Denounce Torture

Via LA Times:

The ACLU is filing suit against Jeppesen Dataplan Inc, a subsidiary of the Boeing corporation for their involvement in the US Government's extraordinary rendition programs.  The extraordinary rendition program takes persons detained here in the US or abroad and flies them to countries in which laws regarding severe interrogation practices and torture are either very lax or are non-existant.  These practices are then used to extract information from the detained persons, after which they are generally transferred to an official US detention center, thus bypassing any American regulations regarding interrogation and torture.

The suit alleges that Jeppesen provided flight planning and transportation services to the CIA for use in the rendition program. Boeing has so far denied any involvement with the CIA and has stated that "Jeppesen has a confidentiality clause with all its customers" and "We don't need to know specific details. It's the customer's business, and we do the business that we are contracted for. It's not our practice to ever inquire about the purpose of a trip."  However a former employee alleges that a Jeppeson official admitted knowlege of the flights, and also of their purpose to be used in the rendition program at a board meeting.

Amnesty International Repeats its Call to Close the Facility

(Washington, DC) - Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's Executive Director, made the following statement in response to reports of the death of a detainee by apparent suicide in Guantanamo Bay:

"This tragedy is another illustration of the desperation many detainees face at Guantanamo Bay and one more reason that the Guantanamo Bay prison camp must be shut down. Many suspects have been in custody without charge or trial, most for over 5 years. Amnesty International urges an immediate independent investigation into the man's death and calls on Bush administration officials to improve conditions for those who remain. Many detainees are held in very harsh, permanent conditions of extreme isolation and sensory deprivation - particularly those in Camps 5 and 6.

"As Amnesty International sends it condolences to the deceased's family, we must remember that every man in the facility is a father, brother or son. Regardless of one's innocence or guilt, everyone must be afforded due process and the rule of law - the cornerstone of justice."

Amnesty International also reiterates its call for independent human rights monitors to be given full, unlimited access to the detainees at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay. The organization urges that all detainees be allowed regular contact with their families and that independent health care professionals are permitted to examine detainees in private.

Amnesty International, USA last week welcomed Senator Tom Harkin's (D-IA) introduction of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Closure Act of 2007 as an important initiative and step toward closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility Act of 2007 would put an end to the indefinite nature of the detentions by requiring that individuals in custody be criminally charged or released. The bill also includes safeguards against return to countries where individuals are at risk of torture or persecution in line with U.S. obligations under international law.

AIUSA has called for the closure of Guantanamo for over two years. However, AIUSA remains concerned that military commissions do not meet international fair trial standards and believes that anyone charged should be tried in federal court or if appropriate by court martial.

Dear AIUSA Activist:

I am a British citizen who spent three years in US custody in Bagram, Kandahar and Guantanamo. I was abducted from my home in Pakistan by Pakistani authorities, not on any sort of battlefield. I never had the opportunity to go before an independent court and learn the basis for my detention.

In the end, I was released from Guantanamo in 2005 without ever being charged with a crime. I eventually benefited from my British citizenship and the political influence that came with it. There are hundreds of men still locked up in Guantanamo that have no such advantage. Last fall, when Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, it included a section that prohibited any non-citizen in US custody that the President designated an "enemy combatant" from going to court and exercising the most basic human right - the right to go before a court and ask the government to show what they have a basis for their detention. This prohibition on filing a writ of habeas corpus has meant that people who have been in US custody for more than five years continue to be held with no meaningful judicial review.

You can help change this. On June 26^th, 2007, activists all over the country will be visiting the district offices of their elected officials or coming to Washington, DC to tell Congress to restore the centuries old writ of habeas corpus. Your Senator / Member of Congress' vote is critical to the success of this initiative. Your voice is needed in support of due process and the rule of law - sign up as a delegation leader or to participate in a delegation to let Congress know that the America you believe in does not hold people indefinitely on the judgment of the executive.

Sincerely,

Moazzem Begg
Spokesperson, Cagedprisoners

All joking aside, the U.S. government, once perceived a beacon of hope and justice, no longer leads the world on human rights.

The continuing allegations of U.S. torture, use of secret prisons, ghost detainees, and indefinite and unconstitutional detention at Guantanamo calls into question the U.S. commitment to fight torture and adhere to international law. The U.S. now lacks the credibility needed to improve human rights abroad.

