Military Commissions Continue Next Week in Guantanamo; Ruling on Legality Still Pending from Supreme Court
WHAT: Human Rights First will be monitoring the military commission proceedings for Binyam Ahmed Muhammad in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Mr. Muhammad is charged with conspiring with Abu Zubaydah and U.S. citizen Jose Padilla to attack civilians and civilian objects, commit murder, destroy property, and commit terrorism. The commission will hear a series of legal motions relating to Mr. Muhammad’s request for self-representation and his legal counsels’ assertions that, due to ethical conflicts, arising in part out of the self-representation request, they are unable to represent Mr. Muhammad.
WHEN: June 12-16, 2006.
DETAILS: Military commission proceedings for Mr. Muhammad are scheduled to proceed on June 12, despite the impending decision from the Supreme Court in the case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld on the legality of the military commissions (the decision is likely to come by the end of June). Human Rights First Helton Fellow Angelina Fisher will be in Guantánamo to monitor Muhammad’s proceedings and report via blog at http://www.humanrightsfirst.org//our-work/law-and-security/right-to-remedy/detainees/gitmo_diary/index.htm.
Human Rights First maintains that the commissions fail to comply with the United States’ own military justice standards or what is permissible under U.S. constitutional or international law.
HRF spokespeople are available for interviews:
At Guantánamo: HRF Helton Fellow Angelina Fisher, expert on detention and rendition practices and policies: cell 646-334-6481 or [email protected]
In New York: HRF Associate Attorney Priti Patel, expert on military commissions and detention practice and policy: tel. 212-845-5295 or [email protected]
