Reply #8: "The Graham-Levin-Kyl Amendment is flatly inconsistent with our

[nofurylike]

constitutional heritage," said Michael Waldman, executive director of the Brennan Center. "Congress has never before allowed physically coerced information to be used as the basis for decisions about individual liberty."

http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=58667

Brennan Center Opposes Undermining of Anti-Torture Ban by Graham-Levin-Kyl Amendment

12/23/2005 4:38:00 PM

Contact: Aziz Huq of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law, 212-992-8632 or 202-441-9684 (cell)

NEW YORK, Dec. 23 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law expressed deep concern over a provision of the Defense Appropriations bill that Congress has passed. This provision would effectively permit the use of evidence obtained by torture in the cases of Guantanamo Naval Base detainees. The amendment, introduced by Sens. Lindsey Graham, Carl Levin and Jon Kyl, would severely curtail federal court review of detainees' cases, allow military tribunals to rely on evidence gained from torture, and undermine vital ongoing attorney-client relations for Guantanamo detainees.

-snip-

The Graham-Levin-Kyl Amendment is part of a legislative package with an amendment proposed by Sen. John McCain that would bar cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment by any U.S. personnel. But the Graham-Levin-Kyl Amendment opens a backdoor to torture: It would permit the CIA to cooperate with foreign intelligence services that use torture to extract evidence through coercion. That evidence would then be available as a basis for detention decisions.

"Congress is taking with one hand what it has given with the other," explained Waldman. Never before in American history has a Congress put its stamp of approval on the use of physically coerced testimony to make decisions between liberty and imprisonment. Even in past times of war, this practice has no precedent.

-snip-

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