(no subject)
Amnesty Int'l: al-Marri Decision is a Blow to Bush Administration's Detention Regime
(Washington, DC) - Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, issued the following statement in response to the Fourth Circuit Court's ruling in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri:
"Today’s decision strikes down a fundamental premise of the Bush administration’s ill-advised and immoral detention regime: the president’s assertion that he can decide who to detain, and how to detain them, without any judicial review.
"The Fourth Circuit has affirmed al-Marri's fundamental human right to challenge his detention. This and other recent developments are an indictment of the Bush administration's detention regime. It's now up to Congress to act. They should seize this opportunity to reverse their ill-considered decision last year to strip habeas rights from non-citizens in U.S. custody.
"This decision restores constitutional habeas rights to those arrested on U.S. soil. However, that is only a tiny subset of the many individuals whose rights have been trampled in the name of the war on terror.
"Today’s ruling is plain common sense: the president can’t seize civilians in the United States, hold them in military custody, and deny them habeas rights. It’s a sign of how bad things have gotten that the decision comes as such a welcome glimmer of hope."
In another development, FoxNews.com now has a Paris Hilton Center. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about the state of our nation.
(Washington, DC) - Larry Cox, Amnesty International USA's executive director, issued the following statement in response to the Fourth Circuit Court's ruling in the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri:
"Today’s decision strikes down a fundamental premise of the Bush administration’s ill-advised and immoral detention regime: the president’s assertion that he can decide who to detain, and how to detain them, without any judicial review.
"The Fourth Circuit has affirmed al-Marri's fundamental human right to challenge his detention. This and other recent developments are an indictment of the Bush administration's detention regime. It's now up to Congress to act. They should seize this opportunity to reverse their ill-considered decision last year to strip habeas rights from non-citizens in U.S. custody.
"This decision restores constitutional habeas rights to those arrested on U.S. soil. However, that is only a tiny subset of the many individuals whose rights have been trampled in the name of the war on terror.
"Today’s ruling is plain common sense: the president can’t seize civilians in the United States, hold them in military custody, and deny them habeas rights. It’s a sign of how bad things have gotten that the decision comes as such a welcome glimmer of hope."
In another development, FoxNews.com now has a Paris Hilton Center. I'll let you draw your own conclusions about the state of our nation.