This video, released by the American Civil Liberties Union today, features family members of 9/11 victims calling for federal trials of terrorism suspects. The Obama administration is expected to announce by November 16 whether certain Guantánamo detainees will be transferred to the U.S. for trial in federal courts or be tried in the illegitimate military [...]
It appears that reapproval of controversial provisions of the Patriot Act may happen soon – evidently with a green light from the Obama Administration and over strong objections from human rights and civil liberties groups. Last week, the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the USA Patriot Act Extension Act of 2009. The bill makes only minor changes to the original Patriot Act and was further watered down by amendments adopted during the Committee’s deliberations.
The 15th anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here. But according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), “U.S. policy continues to fall short of ensuring full compliance with the treaty.” For example, the organization said that an appendix to the Army Field Manual (AFM) can still facilitate cruel treatment of prisoners and detainees at home and abroad.
Human rights activists and legal experts reacted swiftly today to disclosures that the U.S. Government is planning to introduce new measures they claim would give inmates at Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram prison more opportunities to challenge their detention.
Their views range from cautious optimism to total condemnation.
There are some 600-plus prisoners being held at the U.S. military [...]
The American Civil Liberties Union called upon the U.S. Supreme Court this week to deny a petition the Obama administration filed in August that urged justices to review and reverse a lower court’s decision ordering the government to release more than four-dozen photos depicting U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan abusing prisoners.
A federal appeals court ruled Friday that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of Abdullah al-Kidd, a U.S. citizen, who was on his way to Saudi Arabia when he was arrested in Washington’s Dulles Airport on March 16, 2003 as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayem.
The CIA said in court papers late Monday that it intends to withhold hundreds of pages of documents related to the Bush administration’s torture and detention policies on grounds that disclosing the information will threaten national security.
Did physicians and psychologists help the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency develop a new research protocol to assess and refine the use of waterboarding or other harsh interrogation techniques?
This is the question being raised in a new report by a leading human rights organization. The group says that, if confirmed, it would likely constitute a “new, [...]
Three days after the Justice Department released documents that described in extraordinary detail the CIA’s top secret rendition program, an international human rights tribunal has agreed to take up the case of a German citizen who was “rendered” to a CIA black site prison in Afghanistan and tortured in a case of mistaken identity.
The [...]
A federal court this week ruled for the first time that the U.S. government cannot freeze an organization’s assets under a terror financing law without a warrant based upon probable cause and without telling the organization the basis for its action and a meaningful opportunity to defend itself.
If the decision of U.S. District Judge James [...]
