Legal Commentary

Holder and Gates to Congress: Butt Out of Gitmo Trials Funding

By Jeralyn

Attorney General Eric Holder and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote this letter to Nancy Pelosi and John Boehner yesterday. It's a "butt out" letter on Congress' threat to ban funding on U.S. terror trials of those at Gitmo, but he also accused them of trying to block the Administration's intended trial of suspects in "reformed military commissions."

Too bad the commissions aren't really reformed. I guess he's talking about Thomson, Illinois Correctional Center, which is set to become Gitmo of the Midwest. Obama and Holder intend to use the facility both for trial by military commission and continued indefinate detention without charges.

On a related note, the ACLU filed habeas petitions today for four detainees at Bagram, AFB in Afghanistan. [More...]

The men, who have never engaged in hostilities against the United States and are not members of groups that have engaged in hostilities against the United States, have never been told why they are being detained, permitted to speak with a lawyer or given a meaningful opportunity to challenge their detention before a court or impartial administrative board.

As to the four detainees:

One of the petitions filed today is on behalf of Afghan brothers Sibghatullah Jalatzai, who was a translator for the U.S. military for four years before his detention nearly 20 months ago, and Samiullah Jalatzai, who was arrested without explanation at his workplace nearly 23 months ago. The second petition is on behalf of Afghan government employee Haji Abdul Wahid and his nephew Zia-ur-Rahman, who were taken from their homes by the U.S. military during a massive neighborhood sweep more than one year ago. The petitions charge that the military does not have the authority to detain these men and that the lack of access to a court or fair process to challenge their detention violates the U.S. Constitution and international law.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on February 26, 2010 (boomark / email).