blind_html Fwd: Tolerate Injustice or End It

From: Nimer Jaber <nimerjaber1@xxxxxxxxx>
To: blind_html <blind_html@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 15:38:32 -0600
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From: mike532 <littlemike532@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 05:59:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Tolerate Injustice or End It
To: Politics & Current Events <politics-current-events@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>


Tolerate Injustice or End It

By Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director, ACLU
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/detention/38714res20090113.html
Earlier today, a principled judge reminded us all why habeas corpus
--
the right to challenge arbitrary government actions in a court of law
-- is so vitally important.


U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle ordered the release of ACLU client
Mohammed Jawad after seven years of illegal detention at Guantánamo
Bay. (See details of this important victory below.)


Judge Huvelle didn’t temporize or equivocate. She saw an injustice,
and she acted to end it. And that’s exactly what we need to do if we
hope to restore an America we can be proud of again.


That means closing Guantánamo Bay and refusing all arguments to keep
it open. Ending Bush-era military commissions, not trying to “fix”
them. Stopping illegal detention, not setting up a new system of
indefinite detention that holds people without charge or trial.


Tolerate injustice or end it. When it’s all said and done, those are
the only two choices we have. This issue of ACLU Online updates you
on
critical ACLU efforts to end injustice. And we’ve got another high-
profile ACLU moment coming in a matter of days.


Keep your eyes open this coming week. You’ll have a big opportunity
to
act against injustice.


Breaking News: Judge Orders ACLU Client Freed from Guantánamo Bay


Today -- in a Guantánamo detainee case the ACLU has pursued for
several years -- a federal judge ordered one of the deepest
injustices
at that infamous detention facility brought to an end.


U.S. District Judge Ellen Huvelle gave the Justice Department until
August 21 to release Mohammed Jawad from Guantánamo and transfer him
to the custody of the Afghan government, which has indicated that it
is prepared to receive Jawad immediately and unconditionally.


Judge Huvelle made clear that Mr. Jawad has been illegally detained,
and the government has no credible evidence to continue holding him.
We are pleased that the Justice Department has expressed a commitment
to getting him home so that this nightmare of abuse and injustice can
finally come to an end.


In its last term, the Supreme Court ruled that Guantánamo detainees
have a constitutional right to habeas corpus. And now, by
representing
Mr. Jawad in his habeas case, the ACLU has helped end his lawless
detention.


Following his 2002 arrest in Afghanistan for allegedly throwing a
grenade at two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter, Jawad was
subjected to repeated torture and other mistreatment and to a
systematic program of harsh and highly coercive interrogations
designed to break him physically and mentally. At one point, Jawad
tried to commit suicide in his cell by slamming his head repeatedly
against the wall.


Last fall, a military judge in Jawad's Guantánamo military commission
proceeding threw out the bulk of the evidence against him finding
that
it was obtained through torture. And recently, the Afghan Attorney
General sent a letter to the U.S. government demanding Jawad's return
and suggesting he was as young as 12 when he was captured in
Afghanistan and illegally rendered from that country nearly seven
years ago.


Now finally, seven years of illegal detention are about to come to an
end.


With your help, the ACLU will build on this important victory against
illegal detention and lawless government actions until respect for
human rights and the rule of law is fully restored.



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blind_html Fwd: Tolerate Injustice or End It

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