringing you the voices of strength and opposition from activists, authors and attorneys who are well informed, not silent and standing up against the strangling of democracy.

Co-host Dalia Hashad describes her experiences as an attorney formerly with the ACLU right after September 11th as thousands of Muslim-Americans were rounded up or corralled because of their ethnicity or political affiliation.

Tracked in America - Samina Sundas

Samina Sundas with American Muslim Voice helped her fellow Muslims and Pakistani-Americans integrate into mainstream American society, and her role intensified after 9/11. When the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS, also known as the Special Registration program) was instituted in September 2002, Muslims all over the United States contacted her confused and worried about how it would affect them. She couldn’t get clear answers from federal immigration officials despite several meetings. After that, she set up an ad hoc hotline that has since become part of an organization called American Muslim Voice.

Framework of Police State laws since 9/11

Co-host Michael Ratner leads the way through the timeline from setting up the legal basis for a global war on terror to justifying a secret system of prisons and interrogation techniques that evade historic safeguards in the Geneva Convention.

Guest - Scott Horton, Chair of International Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University. He is also the author of over 200 articles and monographs on legal developments in nations in transition.

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The Left Forum

We hear excerpts from speeches delivered by co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith at the Left Forum this year. The Law and Disorder panel was named Ten Minutes To Midnight, a reference Michael Smith later explains as he parallels the current legislative and judicial direction of the US to similar police state tactics employed by Nazi Germany. In the second speech co-host Michael Ratner and president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, lays out a similar framework and cites recent supreme court decisions, the Patriot Act expansion and a weak kneed Congress as key stepping stones to a police state build-up.

Elaine Jones, retired president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Educational Fund

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Lawsuits Filed Against NSA

Since its been revealed that the National Security Agency is amassing a colossal database of personal phone records have become public, there have been nearly 20 lawsuits filed against the NSA, AT&T and other telecommunication companies. Here on Law and Disorder we take a look at some recent lawsuits, one involving the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Center for Constitutional Rights. We also discuss recent bills proposed in the Senate designed to change the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, read more about it here.

Guest - Shane Kadidal lead attorney at CCR on the NSA cases. Read Shane’s latest commentary here.

Shane Kadidal’s blogs at huffingtonpost.com

Tasers - Part II

This year Amnesty International released a report on Tasers. (download PDF here) The report also looks at the systematic misuse of tasers by police and in prisons. It points out that there is a widespread policy of using tasers as a routine compliance tool on subjects who are passively resisting or “perceived” to not be complying with orders. Taser misuse is increasingly linked with unnecessary punishment, degradation and torture. In part I of the Taser series, Law and Disorder hosts spoke with Ed Jackson. (listen here) This week we go to Portland, Oregon where during Amnesty International’s General Annual Meeting, co-host Dalia Hashad caught up with Amnesty International spokeswoman and Taser expert Mona Cadena in Pioneer Square.

Guest - Mona Cadena - Amnesty International spokeswoman and Taser expert.

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Law and Disorder Hosts Visit Political Prisoners - A Discussion

Co-hosts Heidi Boghosian and Michael Smith talked about their recent visits with political prisoners Mumia Abu- Jamal and David Gilbert. Heidi talks about her visit with Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row in Waynesburg, Pennsylvannia and the the National Lawyers Guild’s plan to file an Amicus Brief in Mumia’s case.

Gilbert was a founding member of Columbia University Students for a Democratic Society and member of The Weather Underground Organization. Following eleven years underground he was arrested with members of the Black Liberation Army and other radicals following a botched armored car robbery in 1981. He is now a well-known prisoner serving time in upstate New York. Read more about David Gilbert here.

A rare interview with Amnesty International’s former Executive Director William Schulz

Co-host Dalia Hashad interviews Bill Schulz at Pioneer Square before the anti-torture rally. We also listen to Bill Schulz deliver an inspiring outgoing speech during the rally. This is part of hours of amazing audio interviews and speeches from the Amnesty General Meeting, stay tuned for more in the weeks to come.

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Key Ruling Ahead for Death Penalty as mentally ill death row inmate Willie Brown is scheduled for execution by lethal injection this Friday April 21st . Learn more about the issue here. U.S. District Judge Malcolm J. Howard will decide if prison officials have resolved issues concerning the amount of pain involved in lethal injection. However, anesthesiologists may not be willing to participate. The professional code of ethics for doctors simply states that doctors are healers, not executioners. If Howard rules that the state of North Carolina must use an anesthesiologist and none are willing, the use of the death penalty may re-examined. Co-host Dalia Hashad joins the Law and Disorder hosts from her DC office. Please Visit the Amnesty International Online Action Center to express your concern and call on the governor to commute Willie Brown’s death sentence.

Guest - Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn - Director of the Program to Abolish the Death Penalty - Amnesty International USA.

In the months since Puerto Rican Independista Filiberto Ojeda Ríos was assassinated by the FBI, protesters are demonstrating in the streets against the lingering FBI presence in San Juan and other regions of Puerto Rico. Last month, federal agents executing search warrants on the homes of independentistas were captured on video pepper-spraying journalists covering the story, with seemingly little or no provocation, further fueling anti-FBI sentiment. On February 10th, the FBI executed six search warrants on independence movement leaders to prevent ”a potential domestic terrorist attack” against ”privately owned interests in Puerto Rico,” according to an FBI statement. Law and Disorder hosts update listeners on this under-reported story.

Guest - Charlie Hay-Mestre - Civil Rights Attorney in Puerto Rico and board member of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He is also part of the investigating team looking into the murder of Filiberto Ojeda Rios.

NSA Spying on Attorneys - CCR attorney Shane Kadidal speaks with Law and Disorder hosts about the near certainty of the government eavesdropping on conversations with attorneys and clients at the Center for Constitutional Rights. Co-Host Michael Ratner updates listeners on the recent story of AT&T funneling all internet traffic through NSA. Read it here.

Guest - Shane Kadidal - Center for Constitutional Rights.

Co-host Michael Ratner references the Salon article - Read the Salon article here.

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Al-Arian Case - The trial of Sami Al-Arian has drawn national and international attention. A professor at the University of South Florida, Al-Arian was arrested in 2003 and charged with providing material support to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad under the cover of various charities. Yet, the prosecution failed to prove that the money was sent for any purpose other than charity. US attorneys have denied that they are pursuing Al-Arian, along with three other defendants, for political reasons.

Guest - Attorney Bill Moffet

Death Penalty - Mumia Abu-Jamal
The US Court of Appeals of the Third Circuit had decided to hold hearings on three claims by Abu-Jamal that his 1982 trial, overseen by Judge Albert Sabo, and a subsequent hearing were tainted by constitutional violations.

Guest - Jeff Mackler

Guest - Mumia’s attorney Robert Bryan

ERROR NOTE: In our segment on Mumia Abu-Jamal, we mistakenly described guest Jeff Mackler as National Coordinator for the Defense of Mumia Abu-Jamal. Jeff is an activist who has long been involved in the campaign to free Mumia. In addition, his interview contained some inaccuracies about the pending legal issues. The companion segment with Robert R. Bryan, Mumia’s lead attorney, contains an accurate description of recent legal updates. That segment alone should be relied on for an overview of the procedural aspects of Mumia’s case.

Olivia Greer - Singer/songwriter and co-author of the book Actions
Speak Louder Than Bumper Stickers - 96 pages of the funniest political bumper stickers, speaking to today’s hot-button issues ? from Bush bashing to economics, abortion to the military. Olivia Greer also performs regularly around New York City venues including CB’s Gallery, The C-Note, The Cutting Room and The Knitting Factory.