Reply #7: Center for Constitutional Rights brought a suit that let them go free

[proudbluestater]

There were about 9 people named in the lawsuit filed from their NY office. That's why they got free, they were being held without charge, without attorneys, indefinitely.

"Center For Constitutional Rights Responds to Release of Foreign Nationals From Guantánamo Bay Cuba

Synopsis

After three years of detention in what have proved to be subhuman conditions, four British citizens and one Australian were released from Guantánamo Bay today. The men were held without charge. Their friends and family endured news of their torture and deteriorating health. They were branded international terrorists and ‘bad men.’ Yet, after three years of legal battles and public outcry, they have been released without charge, confirming once again the morally and legally bankrupt detention policy of this Administration.

Reports that there are others who will be released from Guantánamo Bay support the longstanding contention of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) that the U.S. has violated fundamental democratic principles by holding prisoners without access to an attorney or a court of law to challenge the basis of their detention. These latest releases reveal another troubling fact – that clearly a number of those arrested, detained, tortured and interrogated for as long as three years had nothing at all to do with terrorism or the war in Afghanistan. The bounties paid by the Government for suspects guaranteed arrests but not corroboration of any person's role in any activity. Without a hearing, the detainees have had no chance to assert their rights or seek justice.

The story of these men reveals precisely what is wrong with the U.S. approach to dealing with terrorism suspects. Torture, arbitrary detention and disregard for international law do not win the struggle for freedom and democracy. The release of Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga, Richard Belmar, Moazzam Begg and Mamdou Habib, while welcome, does not diminish the plight of hundreds more who remain at Guantánamo. Despite the Supreme Court ruling in our case, Rasul v. Bush, the current Administration has done nothing to ensure that the remaining detainees will have access to the U.S. legal system to determine their guilt or innocence. On the contrary, U.S. authorities at Guantánamo are constructing a permanent prison, one in which two more British permanent residents we represent, Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, languish, and a handful of others, including Australian David Hicks, await trial before commissions that military lawyers have called ‘shams.’"


http://www.ccr-ny.org/v2/reports/report.asp?ObjID=sKVJ0dI9EH&Content=505