Decries Immunity for Torture, Secrecy:

“It is one of the deepest disappointments of this administration that it appears unwilling to uphold the law where crimes have been committed by former officials. Whether or not CIA operatives who conducted waterboarding are guaranteed immunity, it is the high level officials who conceived, justified and ordered the torture program who bear the most responsibility for breaking domestic and international law, and it is they who must be prosecuted. In the president’s statement today, the most troubling contradiction is the contrast of the words, ‘This is a time for reflection, not retribution,’ followed shortly by, ‘The United States is a nation of laws.’ Government officials broke very serious laws: for there to be no consequences not only calls our system of justice into question, it leaves the gate open for this to happen again.”

CCR: "Washington, D.C. – Today, lawyers for 17 Uighurs imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay asked the Supreme Court to recognize that the right to habeas corpus requires a remedy when a court finds that an individual is wrongly detained. The petition for the writ of certiorari, filed at the Supreme Court, asks for the Uighurs release from the detention center, where they have been detained since 2002. If the Court agrees to hear Kiyemba v. Obama, this would be the first time that it hears a Guantánamo case since deciding the landmark Boumediene v. Bush in June 2008."

Center for Constitutional Rights:

Yesterday, human rights groups submitted a formal communication to United Nations Special Rapporteurs naming U.S. Army General Bantz John Craddock, NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, responsible for the unlawful and unethical force-feeding of detainees on hunger strike at the Guantanamo Bay prison. President Obama recently nominated a successor to Craddock who is awaiting confirmation. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), Appeal for Justice, and the National Litigation Project, Allard K.

Center for Constitutional Rights:

“The court has acknowledged that the detention of these men is illegal but has refused to do anything about it. This is indefensible,” said Emi MacLean, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. “The new administration must act quickly to remedy the failings of the old. If President Obama is committed to closing Guantánamo, he must allow these stranded Uighurs into the United States. We are not in a position to ask for the support of other countries in accepting detainees from Guantánamo if we cannot share the burden ourselves. Freedom for these men is long overdue.”

Valerie Lucznikowska, a member of September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, will be among the relatives of 9/11 victims meeting with President Obama at 3:30pm today in the Roosevelt Room in the West Wing of The White House. Ms. Lucznikowska will be delivering a letter signed by over 100 people who lost relatives on 9/11 who support the President's actions to shut down Guantanamo.

In the letter, 157 signers call for a full return to the American justice system for prosecutions of terrorism suspects so that due process can be restored. They write: "As 9/11 family members we care deeply that justice be served in these prosecutions, which are often perceived by others as vindication for our loved ones."

The full text of the letter is as follows:

Dear Mr. President,

CCR:

Groups Urge European Countries to Act within First 100 Days of US President Obama’s Term in Office

CONTACT: press@ccrjustice.org

February 5, 2009, Strasbourg, New York, Paris, London – Yesterday, the European parliament passed a cross-party resolution by overwhelming majority calling for European Union member states to accept those prisoners at Guantanamo who are in need of humanitarian protection. The vote came after debate Tuesday on the question of whether to offer humanitarian protection for the approximately 60 prisoners who remain in Guantánamo because they cannot be safely repatriated to their home countries for fear of torture or persecution.

MEDIA ADVISORY North Carolina Stop Torture Now: www.ncstoptorturenow.org

For immediate release: January 30, 2009

For more information, call Allyson Caison (Johnston County, 919-961-4130), Christina Cowger (Raleigh, 919-637-7678), or Josh McIntyre (Raleigh, 919-834-4478)

JOHNSTON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TO BE ASKED TO ACT ON PRESIDENT OBAMA’S ORDERS AGAINST TORTURE

In keeping with President Obama’s January 22 orders putting an end to U.S. use of torture, North Carolina Stop Torture Now will conduct a vigil at 5:40 pm outside the site of the Johnston County Board of Commissioners meeting on Monday, February 2.

Center for Constitutional Rights:

Families Demand Justice for Abuse and Deaths of Wrongfully Detained Sons at Guantanamo

Action Seeks to Hold Rumsfeld and Other Officials Responsible for Deaths of Yasser Al-Zahrani and Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al-Salami

January 29, 2009, Washington, D.C. – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law filed the final brief in a civil action naming Donald Rumsfeld and 23 other military and medical officials for their role in the illegal detention, torture, inhumane conditions, and ultimate deaths of Yasser Al-Zahrani and Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al-Salami while in the custody of the United States at Guantánamo Bay. The case was filed by the families of the two men, who also seek to hold U.S. officials responsible for the government’s callous response following the deaths.

Center for Constitutional Rights:

January 28, 2009, New York – In response to reports of a possible promise by Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder to senior Republican members of Congress that he would not prosecute Bush Administration officials involved in torture, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

If true, Holder’s promise not to prosecute Bush administration officials for torture is deeply disturbing.

It is the job of the Attorney General to prosecute crimes where they are committed, not to judge whether it is politically expedient to do so.

Cageprisoners, Center for Constitutional Rights, Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and Reprieve:

Building on your commitment to justice and accountability, we call on you, Mr. President, to:

• Explicitly cease the United States’ use of secret or unacknowledged detention and proxy detention at all times and in all circumstances;
• Ensure that the disposition of individuals from CIA detention facilities is undertaken with full respect for the principle of non-refoulement, such that individuals are not transferred in circumstances where there is a risk of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
• Make known the names, fate, and whereabouts of all individuals the United States has secretly detained, even if they have been released, transferred to the custody of a foreign state, or are deceased; and
• Take steps to ensure that the United States provides proper remedies to individuals it has secretly detained.