CCR's Latest News and Info

Attorneys for Gitmo Detainees on Hunger Strike Win Court Order to Receive Medical Records

Betsy Iger — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:11:19 -0400

On October 25, 2005, in Washington, D.C., United States District Court Judge Gladys Kessler issued an opinion in the case of four Saudi nationals on hunger strike at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp. In an emergency hearing the week of October 14, lawyers with the New York-based law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, which is working in conjunction with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued for contact with their clients and immediate access to their medical records.

Attorneys for Hunger Striking Guantánamo Detainees Demand Immediate Access to Clients

Betsy Iger — Wed, 21 Sep 2005 12:23:03 -0400

Since August 8, 2005, detainees at the Guantánamo Bay prison camp have been engaging in a life-threatening hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention without legal process and the inhumane conditions of their detention. The Department of Defense (DOD) has refused to provide families or counsel any information about which prisoners are participating in the hunger strike, including the identity of the prisoners who are hospitalized and being force-fed.

Attorneys for Guantánamo Detainees Argue Before the United States Court of Appeals

Betsy Iger — Thu, 08 Sep 2005 12:33:16 -0400

On September 8, 2005, cooperating counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia on behalf of the men currently held at Guantánamo Bay. At issue is whether prisoners detained in Guantánamo are entitled to due process. The case was heard before a three-judge panel that included Judges Sentelle, Randolph, and Rogers.

Attorneys for Suicidal Gitmo Detainee File for Immediate Access to Client

Betsy Iger — Tue, 01 Nov 2005 11:40:50 -0500

On November 1, 2005, in New York, attorneys for Jumah Al Dossari, the Bahraini national who made a desperate suicide attempt during a visit with his attorney two weeks ago, today filed papers asking for immediate access to Mr. Al Dossari. Mr. Al Dossari is represented by the firm of Dorsey & Whitney, and the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) the legal group which spearheads the litigating efforts on behalf of the 500 plus men at Guantánamo.

Attorneys Representing Guantánamo Detainees React to Shocking Guantánamo Suicide Letter Just Released by The U.S.

Betsy Iger — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:54:30 -0500

In New York, on March 15, 2006, attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) reacted to the first detainee suicide letter ever declassified by the U.S. Government, blasting the Bush Administration for driving detainees to suicide through indefinite detentions, mistreatment and torture at the base.

CCR and Cooperating Attorneys Contest DOD's Refusal to Permit Detainees to File Habeas Petitions

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 11:57:16 -0500

More than a year ago the Supreme Court ruled in the Center for Constitutional Rights case Rasul v. Bush that the Guantanamo detainees have a right to file habeas corpus petitions in U.S. courts. Despite this fact, the government continues to block the detainees’ access to their attorneys, and now, in cases where prisoners have managed to communicate their request for counsel through other detainees or lawyers, the government has said it will not honor those requests.

CCR and Other Leading Human Rights Groups Name 39 CIA "Disappeared" Detainees

Betsy Iger — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 13:00:56 -0400

On June 7, 2007 CCR and five other leading human rights organizations published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret U.S. custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper, the comprehensive accounting to date, also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.

CCR Asks Judge to Compel Bush Administration to Come Clean on Detainees' Deaths

Betsy Iger — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 13:04:32 -0400

On June 19, 2006 the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and its co-counsel filed an emergency motion on behalf of Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al Salami, a detainee who died in Guantánamo Naval Base, asking the court to force the Bush Administration to provide documentation of his alleged suicide and to preserve all evidence relating to his death, detention, interrogations and treatment. The motion, which is CCR’s first court filing since the deaths at Guantánamo, also explains the need for an “independent invest

CCR Condemns Dismissal of Hamdan v Rumsfeld

Betsy Iger — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:08:08 -0500

On December 13, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights Deputy Legal Director Barbara Olshansky said, “Unfortunately, Judge Robertson overlooked the primary ruling on the rights and protections guaranteed to the detainees at Guantanamo by the United States Supreme Court in its 2004 ruling in Rasul v. Bush."

