New York Times
September 26, 2006
by Reuters
White House-backed legislation on the treatment of terrorism suspects may protect them from torture but gives the United States immunity from legal challenges, human rights groups say.
The U.S. Senate bill laying out procedures for interrogating and trying suspected terrorists that is making its way through Congress this week would effectively protect President George W. Bush and future presidents from judicial oversight, rights advocates said.
``It takes the courts entirely out of the business of making sure the executive branch follows the law,'' said Christopher Anders, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union.
The bill, which Bush was forced to negotiate with a group of his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate, would bar inmates at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from using habeas corpus petitions to have their imprisonment reviewed by a court.
Habeas corpus -- Latin for ``you have the body'' -- has been a linchpin of Anglo-American jurisprudence since it was first developed over 300 years ago in Britain.
Rights groups also complained that the measure would retroactively immunize U.S. officials from prosecution under the War Crimes Act of 1996 for interrogations that occurred before Congress enacted legislation banning torture and other abuses late in 2005.
``It's a 'get-out-of-jail-free' card for top officials who ordered the torture and abuse of detainees,'' Anders said.
Some rights advocates agree with the legislation's main architect, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona, that the bill upholds Geneva Conventions protections against cruel and inhuman treatment and should rule out the CIA's use of severe interrogation techniques.
NO MORE ``WATER BOARDING''
McCain, who was tortured as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, said he believes measures like sleep deprivation, hypothermia and a simulated drowning technique known as ``water boarding'' would not be allowed if current language is enacted.
``It would be very unwise for the CIA to resume practices that John McCain believes are now war crimes under U.S. law,'' said Tom Malinowski, Washington advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. ``His interpretation of the law is, if not decisive, then at least highly significant.''
The bill also imposes a new standard of openness on the White House by requiring the Bush administration to publish its interpretation of Geneva Conventions protections in the Federal Register, a public record closely scrutinized by lawmakers, lawyers and journalists.
``That's a welcome return to transparency,'' said Hina Shasmi, senior counsel for Human Rights First.
But Shasmi said the prohibition of habeas corpus challenges was an unacceptable assault on one of the cornerstones of the American legal system that would prevent detainees from defending themselves.
``The question is, 'What are we going to do with the Guantanamo detainees?' And the answer is not a good legal outcome, not a good separation of powers outcome and not a good policy outcome if it precludes court review,'' she said.
Rights advocates said a ray of hope has been offered by Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who pledged this week to fight to give Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment.
