Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Military Tribunal, Surveillance, Truth to Power, Uncategorized
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Update:
- Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Dalia Hashad discuss the key elements of the David Hicks military tribunal. They describe how two of the three lawyers representing were dismissed by the judge leaving attorney Major Michael Mori as counsel. David Hicks has become the first Guantanamo prisoner to plead guilty under the Military Commissions Act passed last year.
- Hosts describe the plea deal that was made with military prosecutors and Hick’s role training with the Taliban under the Pakistan Inter-Services Intelligence ISI.
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An International Witchhunt: Police Spy on Protestors Before RNC Convention in New York City
A national and international effort was launched by police and intelligence to spy on protesters before the Republican National Convention in 2004. According to the New York Times, teams of undercover officers were sent across the US, Canada and Europe to spy on groups and individuals planning to take part in the protests in New York. Specially trained officers part of the “RNC Intelligence Squad,” posed as activists as they targeted anti-war organizations, environmentalists and artists.
Guest – Donna Lieberman, Executive Director of the NYCLU
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Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History
Co-host Michael Ratner, reads from Disorder in the Court: Great Fractured Moments in Courtroom History These are what people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters who had to keep a straight face while these exchanges took place. Get ready to laugh.
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2006 Study Shows Half A Million People Stopped on New York City Streets
Last year New York City police stopped more than 500 thousand people on city streets. 2006 statistics show a near doubling in the average number of arrests as a result.
Of those stopped last year a disproportionate 55 percent were black and 30 percent were Hispanic. As mentioned here at length on previous Law and Disorder programs, the NYPD continues to build a database on each street stop. A database with information most likely shared with intelligence agencies around the world.
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- Click here to read the NYCLU’s letter and the NYPD order (PDF).
- Click here to read the NYCLU’s palm card “What to Do If You’re Stopped by the Police”.
Guest – New York civil liberties Executive Director Donna Lieberman.
Guest – Deborah Small, Executive Director of Break the Chains, an organization that seeks to build a national movement within communities of color against punitive drug policies.
Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Iraq War, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power
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Combatant Status Review Tribunals
Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Dalia Hashad discuss the legal efficacy of these tribunals for Guantanamo Bay detainees. From the Amnesty International USA site – “In the “war on terror”, detainees in US custody have been treated as potential sources of information first and criminal suspects a distant second. However, this secondary aspect is now coming into focus. Plucked from years of secret or virtually incommunicado detention, a few people held in the US Naval Base at Guant?namo Bay in Cuba are facing trial by military commission.”
Combatant Status Review Tribunals Proceedings:
- Detainees do not receive the presumption of innocence.
- Detainees do not get access to legal advice.
- Detainees are not entitled to access to the evidence against them, or in their favor.
- Hear-say evidence is allowed to be used against the detainees.
- The use of evidence acquired through coercive interrogation is allowed, there is no protection against self-incrimination.
- Evidence acquired through the torture of other suspects was allowed.
Architect of Torture
Co-host Michael Ratner adds perspective to the real reasons US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should resign immediately.
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Law and Disorder sit down with authors Giuliana Sgrena and Anthony Arnove.
It’s two years since U.S. forces gunned down Italian intelligence agent Nicola Calipari in Iraq, and recently Washington is refuses to hand over the U.S. soldier charged in the case to be tried in Italy. Calipari the number two man in the Italian military intelligence was killed while escorting Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena after securing her release from a month-long abduction in Iraq.
Giuliana Sgrena has written about her experience in, “Friendly Fire: The Remarkable Story of a Journalist Kidnapped in Iraq.” As a veteran foreign correspondent for the Italian newspaper Il Manifesto she has reported frequently from Afghanistan and Iraq. Sgrena joins Michael Ratner and Michael Smith today on Law and Disorder. We are also joined by editor and author Anthony Arnove who recently wrote the new book Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal.
Left Forum 2007 – CCR Executive Director Vince Warren
We play part of a speech by the Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vince Warren. He spoke at the Left Forum earlier this month on the state of current state civil liberties in this country. The panel, moderated by our own Michael Steven Smith examined the long term implications of eroding civil liberties and the laws that have allowed a surveillance police state. We will hear more speakers from this years Left Forum in the weeks to come.
Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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FBI Lies And Patriot Act Abuse
Angry lawmakers are considering setting limits on the Patriot Act after the inspector general of the Justice Department had found the FBI abusing an administrative subpoena called “national security letters.” The FBI used this subpoena to gather phone, bank and credit information on thousands of citizens without court oversight. They also made quote unusual contracts with 3 major phone companies to provide records without any legal process.
Guest – Lisa Graves, Deputy Director of the Center for National Security Studies.
“The Chief Judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) informed Congress that the court has no objection to sharing with the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) the orders authorizing wiretapping of people in the US who have been subject to warrantless wiretapping by the administration. Attorney General Gonzales initially refused to share that information with the Committee, stating during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he needed to consult with his “principal,” President Bush. On January 31, 2007, the Attorney General announced that certain documents held by the FISC, such ? including investigators’ applications for permission to spy and court orders ? would be given to “some” lawmakers, such as Senator Patrick Leahy and Senator Arlen Specter, but not all Senators of the SJC or other concerned Members.” – – – Center for National Security Studies.