By violating some international laws, the United States undermines all international law and promotes the idea to other countries that some laws are acceptable to ignore in the pursuit of “security.”

Check out Amnesty’s annual report to learn more about rights abuses in 2006 and find out what you can do to improve human rights in 2007 in the United States and elsewhere.
Learn more | Tell Congress that the America you believe in leads the world in human rights

- Las Vegas, NM Group #463 take to the streets on April 28th to Denounce Torture!

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. on the June 26th Habeas Restoration Rally & Lobby Day

My name is Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and I am President of the Hip Hop Caucus. Most of you know me as the Hip Hop Rev, the political guy who has worked with Russell Simmons, Diddy, Missy Elliott and Jay Z.
 
But today I come to knowing that nothing less than the soul of our country is at stake. But for the world, nothing less than the fate of mankind is at stake.

I believe the Hip Hop Generation is a continuation of the Civil Right Movement, and we have reached one of our lunch counter moments for the 21 st Century.  Torture and the existence of the camps at Guantanamo must stop...
 
Last fall, when Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, it included a section that prohibited any non-citizen in US custody that the President designated an "enemy combatant" from going to court and exercising the most basic human right - the right to go before a court and ask the government to show what they have a basis for their detention.  This prohibition on filing a writ of habeas corpus has meant that people who have been in US custody for more than five years continue to be held with no meaningful judicial review.

So today, I stand with Amnesty International, and ask you to stand with us on June 26th in Washington DC.
   
This day will be one of the most important days in the history of humanity, and we must stand up and say we do not condone what has been done in our name, and we are not complicit.'

Against tremendous odds we must stand up and take our fate in our hands.

On the day before he was murdered, in his less-celebrated "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said that he is happy to be living in the second half of the 20th Century because something is happening in our world. He said, "The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled...whether in Johannesburg, Nairobi, Accra, or New York City, the cry is always the same: ‘We want to be free.'"

Well, I can stand here nearly 40 years later and say that at the dawn of the 21st Century, "something is happening in our world!" The fact that people are being tortured in the 21st century is outrageous.

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. were with us today, I think he would be proud of the people in America who are standing up to denounce torture and ready to tell Congress to restore the centuries old writ of habeas corpus.
 
So we still have a dream, that one-day torture will end, we still have a dream that Congress will restore habeas corpus, we can't stop dreaming, because if we stop in the 21st century there will be no 22nd century.

For future generation, and I will see you in DC on June 26th , Power to the People! This is Rev.

As we move closer to June ("Torture Awareness Month") the issue of Habeas restoration is becoming more and more on the radar of editorials around the nation. On May 9th two editorials reference a committment from House Leadership to tackle this critical issue.

In the Washington Post: "Chance for Reform - House Democrats could move to restore habeas corpus rights to foreign prisoners." 

 The chance comes in a markup by the House Armed Services Committee of the annual defense authorization bill. Democrats on the committee and lobbyists for human rights groups say they have gathered enough votes to add an amendment to the legislation that would reverse Congress's decision last year to strip detainees of the habeas right. That would allow the prisoners to renew lawsuits in federal courts challenging their detention. Over the past several years those legal actions have directly or indirectly brought about most of the reforms the administration has adopted in its detention policy. Ultimately they could compel the release of some of the more than 300 prisoners who are being held without charge or the prospect of a trial; at the least, the administration would have to justify continued detention to an independent judge.

 Also in the New York Times: The Democrats’ Pledge

President Bush turned habeas corpus into a partisan issue by declaring that the prisoners in Guantánamo Bay, even innocent ones, do not deserve a hearing. Lawmakers who objected were painted as friends of terrorists.

But let’s be clear. There is nothing “conservative” or “tough on terrorism” in selectively stripping people of their rights. Suspending habeas corpus is an extreme notion on the radical fringes of democratic philosophy. As four retired military chief prosecutors — from the Navy, the Marines and the Army — pointed out to Congress, holding prisoners without access to courts merely feeds Al Qaeda’s propaganda machine, increases the risk to the American military and sets a precedent by which other governments could justify detaining American civilians without charges or appeal.