CCR Condemns Proposed Restrictions on Attorney Access to Clients at Guantanamo Bay

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 12:19:23 -0500

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many of the detainees at Guantánamo and coordinates the work of nearly 500 pro bono attorneys, issued the following statement in response to the new restrictions on attorneys’ access to their clients at Guantánamo proposed by the Justice Department in the case Bismullah v. Rumsfeld.

CCR Files Amicus Briefs on Behalf of Jose Padilla

Betsy Iger — Fri, 16 Dec 2005 12:23:01 -0500

CCR Files Submission to Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Condemning US Government Response to 3 Deaths at Guantanamo

Betsy Iger — Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:59:43 -0500

On February 15, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Justice and International Law, and the International Human Rights Clinic at American University’s law school filed a submission to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemning the U.S. government’s appalling response to the deaths of three Guantánamo detainees in June last year.

CCR Reacts to Bush Administration's First Court Filings Since the Guantanamo Deaths

Betsy Iger — Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:08:58 -0400

NEW YORK, June 13, 2006 – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released the following statement regarding the government filing regarding the deaths of Guantánamo detainees represented by CCR, Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al Salami, Mani Shaman Turki Al-Habardi Al-Utaybi, and Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani:

CCR Argues to Court that Military Commissions Act Is Unconstitutional

Betsy Iger — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 13:15:24 -0500

CCR Blasts Bush Administration for Suicides at Guantanamo

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:23:37 -0500

After learning of the apparent suicides of three men who were detained at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), condemned the Bush Administration's policy of indefinite detention and released a document which provides concrete examples of attempts by CCR and its cooperating attorneys to get medical and psychological attention to men at Guantánamo.

CCR Condemns Death of Fourth Guantanamo Prisoner

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:27:27 -0500

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) condemns the death of a fourth prisoner held without charge or trial at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The detainee is Saudi but has not yet been identified by the Department of Defense.

Center for Constitutional Rights Condemns Move by the Government to Dismiss Guantánamo Cases

Betsy Iger — Thu, 05 Jan 2006 13:32:25 -0500

Days before the New Year, the Bush Administration worked through Congress to strip federal courts of jurisdiction over the fate of the detainees at Guantánamo despite a June 2004 Supreme Court ruling granting them the right to bring applications for habeas corpus in U.S. courts. The government unilaterally declared the detainees enemy combatants without any process and is holding them indefinitely.

Center for Constitutional Rights Condemns U.S. Violence Towards Guantánamo Prisoners on Hunger Strike

Betsy Iger — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 13:39:30 -0500

On February 23, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released the following statement in response to news reports confirming further abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo. CCR leads a team of over 450 pro-bono attorneys representing the detainees, and it won the landmark Supreme Court case establishing their right to challenge their detention in U.S. court (Rasul v. Bush).

CCR Files First New Challenges to Military Commissions Act

Betsy Iger — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 14:44:16 -0400

On October 2, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced that it had filed the first new legal challenges to key provisions of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) passed by Congress last week. CCR filed a habeas petition on behalf of 25 detainees held at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan who have been detained without charge or trial. Mohammed v. Rumsfeld directly contests the MCA's denial of due process to non-citizens held in U.S. custody.

CCR Files Important Brief in Khan v. Bush

Betsy Iger — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 13:49:57 -0500

On November 3, 2006, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a response to the government's efforts to deny CCR access to Majid Khan, on whose behalf CCR previously filed a petition of habeas corpus. Mr. Khan, one of the 'ghost' detainees held by the CIA in secret for more than 3 years, has never been charged with a crime. The brief argues that the Bush Administration's effort to deny Mr. Khan access to counsel "ignores the Court's historical function under Article III of the Constitution to exercise its independent judgment."

Court of Appeals Hears Arguments on Government's Effort to Dismiss Guantanamo Cases

Betsy Iger — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 13:53:22 -0500

On March 22 in New York a three-judge panel heard arguments from attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees in the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals (Al Odah v. United States of America and Boumediene v. Bush). They asked the panel to reject the Government's effort to have the cases dismissed. CCR won the Supreme Court case establishing the detainees' right to challenge their detention in U.S. court (Rasul v. Bush), and currently oversees more than 500 pro-bono attorneys representing the detainees.

