Yesterday, CCR filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Justices to review the judgment of the U.S. Court of Appeals denying two British and two Australian national’s, detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, fundamental due process rights.
The detainees, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, who are British, and David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, who are Australian, have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for over a year and a half. Seized by the United States in apparent connection with the “war against terrorism”, they have never been charged, and have had no recourse to any court to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. None has had access to family, friends or legal counsel and the Government has claimed that it can hold them under these conditions indefinitely.
CCR’s four clients are among the approximately 700 other individuals detained by the United States military at Guantanamo Bay; nationals of some 42 nations, including children as young as 13 and men in their late 70’s. The vast majority of them live in solitary confinement, restricted to 6’ x 8’ cells for more than 23 hours a day. According to the Pentagon, there have been 32 attempted suicides since detentions began, with most taking place this year. The Pentagon recently announced plans to expand the Camp.
In February of 2002 CCR lawyers filed petitions for Habeas Corpus with the D.C. District Court. The main contention of the litigation was that the Petitioners should be afforded the right to challenge the legality of their detention in court. The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the habeas petitions finding essentially that constitutional protections did not extend to foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay.
In their petition for review of the lower court’s finding to the Supreme Court, CCR attorneys charge that “[t]he United States has created a prison at Guantanamo Bay that operates entirely outside the law.” The Government claims that no court in the country has jurisdiction to review the cause of their detention. CCR lawyers argue, however, that U.S. courts must exercise jurisdiction over the actions of the President in relation to the detainees, many of whom, even senior members of the military have admitted are entirely innocent of any wrong-doing.
Commenting on the importance of the petition, CCR President Michael Ratner said: “For over a year and a half, hundreds of people have been imprisoned in Guantanamo without charges, access to lawyers or to their families. This lawless situation must not continue. Every imprisoned person should have the right to test the legality of their detention. It is this basic principle that has been denied to our clients and it is this denial that we want the Supreme Court to review.”
CCR Assistant Legal Director, Barbara Olshansky, added: “The Government's position is that no law applies to protect either the constitutional or human rights of these people. Never has America taken the public position that it is not bound at all by the rule of law. Such a dangerous and immoral principle should not be established now."
For additional information, please visit the website of the
Center for Constitutional Rights:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp
The detainees, Shafiq Rasul and Asif Iqbal, who are British, and David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib, who are Australian, have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay for over a year and a half. Seized by the United States in apparent connection with the “war against terrorism”, they have never been charged, and have had no recourse to any court to challenge the lawfulness of their detention. None has had access to family, friends or legal counsel and the Government has claimed that it can hold them under these conditions indefinitely.
CCR’s four clients are among the approximately 700 other individuals detained by the United States military at Guantanamo Bay; nationals of some 42 nations, including children as young as 13 and men in their late 70’s. The vast majority of them live in solitary confinement, restricted to 6’ x 8’ cells for more than 23 hours a day. According to the Pentagon, there have been 32 attempted suicides since detentions began, with most taking place this year. The Pentagon recently announced plans to expand the Camp.
In February of 2002 CCR lawyers filed petitions for Habeas Corpus with the D.C. District Court. The main contention of the litigation was that the Petitioners should be afforded the right to challenge the legality of their detention in court. The D.C. Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s dismissal of the habeas petitions finding essentially that constitutional protections did not extend to foreign nationals held at Guantanamo Bay.
In their petition for review of the lower court’s finding to the Supreme Court, CCR attorneys charge that “[t]he United States has created a prison at Guantanamo Bay that operates entirely outside the law.” The Government claims that no court in the country has jurisdiction to review the cause of their detention. CCR lawyers argue, however, that U.S. courts must exercise jurisdiction over the actions of the President in relation to the detainees, many of whom, even senior members of the military have admitted are entirely innocent of any wrong-doing.
Commenting on the importance of the petition, CCR President Michael Ratner said: “For over a year and a half, hundreds of people have been imprisoned in Guantanamo without charges, access to lawyers or to their families. This lawless situation must not continue. Every imprisoned person should have the right to test the legality of their detention. It is this basic principle that has been denied to our clients and it is this denial that we want the Supreme Court to review.”
CCR Assistant Legal Director, Barbara Olshansky, added: “The Government's position is that no law applies to protect either the constitutional or human rights of these people. Never has America taken the public position that it is not bound at all by the rule of law. Such a dangerous and immoral principle should not be established now."
For additional information, please visit the website of the
Center for Constitutional Rights:
http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/home.asp