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A civil liberties
activist spoke recently in Keene Valley, praising the US Supreme
Court for granting “habeas corpus” legal rights to prisoners
held at Guantanamo Bay.
That means the
prisoners can't be held indefinitely without being charged or
allowed to challenge their detention.
Emi MacClean, with the
Center for Constitutional Rights, spoke to roughly a hundred people
at a local church.
“The 275 men still
imprisoned at Guantanamo are now hearing for the third time their
case has been argued at the highest court of the land, and for the
third time their case has been victorious,” she said.
“But they remain imprisoned without charge or trial.”
The Supreme Court
ruling has drawn criticism from conservatives, including
presidential candidate John McCain who called it “one of the worst
decisions” in the nation’s history.
They say prisoners
labeled as “enemy combatants” by President Bush shouldn't enjoy
legal protections.
But MacClean argues
that too many people have been locked up by mistake.
“In January
2002, Donald Rumsfeld said the Guantanamo detainees are among the
most dangerous, best trained, vicious killers on the face of the
earth. But now we know better.”
Presidential candidate
Barack Obama welcomed the Supreme Court ruling, saying it “ensures that we can protect our nation and bring terrorists to
justice, while also protecting our core values.”
Since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan, 775 detainees have been
brought to Guantanamo, approximately 420 of whom have been released
without being charged.
McClean
was invited to the North Country by local anti-war activists.
-Chris Knight, 7-8-08
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