Gitmo exempted from McCain torture ban
Well I was right about one reason the Bush administration endorsed the McCain anti-torture amendment.
From the Washington Post:
So essentially the anti-torture ban is unenforceable in the one place where it appears it is needed the most.
For an interesting read on just who we appear to be holding at Guantanamo Bay, I recommend an editorial by Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate Magazine: Invisible Men.
From the Washington Post:
Bush administration lawyers, fighting a claim of torture by a Guantanamo Bay detainee, yesterday argued that the new law that bans cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees in U.S. custody does not apply to people held at the military prison.
In federal court yesterday and in legal filings, Justice Department lawyers contended that a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, cannot use legislation drafted by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to challenge treatment that the detainee's lawyers described as "systematic torture."
Government lawyers have argued that another portion of that same law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, removes general access to U.S. courts for all Guantanamo Bay captives. Therefore, they said, Mohammed Bawazir, a Yemeni national held since May 2002, cannot claim protection under the anti-torture provisions....
In court filings, the Justice Department lawyers argued that language in the law written by Sens. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.) gives Guantanamo Bay detainees access to the courts only to appeal their enemy combatant status determinations and convictions by military commissions. (Emphasis added)
"Unfortunately, I think the government's right; it's a correct reading of the law," said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "The law says you can't torture detainees at Guantanamo, but it also says you can't enforce that law in the courts."
So essentially the anti-torture ban is unenforceable in the one place where it appears it is needed the most.
For an interesting read on just who we appear to be holding at Guantanamo Bay, I recommend an editorial by Dahlia Lithwick over at Slate Magazine: Invisible Men.
Post a Comment