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Australian Guantanamo Bay Detainee David Hicks Update
David Hicks was the Center for Constitutional Rights’ first client and in the first group of detainees taken to Guant?namo. He is Australian and is now the first person charged before the reconstituted Military Commissions Act. He was charged earlier but those commissions were held illegal by the Supreme Court in the Hamdan case. He has been charged with one count of material aid to terrorism, which is not usually viewed as a war crime. To the extent any crimes are triable by military commissions they must be war crimes. Unlike the UK, the Australia government has willingly gone along with this trial and has not insisted on Hicks’ return.
Guest – Josh Dratel, civilian attorney for David Hicks.
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ACLU Sues Department of Homeland Security For Detaining Children in Prison-Like Conditions.
The Department of Homeland Security and the T. Don Hutto Immigration Detention Facility is facing a federal lawsuit filed by the The American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of children confined at the facility in Tyler, Texas. The ACLU claims adults and children at the center, which used to be a prison, live in jail-like conditions and that the children are not given adequate schooling or medical care.
Read more
Guest – Lisa Graybill, legal director for the ACLU of Texas.
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Guantanamo Bay Lawyers Attacked and Misquoted.
Newspapers run op eds that heavily criticized lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. Criticism such as they’re quote “keeping the US military from doing its job and repatriating detainees back into action fighting the United States.
Guest – Scott Horton, Chair of International Law Committee at the New York City Bar Association and adjunct Professor of Law at Columbia University
Civil Liberties, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Truth to Power
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Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World
Here on Law and Disorder we’ve covered in depth the scope of surveillance bearing down on the lives of people in a post 9/11 society. From intrusive RFID technology to phone companies and airlines handing over private consumer data to the FBI.
Guest – Maureen Webb, Canadian human rights lawyer and author of “Illusions of Security: Global Surveillance and Democracy in the Post-9/11 World” Webb examines how governments worldwide follow the lead of the Bush administration in using quote terrorism as an excuse for public surveillance and information gathering.
“Webb focuses her criticism on the governments of Canada and the United States, but persuasively documents international cooperation on illegal, or at least immoral, high-tech information gathering. Webb devotes substantial space to the National Security Agency of the U.S and its monitoring of international telephone traffic despite apparent lawlessness and ethical violations. Webb also writes in detail about how governments, following the lead of the Bush administration, use “terrorism” as an excuse to “serve agendas that go far beyond security from terrorism–namely the suppression of dissent, harsh immigration and refugee policies, increased law enforcement power.”
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Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future. by Stanley Aronowitz
America is in the midst of a crisis of democracy as we literally descend into an authoritarian state. On Law and Disorder we’ve seen firsthand the casualties of this crisis, from the growing militarization that pervades our lives to a dominant fundamentalism that cuts short critical thinking. Renowned social critic Stanley Aronowitz presents an alternative platform for our future in his recent book, “Left Turn: Forging a New Political Future. As we start the New Year, we can borrow from the historical traditions of the European left, as well as the more recent trends in Latin America that are challenging, head on, the death of socialism.
Guest – Stanley Aronowitz is professor of sociology, cultural studies, and urban education at the CUNY Graduate Center. He is also a veteran political activist and cultural critic and a passionate champion of organized labor. In addition to authoring numerous books, he is a founding editor of Social Text, a journal that is subtitled “Theory, Culture, Ideology.”
Civil Liberties, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power
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Muhammad Salah Cleared Of Federal Charges
For more than a year, Law and Disorder has followed the case of Muhammad Salah and co-defendant Abdelhaleem Ashqar. In a major victory both were recently acquitted on charges that they engaged in a “racketeering conspiracy” to provide support to the Palestinian organization Hamas in the early 90s. The two were convicted of several lesser charges unrelated to terrorism. Salah says his confession to Israeli Security agents was false and the end product of 53 days in custody, during which Salah’s lawyers say he was tortured. He was kept awake, beaten and forced to sit in excruciating positions for long periods of time.
Guest – Michael Deutsch from the People’s Law Office in Detroit. Mr. Deutsch says this verdict is a significant breakthrough in that the jurors were not swayed by government attempts to apply the terrorism label without adequate evidence.
Dear listeners to send letters of support – Please make them out to the Honorable Amy J. St. Eve Addressed to: Michael Deutsch People’s Law Office 1180 N. Milwaukee Chicago, IL 60622
Coerced confessions based on torture are at the center of many cases discussed on this program. From French revolutionary Henri Alleg to the recent victory in the Muhammad Salah case in Chicago. Black Panthers were no exception, in the early seventies eight former Black Panthers were arrested in California, New York and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Two men charged have been held as political prisoners for over 30 years ? Herman Bell and Jalil Muntaqim are both in New York State prisons. But a judge tossed out the charges, finding that Taylor and his two co-defendants made confessions after police in New Orleans tortured them for several days employing electric shock, cattle prods, beatings, sensory deprivation, plastic bags and hot, wet blankets for asphyxiation.