Eight Soldiers Sue U.S. Over "Stop Loss" Policy

Betsy Iger — Sun, 12 Dec 2004 13:59:12 -0500

Emergency Guantanamo Hunger Strike Hearing

Betsy Iger — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 15:03:47 -0400

As the condition of the Guantánamo detainees on hunger strike continues to worsen, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and cooperating counsel are fighting to keep these men alive. On Friday, October 14, 2005, CCR and its cooperating counsel will argue in United States District Court for the District of Columbia that the deplorable situation at Guantánamo must end and the attorneys must receive access to their clients.

The team’s demands are clear:

Judge Orders Government to Release Guantánamo Detainees’ Identities for the First Time

Betsy Iger — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 14:11:11 -0500

Federal Judge Rejects Bush Administration's Effort to Confiscate Lawyer's Privileged Communications with GITMO Detainees

Betsy Iger — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:16:11 -0400

On August 28, 2006, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia denied the government's request for a 'filter team' to review papers seized from detainees at Guantanamo late yesterday. The Administration had requested that the court authorize the seizure and establish procedures for their review. Judge Richard Leon rejected the government's motion. In strong language, the court stated that any further review of potentially privileged material by the government comes "at their own legal peril."

First Violation of McCain Torture Amendment Alleged in Emergency Injunction

Betsy Iger — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 14:21:18 -0500

On February 27, 2006, The first violation of the McCain torture amendment was alleged in federal court in an emergency injunction to end further torture of Guantánamo detainees. The court made public an injunction filed by cooperating attorneys from Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan working with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which won the landmark Supreme Court case establishing the Guantánamo detainees' right to challenge their detention in U.S. court (Rasul v. Bush).

Graham Amendment Passes: Habeas Corpus Gutted

Betsy Iger — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 14:29:24 -0500

The Bush Administration, through an amendment introduced by South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, has just successfully stripped federal courts of jurisdiction to hear applications for habeas corpus brought by those unilaterally declared enemy combatants without any process and held by the U.S. indefinitely throughout the world and even in the United States.

Groups Denounce Stealth Senate Amendment on Detainees

Betsy Iger — Wed, 14 Dec 2005 14:34:43 -0500

Guantanamo Detainees in Court Today to Argue for Right to a Speedy Trial in the U.S.

Betsy Iger — Mon, 11 Sep 2006 15:39:46 -0400

Guantanamo Detainees Return to Supreme Court for Third Time in Challenge to Military Commissions Act

Betsy Iger — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 14:43:16 -0500

March 5, 2007, Washington, DC and New York, NY - The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) joins co-counsel today in petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari, asking it to review a lower court decision dismissing the cases Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush filed on behalf of detainees at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court is being asked to grant review and hear the cases on an expedited basis in May.

In Emergency Hearing CCR Habeas Counsel Argue for Information about Medical Treatment of Hunger Striking Prisoners

Betsy Iger — Fri, 14 Oct 2005 15:46:54 -0400

Inter-American Commission On Human Rights Extends Precautionary Measures On Guantánamo Detainees

Betsy Iger — Wed, 02 Nov 2005 14:51:06 -0500

Lawyers for Canadian Teenager Imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay Ask United Nations to Intervene

Betsy Iger — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 14:55:26 -0500

One week before military tribunal proceedings are set to commence on January 11, 2006, for young Canadian citizen Omar Khadr, a detainee at Guantánamo Bay, his attorneys delivered a letter to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and Interim Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Karin Sham Poo. The letter urges the United Nations to appeal to the United States government and to unilaterally condemn Omar’s trial as inconsistent with international legal protections accorded to children in armed conflict.

New Hunger Strike Begins after the Department of Defense Reneges on Promises to Detainees

Betsy Iger — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 15:59:32 -0400

On August 31, 2005, in New York, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) cooperating counsel confirmed that prisoners have begun a new hunger strike at Guantánamo because the Department of Defense (DOD) failed to negotiate with prisoners as it promised to do after the June/July 2005 hunger strike. According to papers filed on behalf of 42 prisoners represented by Clive Stafford Smith, in late June and most of July 2005, a hunger strike occurred in all five camps at the detention center.

