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-- Guantanamo Bay


Posted by A.J. on Nov-16-2003 15:51:

Guantanamo Bay

Is anyone else as deeply disturbed as I am about what is going on at Guantanamo bay? My main worry is the clear denial of basic human rights by the US. The US is denying the prisoners at Guantanamo POW status, and instead is detaining them indefinitely without charge or trial. WTF is that? Sorry, but it really pisses me off.

quote:
The prisoners, who have not been charged with any offence, have been held in Guantanamo Bay in solitary confinement for over 18 months. They have been denied all legal rights, including any direct contact with their families or access to their own lawyers, and are subjected to constant interrogations by the US military. Their detention is in defiance of the Geneva Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the US Constitution. It has been denounced by Amnesty International and a broad range of human rights and international legal bodies.


quote:
�[B]ecause they have been deemed outside the jurisdiction of an American court,� it continues, the prisoners� circumstances �may not only continue indefinitely, they may deteriorate: the United States may beat prisoners, as it has apparently done in other facilities, or it may transfer them to other countries where beatings are commonplace. Or it may simply forget them, in the vain hope that the world will as well.�


On a more local note, two Australian citizens, David Hicks and Mamdouh Habib are being held at Guantanamo Bay. Their families have taken the US government to court over their illegal imprisonment. Two British Citizens are also being held. Tony Blair and John Howard held meetings with Washington, under increasing pressure and criticism from the public. The result: they have received assurances that those prisoners won't be executed if found guilty and they can serve out their sentences in their home countries if they go to trial, which is unlikely at this stage.

quote:
The US military was prepared to put some of the prisoners before military courts, he continued, if President Bush gave the orders. �We have the apparatus arranged, ready, and we have a very fine group of advisers as to how to do it in the event it has to be done,� he said. �But for the moment, we don�t have any candidates.�

Rumsfeld�s �apparatus� is the military-style �kangaroo courts� being organised by the Bush administration to try selected prisoners. All military tribunal proceedings and their personnel will be controlled entirely by the US government. This includes the judges, prosecutors and defence lawyers, who are all military officers.

The guilt or innocence of those dragged before these courts will be determined on the basis of a two-thirds majority by a panel of three to seven judges. Any statement extracted from the detainees under interrogation and without the presence of their lawyers is admissible as evidence, with no right of appeal to any higher court. Even if prisoners are found innocent of charges, the US can still continue to hold them indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay.

These tribunals are such a legal travesty that America�s National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys has said that it would be �unethical� for any defence lawyer to have anything to do with them


Comments ??


Posted by Yoepus on Nov-16-2003 22:01:

Re: Guantanamo Bay

quote:
Originally posted by Vigilante
Is anyone else as deeply disturbed as I am about what is going on at Guantanamo bay?


nope not really. Sorry


Posted by MrSquirrel on Nov-16-2003 22:17:

Re: Re: Guantanamo Bay

quote:
Originally posted by Yoepus
nope not really. Sorry


Funny...I coulda sworn you were a human rights activist who spends most of his time in the occupied territories working for the red crescent.



Oh yeah...I looked looked at your avatar and read your sig again..I had you mistaken with one of those other guys

(just messing with you Yoepus)

MrS


Posted by Nadi on Nov-16-2003 22:44:

Re: Guantanamo Bay

quote:
Originally posted by Vigilante
Is anyone else as deeply disturbed as I am about what is going on at Guantanamo bay?


I am.


Posted by arctic on Nov-17-2003 08:27:

Re: Re: Guantanamo Bay

quote:
Originally posted by Nadi
I am.


Seconded.

The Australian prisoners are also getting prefferencial treatment (with regards to the dates of trials/benifits) due to the fact that we sent troops to Iraq, and hence Johnnie is best mates with Georgie. That really isn't fair in my opinion, all the prisoners should be given POW status, and be given the right to a quick and fiar trial. Innocent until proven guilty.


Posted by DrUg_Tit0 on Nov-17-2003 09:37:

Personally, I despise those moronic Talibans, so I'm not that much concerned if their human rights are being neglected. They did the same to other people as well. But there are some indications that not all the people imprisoned in Guantanamo are Talibans, some of them got in there by accident. That's why I think the conditions there should be improved for the prisoners until they're proven guilty. Then for all I care, they can freely be beaten and humiliated.


Posted by occrider on Nov-17-2003 15:23:

It's heading up to the supreme court ...

http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/11/10/s...nees/index.html



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