Guest – attorney Bob Bloom speaks on new developments in the case.
To hear the voices of Harold Taylor, John Bowman and Hank Jones describe how they were tortured visit the Listening Library and scroll down here the event from March 2006 at the Riverside Church sponsored by the Center for Constitutional Rights.
US Government Not Allowing Families of Cuban Five Prisoners Visitation
Amnesty International calls for temporary visas to be granted to two wives of the ‘Cuban Five’
In the past month several legal developments have occurred in the case of the Cuban Five. In January the defense argued four key issues in a supplement brief. Those issues are: first, the conspiracy to commit murder charge should be discharged; second, the conspiracy to espionage should be reversed for insufficiency of evidence; third, the sentencing on the espionage charges were grossly out of line with existing law; and forth, the prosecution committed misconduct. Finally application of the Classified Information Procedures Act provisions was wrong in this case. Here’s the situation: If the two judges can’t agree, the chief judge of the 11th Circuit appoints a third judge to join in the decision-making. You must have two judges in agreement in order to have a valid decision by the appellate court. If the two judges agree, however, that’s the end of it. For more information visit They Will Return.
Guest – Leonard Weinglass, lawyer for Antonio Guerrero, to talk about yet an additional aspect that has plagued the case since the five were incarcerated: the US government’s failure to allow families to visit the Five.
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Jimmy Carter’s Recent Book – Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid – Drawing Criticism
With the release of former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, controversy has arisen about the use of the word “apartheid” to describe the occupied Palestinian territories. The contention is that Carter begins with the premise, “inside Israel there is equality while in the occupied Palestinian territories there is not.”
Guest – Jamil Dakwar, a former senior attorney with Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.
Just as the US and Europe once opposed apartheid in South Africa, Israel’s discrimination against Palestinians must be similarly exposed and dismantled. – – Read Jamil Dakwar’s commentary It’s Simple Apartheid.
Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Supreme Court, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power
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Hosts Michael Ratner and Heidi Boghosian list some positive developments in detentions and the US government’s racial profiling of Muslims. Guantanamo Bay detainees are nearing a fifth year of being kept in cages despite the Center for Constitutional Rights winning two Supreme Court cases. By January 11th, 2007, most of the 460 men in Guantanamo Bay detainment camp, Cuba will have been detained five years as the Bush administration insists in holding them without trial. Among the detainees held for five years – David Hicks – an Australian citizen.
From the Washington Post – “It is often said that ‘justice delayed is justice denied.’ Nothing could be closer to the truth with reference to the Guantanamo Bay cases,” U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler of Washington D.C. wrote in a ruling Friday, spurning the Pentagon’s attempt to deny Bisher Al Rawi, another Afghan man held at Guantanamo, from representing his friend Al Razak. Read story here.
Gladys Kessler – “The Petitioner . . . identifies the legal, cultural, and psychological isolation in which the detainee exists which demonstrate his inability to challenge the legality of his detention. They are as follows: He is a resident of Afghanistan. He has had virtually no contact with the news media or any word from outside the closed Guantanamo prison system for over 3 years. He has had no contact with his friends or family members outside Guantanamo. He is unfamiliar with the United States Court System. He does not speak English.He likely does not know what the term Habeas Corpus means. He has no criminal charges against him.”
Brandon Mayfield update – wrongly arrested by FBI agents after the 2004 Madrid terrorist bombings, has settled his lawsuit against the U.S. government for $2 million. Read story here.
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 an excerpt 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.
Radio Frequency Identification – Spychips
Here on Law and Disorder we’ve brought you stories about Radio Frequency Identification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID “spy chips” have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, or Target – and they are already being used to spy on people. Some of the world’s largest product manufacturers have been working behind closed doors since 1999 to develop this technology. They plan to use these remote-readable chips to replace the bar code.
Each tiny chip is hooked up to an antenna that picks up electromagnetic energy beamed at it from a reader device. When it picks up the energy, the chip sends back its unique identification number to the reader device, (which can be located anywhere!) allowing the item to be remotely identified. Spy chips can beam back information anywhere from a couple of inches to up to 20 or 30 feet away.
Guest – Liz McIntyre, co-author of Spychips:How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID
Photo from double RFID implantee Amal Graastra.
Recent Legislation – SENATE BANKING COMMITTEE MEMBER DENOUNCES “NO-SWIPE” CREDIT CARDS
A member of the Senate Banking Committee denounced RFID “no-swipe”credit cards at a press conference Sunday. Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) said contracts for the cards should have warning boxes disclosing “the known weaknesses of the technology.” He cautioned cardholders about their vulnerability to identity thieves, commenting you “may as well put your credit card information on a big sign on your back.”
“No-swipe” or “contactless” credit cards contain RFID microchips that communicate account information silently and invisibly by radio waves. These microchips have earned the nickname “spychips” because the information they contain can be read without an individual’s knowledge or consent.
While Congress is just waking up to the dangers of RFID technology, privacy and civil liberties organizations have been sounding the alarm for years.