Senator Specter Submits Brief Asking Supreme Court to Hear Guantanamo Cases that Challenge the Military Commissions Act

Betsy Iger — Sat, 17 Mar 2007 16:02:53 -0400

With the Supreme Court due to decide whether it will take up once more the case of the Guantánamo detainees and their right to habeas corpus, Senator Arlen Specter on March 22, 2007 submitted an amicus brief to the Court in support of the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsel's petition for a writ of certiorari that asks the Court to hear the case this spring.

Statement of Center for Constitutional Rights in Response to Court of Appeals Decision in Case of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld

Betsy Iger — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:06:01 -0400

Supreme Court Denies Immediate Review of Guantanamo Cases

Betsy Iger — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 16:11:07 -0400

On April 2, 2007, the Supreme Court announced that it would not be hearing the cases of the Guantánamo detainees for the time being. The Court denied the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel’s motion to hear the case with three justices dissenting and two issuing a statement that the detainees should exhaust the process set up by the Detainee Treatment Act (DTA).

U.S. Court Orders Bush Administration to Grant Guantanamo Detainee Access to Attorney

Betsy Iger — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 15:17:34 -0500

A U.S. District Court has ordered the Department of Defense to grant a Guantánamo detainee access to his attorney, ruling against the Bush Administration’s effort to deny him counsel for months while higher courts interpret legislation on detainees’ legal rights. The judge concluded such efforts could render the detainee’s “right to counsel meaningless.” The Bush Administration has blocked more than half of detainees from meeting with their attorneys.

Canadian Rendition and Torture Victin Maher Arar Chosen for Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People

Betsy Iger — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:20:59 -0400

On May 3, 2007, Time Magazine announced that Canadian rendition victim and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) client Maher Arar has made this year's Time 100, a "list of 100 men and women whose power, talent, or moral example is transforming our world." Mr. Arar is the first victim of the Bush administration's practice of extraordinary rendition to come forward and contest his treatment in a U.S. court.

CCR Celebrates Victory in Supreme Court Immigration Detention Case

Betsy Iger — Wed, 12 Jan 2005 10:26:34 -0500

In a decision cheered by human rights organizations and immigrant justice activists, the Supreme Court ruled in Benitez v. Mata (also known as Martinez v. Clark) on January 12, 2005 that the protection against indefinite detention for immigrants, first decided in Zadvydas v. Davis, applied in cases involving those who were currently within the U.S., regardless of their immigration standing. The Center for Constitutional Rights joined in an Amicus brief supporting the application of Zadvydas in this case.

CCR Files Constitutional Challenge to Patriot Act

Betsy Iger — Tue, 05 Aug 2003 11:42:06 -0400

CCR filed papers in a Los Angeles court challenging a provision of the USA Patriot Act that criminalizes the provision of “expert advice and assistance” to proscribed organizations.

CCR Investigates Case of Torture Survivor Maher Arar

Betsy Iger — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 10:50:55 -0500

CCR has launched an investigation into the rendition and torture of Maher Arar, a Syrian born Canadian citizen. Mr. Arar, who was arrested by U.S. officials while in transit at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, was intensively interrogated and then deported to Syria, where he endured 10 months of torture at the hands of Syrian intelligence officials. By knowingly placing Mr. Arar in the custody of a nation that regularly practices torture, the U.S. has violated the International Convention Against Torture, of which it is a signatory.

CCR Wins Great Victory: Key Provision of the Patriot Act Ruled Unconstitutional

Betsy Iger — Tue, 27 Jan 2004 10:55:10 -0500

A district court judge declared an important provision of the USA Patriot Act unconstitutional because it is so vague that it “could be construed to include unequivocally pure speech and advocacy protected by the First Amendment.” The ruling is the first such ruling on the USA Patriot Act.

Descendents of Japanese American Internees File Amicus Brief in Support of Muslim Immigrants

Betsy Iger — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 11:59:05 -0400

On April 3, 2007, descendants of Japanese Americans interned during World War II filed the first of three amicus briefs in support of a Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appeal on behalf of Arab and South Asian immigrants detained after September 11, 2001. The brief outlines the damage the internment did to their families and to the laws of equal protection in the U.S. and draws parallels between what was done to Japanese Americans during the war and the profiling of Muslim men today.

