Human Rights: Amnesty International welcomes review of al-Marri enemy combatant case

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5 -- Larry Cox, executive director of Amnesty International USA, issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to rule whether the U.S. government may hold detainees without charges indefinitely in the United States:

"Today's announcement is a welcome step which we hope will lead to a restoration of due process to an individual who has been denied the most basic of legal rights. It is mind boggling that a U.S. administration could imprison someone without charge in isolation for more than five years -- tactics more often associated with a dictatorship than a democracy. In three previous decisions regarding the Bush administration's detention policies in its war on terror, the Court found in favor of the rule of law, thereby rebuffing President Bush's executive overreach."

Amnesty International considers Mr. al-Marri to be arbitrarily detained in violation of international human rights law, and calls for him to be charged and tried in federal court or released.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

For more information, please visit www.amnestyusa.org.

Source: Amnesty International

Published by Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting
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