[prisoner-rights] USA: Amnesty International calls on US government to abandon military commissions

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE 
AI Index: AMR 51/047/2007
22 March 2007 

The US government should abandon its proposed military commissions and
bring any Guantánamo detainees it charges to trial in the ordinary federal
courts, without recourse to the death penalty, Amnesty International urged
today, releasing a new report on trials under the Military Commissions Act
(MCA).

The first proceeding under the military commissions is due to take place
on 26 March, with the arraignment of Australian detainee David Hicks. He
was one of 10 detainees charged under the previous military commission
system thrown out by the US Supreme Court last year.

In its report, Justice delayed and justice denied, Amnesty International
reiterates its belief that trials under the revised military commission
process will fail to comply with international standards. The organization
is also deeply concerned that detainees could face execution after such
trials.

"The pervasive unlawfulness that has marked the past five years of
detentions cries out for the strictest adherence to fair trial standards.
Instead, these trials threaten to cut corners in pursuit of a few
convictions and add to the injustice that the Guantánamo detention
facility has come to symbolize", said Susan Lee, Amnesty International's
Americas Programme Director.

The military commissions will operate in something approaching a legal
vacuum. Defendants cannot turn to international human rights law, the
Geneva Conventions or the US Constitution for protection. The military
commissions are part of a universe absent of judicial remedy for detainees
and their families. Even if a detainee is acquitted, he may be returned to
indefinite detention as a so-called "enemy combatant".

In the "war on terror", detainees in US custody have been treated as
potential sources of information first and potential criminal defendants a
distant second. They have been subjected to repeated interrogations
without access to lawyers or the courts. Interrogation techniques and
detention conditions amounting to torture or other ill-treatment under
international law have been authorized and used against them.

"The military commissions are patently tailored to fit the unlawful
practices that have preceded them. Information coerced by cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment will be admissible. At the same time, the
government may introduce evidence while keeping secret the methods used to
obtain it," said Susan Lee.

In September last year, 14 detainees were transferred from years of secret
CIA custody to Guantánamo for the stated purpose of trial by military
commission. They have not yet been charged, and are being denied access to
lawyers even as the government is building its case against them.

"We fear that the military commissions will lack the independence
necessary to guarantee fair trials for those charged and to apply the
relevant scrutiny to government misconduct," said Jumana Musa, Amnesty
International's observer to military commission hearings at Guantánamo
under the previous system. "Under such circumstances, justice will neither
be done nor be seen to be done."

Because of the absence of fair trial guarantees, and the trail of
illegality that precedes the trials, Amnesty International is calling on
other countries not to provide any information to assist the prosecution
in military commissions.

Background Information 

Pentagon officials have suggested that 60 to 80 of the thousands of
detainees it has held as "enemy combatants" may eventually face trial by
military commission, while admitting that even this may be an
overestimate. There are currently more than 350 detainees unlawfully held
in Guantánamo and hundreds more in US custody in Afghanistan. It is not
known if there are any detainees currently held in the USA’s secret
detention program.

Amnesty International is campaigning for repeal of the MCA or its
substantial amendment in line with international law. As well as providing
for trials by military commission, the MCA strips the US courts of
jurisdiction to consider habeas corpus appeals of any non-US citizen held
as an "enemy combatant", and further entrenches impunity of US personnel
by narrowing the scope of the USA's War Crimes Act.