Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Habeas Corpus, Human Rights, Military Tribunal, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
Ali al-Marri Update: Reversing the Bush Administration’s War on Terror Policy
In a reversal of the Bush Administration’s effort to detain people around the globe, last week, a federal appeals court in Virginia, which is a very conservative court ruled that the government cannot subject Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri to indefinite detention, though he was subject to indefinite detention by a 2003 presidential order.
A legal US resident – though not a citizen – al-Marri had studied computer science at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois in 1991, and returned on 10 September 2001 to pursue post-graduate studies, bringing his family – his wife and five children – with him. Three months later he was arrested and charged with fraud and making false statements to the FBI, but in June 2003, a month before he was due to stand trial for these charges in a federal court in Peoria, the prosecution dropped the charges and informed the court that he was to be held as an “enemy combatant†instead.
As some listeners may recall, here on Law and Disorder we’ve discussed Ali al-Marri’s case and how he was held incommunicado, indefinitely in a military prison without charges. He’s been in solitary confinement for more than 2 years, no access to reading material, except the Qur’an. According to his lawyers, he was constantly harassed, abused and any medical treatment he received was very poor.
Now, because the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit ruled that U.S. residents cannot be locked up indefinitely as “enemy combatants†without being charged, al-Marri can challenge his detention. Al-Marri is the only “enemy combatant” still in detention without charge in the United States itself.
Guest – Jonathan Hafetz, Litigation Director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Project and the lead counsel for Al-Marri. He is the author of numerous articles in scholarly and popular publications, including the Yale Law Journal, California Western Law Review, and Fordham Journal of International Law, Legal Affairs, and the New York Law Journal.
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Off the Record: U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the War on Terror
Children as young as seven years old detained in secret CIA prisons are some of the startling details unearthed by a recent report drafted by six human rights groups including Amnesty International (PDF file), the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the New York University School of Law.
The report titled Off the Record: U.S. Responsibility for Enforced Disappearances in the War on Terror, details aspects of the CIA detention program that the US government has actively tried to conceal, such as the locations where prisoners may have been held, the mistreatment they endured, and the countries to which they may have been transferred. The report names 39 people believed to be disappeared from countries such as Egypt, Kenya, Libya, Morocco, Pakistan, and Spain.
Guest – Meg Satterthwaite, director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at the (NYU) Law School. Satterthwaite has published reports and articles on human rights topics in scholarly and advocacy contexts. Her research interests include human rights in the “war on terrorâ€; gender, sexuality and human rights; and the human rights of migrants. She is Co-Chair of the International Human Rights Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, a member of the Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA, and a member of the International Law Committee of the City Bar of New York.
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Civil Liberties, Extraordinary Rendition, Guantanamo, Prison Industry, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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Guantanamo Bay Detainee Dies : Alleged Suicide
Law and Disorder hosts Dalia Hashad, Michael Ratner and Michael Smith discuss the recent alleged suicide at Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba. The Saudi Arabian detainee died last Wednesday at Guantanamo Bay prison. The U.S. military says he apparently committed suicide.
“It’s conceivable he (the detainee) was murdered.” – – Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
“This death demonstrates the urgent need to close Guantanamo Bay Prison.” – – Dalia Hashad, Amnesty International USA Program Director .
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Listen to the Pacifica National Special – The War on Immigrants – Co-hosted by our own Dalia Hashad.
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“War on Terror” Prisoners and Secret Detentions Update
Michael Ratner describes how the Bush Administration has been pushing coercive interrogations with limited resistance in Congress. He also points out the new laws that apply to prisoners in US military custody. Ratner says they are now required to obey the Army Field Manual on detainee treatment FM 34-52 that include almost 20 interrogation techniques that do not constitute torture. Those prisoners, alleged enemy combatants citizen or non-citizen in the custody of the CIA (secret prisons) are not subject to the Army Field Manual.
Anti-Torture Movement in Chicago Police Torture Case Gains Traction
The City Council will hold hearings on a special prosecutor’s “whitewash†report into police torture by former Chicago Police Lt. Jon Burge, thanks to a resolution co-signed today by 26 aldermen
The case includes a four-year investigation focused on allegations that 148 black men were tortured in Chicago police interrogation rooms in the 1970s and ’80s. The men say detectives under the command of Lt. Jon Burge beat them, used electric shocks, played mock Russian roulette and started to smother at least one to force confessions. Prosecutors described this type of criminal justice system where top officials in a position to put a stop to police torture appeared blind to the abuse. Among them, Mayor Richard Daley, when he served as Cook County state’s attorney.
Guest – Flint Taylor – Attorney with the People’s Law Office, leading the fight against covering up torture by the Chicago Police Department.
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Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine
Last month we heard author Joel Kovel discuss his book at the Brecht Forum. He recently joined Law and Disorder in the studio for a riveting interview that also looked into Kovel’s personal changes that led him to write Overcoming Zionism. Toward the end of the interview, co-host Dalia Hashad asks why Joel Kovel chose the word “overcoming” in his title.
“This book is absolutely fundamental for those who reject the unfortunate confusion between Jews, Judaism, Zionism and the State of Israel — a confusion which is the basis for systematic manipulation by the imperialist power system. It convincingly argues in favour of a single secular state for Israelis and Palestinians as the only democratic solution for the region.” Samir Amin, Director of the Third World Forum.
Guest – Joel Kovel author of Overcoming Zionism: Creating a Single Democratic State in Israel/Palestine, has been engaged in struggles for peace and justice since the Vietnam War era. He has worked within the antiwar and antinuclear movements, the solidarity movements in Central America and the Caribbean, the movements for democratic media, and, increasingly, for ecological transformation. He lived in Nicaragua for a period in 1986, and accompanied Pastors for Peace as they broke the US blockade on Cuba in their 1994 Friendshipment. He has acted in films, worked frequently with the Bread and Puppet theatre, and lectured on four continents. Kovel joined the Green Party since 1990. In 1998, he was the Green Party candidate for US Senator from New York, and in 2000 sought their Presidential nomination.
Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Military Tribunal, Supreme Court, Targeting Muslims, Torture, Truth to Power
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Why Did Pulitzer Ignore Juan Gonzalez’s Reporting on Air Quality at Ground Zero?
Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith commend the valuable investigative journalism by columnist and Democracy Now cohost, Juan Gonzalez. Gonzalez had written extensively about the air quality at Ground Zero after September 11th. Read more here. Here is an archive of Juan Gonzalez’s columns.
Co-hosts also discuss Supreme Court partial birth abortion ruling (PDF) and Michael Ratner‘s trip to Paris and the follow up on the case brought against former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Germany.
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Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act
A coalition of groups including criminal justice, drug treatment, health organizations are seeking to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act. It’s a 1998 law that delays or denies federal financial aid to people convicted of state or federal drug offenses. Since the law took effect in 2000, 200 thousand students have been denied financial aid. According to the Department of Education, that’s one in every 400 students rejected who apply for federal aid.
As a result, these young students, having already been punished for their offenses are now dropping out of school or reducing courses. Today, there are more than 300 organizations working to overturn this law.
Guest – David Borden, Executive Director of the Drug Reform Coordination Network. David’s been very active lately in lobbying to repeal the Drug Provision of the Higher Education Act (also known as the “Aid Elimination Penalty)
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Amnesty Report on Guantanamo Bay Prison Conditions
Earlier this month, Amnesty International released a report detailing the horrid prisoner conditions at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The report includes descriptions such as extreme isolation, sensory deprivation, solitary confinement 22 hours a day, and 24 hour lighting. Eighty per cent of the approximately 385 men currently held at Guantánamo are in isolation. Amnesty International also reports that the cells have no windows to the outside or access to natural light or fresh air.
Amnesty International is also calling on the government to allow independent health care professionals into Guantánamo to examine detainees in private and to allow visits by independent human right organizations and UN human rights experts.
Co-host and Amnesty International Director of the USA program, Dalia Hashad reads an excerpt from Bisher al-Rawi’s moving letter to free Guantanamo prisoners.
Guest – Shane Kadidal, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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Civil Liberties, Guantanamo, Military Tribunal, Surveillance, Torture, Truth to Power
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Update:
- US Supreme Court Rejects Appeal (6-3 vote) From Guantanamo Detainees
- Co-hosts Michael Ratner and Michael Smith discuss the recent ruling by the Supreme Court to reject appeal from Guantanamo detainees who are challenging their five-year long confinement. Once again, Habeas Court is at stake. Michael Ratner says “If we had Habeas Corpus hearings, Guantanamo would be cleaned out in 24 hours.” Both co-hosts discuss what’s at stake as the US Supreme Court rolls back some 800 years, a fundamental pillar of justice. Habeas Corpus.
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Red Light For Stop Light Systems
Surveillance Creep: Across the United States, from Minnesota to Texas, a host of cities have installed automated systems to catch vehicles that run red lights. A photo is taken of the speeding car’s license plate and a citation is sent to the owner. Owners can contest it by showing that the car title had been transferred or by telling people the name of the person driving at the time. In Minneapolis, the police who manage the program said it issued 26,000 tickets in six months and reduced accidents by 16 percent at the intersections where cameras were posted.
But cities are finding problems with some of these devices. Lubbock, Texas for example has delayed installation of red light cameras after the discovery of shorter timed yellow lights. Also in Iowa. Residents felt this was an attempt to get more money…short yellows assure a steady flow of red light camera ticket revenue. And in Minneapolis, the program has reached its own red light. In mid-March the ACLU scored a victory in court, when a judge found the automated system, called Photo Cop, illegal. Photo Cop ticketed vehicle owners, not the drivers, which uniformity of Minnesota laws governing moving violations.
Guest – Howard Bass, a Burnsville attorney, he argued the case for the ACLU of Minnesota.
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Courts Relax Laws That Protect Expression of Free Speech From Police Spying
Unrestrained police surveillance has crept back into the lives of civilians at an alarming rate. Normally held in check by court settlements or consent decrees, city officials and courts are increasingly diluting the power of such agreements. A consent decree will help restrain overreaching law enforcement and permit the exercise of free speech.
In New York City, since 1986 police must follow consent decree guidelines when investigating individuals engaging in First Amendment activities. We may not have had these guidelines were it not for a lawsuit brought by Barbara Handschu Known as the Handschu Settlement, it was agreed to in 1980 by a plaintiff class numbering in the millions and the New York City Police Department.
Twenty-two years after the settlement was signed, the NYPD asked to modify it, saying it was too restrictive, and would inhibit terrorism investigation. U.S. District Court Judge Charles Haight agreed with the NYPD.and relaxed the guidelines.
And what’s happening in NY is also happening around the country.
Take Chicago for example. .In 2001 the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals stripped Chicago’s consent decree. It was signed 25 years ago. Now, city officials say it impedes investigations of gang activity. No longer are police deterred from spying on, or disrupting the constitutionally protected activities of political groups.
Historically, court settlements and consent decrees have held in check unfettered police abuse of First Amendment freedoms. But under the Bush administration, attorneys general have actually marginalized these important decrees. We’ve watched the Justice Department LIFT existing decrees, preferring to enter into less formal understandings with police. In so doing, the judicial branch of our government acts as a national conspirator with local police departments in violating our collective civil rights.
Guest – Paul Chevigny, law professor at New York University and one of the lawyers involved in NY’s historic Handschu lawsuit.
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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, 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.
