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Federal Court Trials for Five Detainees
"For over two hundred years, our nation has relied on a faithful adherence to the rule of law to bring criminals to justice and provide accountability to victims. Once again we will ask our legal system, in two venues, to rise to that challenge. I am confident it will answer the call with fairness and justice."
Attorney General Eric Holder, 13th November, 2009.
Amnesty International has always called for the Obama administration to follow the rule of law, and to bring Guantanamo detainees accused of a criminal offense to trial in civilian courts. Upon the announcement that the five men are to be brought to a Manhattan district court, Amnesty International believes that the Obama Administration’s decision is not only long overdue, but that it must now follow on to abandon military commission trials all together. Read Amnesty International’s full response here.
The detainees chosen to be brought to trial are; Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Walid bin Attash, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, ‘Ali ‘Abd al-‘Aziz and Mustafa al Hawsawi. All five men were abducted and held in illegal secret detention until 2006, when they were transferred to Guantanamo Bay, to endure five more years of abuse. Whilst detained in the C.I.A. run prisons, the five men were subjected to what the U.S. administration has called “enhanced interrogation techniques”. These abuses, including “waterboarding”, have been described in the recently released memoranda. Other abuses include; mock executions, shackling and racking the men whilst naked, utilising a power drill to frighten the men during interrogations and threatening to rape and kill family members. Read more about the content of the recently released memos here.
The five have been previously charged under the 2006 Military Commissions Act, which was amended last month to bring the flawed system more into line with international fair trial standards. As part of President Obama’s executive Orders upon taking office, a 120 day suspension was instigated to review the questionable process. Read more about the new military commissions system which continues to fall short of fair trial standards here.
Attorney General Holder has stated that; “I fully expect to direct prosecutors to seek the death penalty against each of the alleged 9/11 conspirators.” In response to this, Amnesty International continues to call on the Obama administration to drop the death penalty in any court, or for whoever is on trial.
Whilst those responsible for the September 11 attacks should be brought to justice as echoed in Mr Holder's above statement, bringing those responsible for human rights violations against the five men selected for federal court trial remain equally important. Numerous international treaties have been violated, including the Convention against Torture, the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The U.S. administration must be held accountable for its breaches under international law.
Join Amnesty International in calling those who perpetrate human rights violations to account.
I hope that Australia is bringing diplomatic pressure to bear in the fight against this prehistoric legislation.
Join the debate
8 February 2012, 11:02PM