Thursday, December 08, 2005

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: A Sanctuary for Torturers

While Rice seems to be giving ground in Europe we have the torturers determinedly hanging on in there in the good old USA.

No wonder the Americans I meet over here say that their country is already a Police State.


AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: A Sanctuary for Torturers: "Bill Goodman, legal director for the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the first habeas corpus cases for Guantanamo captives, says the Graham amendment 'will formalize the lawless policies of the Bush Administration that allow the Department of Defense to hold prisoners indefinitely without any requirement that it show any reason for doing so.' That has and will continue to result in 'torture of US prisoners.'

The Graham amendment bans habeas corpus appeals against conditions of confinement. The consequence, according to Michael Dorf, the Sovern Professor of Law at Columbia University, is that 'a prisoner cannot get into federal court by claiming (or presenting evidence) that he is being subject to torture or otherwise degrading treatment.'"

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