John Ashcroft Sued by CCR for Torture

Betsy Iger — Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:03:10 -0500

CCR, on behalf of Canadian citizen Maher Arar, sues Attorney General John Ashcroft and other U.S. officials for sending him to be tortured in Syria.

CCR Applauds Judge's Decision to Drop Plea Bargain of Haitian Former Paramilitary Leader Emmanuel "Toto" Constant

Betsy Iger — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:12:11 -0400

On May 22, 2007, the judge in the mortgage fraud case of former Haitian death-squad leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant dropped Constant’s plea bargain in the criminal case and ordered him to go to trial, where he faces a maximum of 15 years if convicted.

CCR Files Lawsuit Against Private Contractors for Torture Conspiracy

Betsy Iger — Wed, 09 Jun 2004 12:18:17 -0400

Two U.S. corporations conspired with U.S. officials to humiliate, torture and abuse persons detained by U.S. authorities in Iraq according to a class action lawsuit filed June 9, 2004, by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the Philadelphia law firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads.

CCR Wins Significant Legal Motion in Unocal Case

Betsy Iger — Thu, 31 Jul 2003 12:23:40 -0400

A Superior Court Judge ruled against oil giant Unocal’s motion to apply Burmese and Bermuda law in the CCR case Doe v. Unocal. Unocal is accused of being complicit in human rights violations that took place in Burma.

Court Orders Unocal to Stand Trial for Abuses in Burma

Betsy Iger — Wed, 15 Sep 2004 12:29:36 -0400

On September 15, 2004 California Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney rejected an attempt by Unocal Corp. to dismiss a lawsuit charging it is responsible for human rights abuses committed by the notoriously brutal Burmese military on behalf of Unocal’s Yadana Pipeline project in southern Burma. When the judge denied the oil company’s motion to dismiss the suit, she cleared the way for the trial to begin after eight years of litigation.

Former Director of Israel's General Security Service Sued in New York for Death and Injury of Over 165 in Gaza

Betsy Iger — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 11:34:36 -0500

On December 8, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) brought a class action lawsuit against Avi Dichter, the former Director of Israel’s General Security Service (GSS), on behalf of the Palestinians who were killed or injured in a 2002 air strike in Gaza. The attack occurred just before midnight on July 22, 2002, when the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) dropped a one-ton bomb on al-Daraj, a residential neighborhood in Gaza City in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Former Haitian Death Squad Leader Pleads Guilty to Fraud

Betsy Iger — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 12:01:32 -0500

Emanuel “Toto” Constant, the former leader of the Haitian paramilitary death squad known as FRAPH (the Revolutionary Front for Haitian Advancement and Progress), pled guilty on February 8, 2007 to grand larceny and fraud in conjunction with a real estate mortgage scheme.

Attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) welcomed the news that he may finally do jail time, but expressed the desire to see him held accountable for his role in more than 5,000 murders and untold dismemberment, rapes and other torture and violence in the early 1990s.

Former Head of the Intelligence Branch of the Israel Defense Forces and Chief of Staff Charged in U.S. Court with War Crimes

Betsy Iger — Thu, 15 Dec 2005 12:05:56 -0500

Haitian Death Squad Leader Ordered to Pay $19 Million to Torture Survivors

Betsy Iger — Wed, 25 Oct 2006 13:11:24 -0400

On October 25, 2006, Emmanuel "Toto" Constant--the former leader of Haiti's notorious death squad known as FRAPH--was ordered to pay $15 million in punitive and $4 million in compensatory damages to three women who survived rape, other torture and attempted killings committed by paramilitary forces under his command. U.S. District Court Judge Sidney H. Stein, of the Southern District of New York, awarded the survivors a total of $19 million in damages after hearing testimony from the women and expert witnesses. The damages award was entered late yesterday.

Historic Advance for Universal Human Rights: Unocal to Compensate Burmese Villagers

Betsy Iger — Sat, 02 Apr 2005 12:15:46 -0500

CCR is thrilled to announce that the U.S. oil company Unocal has agreed to compensate Burmese villagers who sued the firm for complicity in forced labor, rape and murder. The abuses were committed in the mid-1990's by soldiers providing security for Unocal’s natural gas pipeline in southern Burma.

Judge Dismisses Case Against Israeli Official Charging Him with War Crimes in the Killing of 15 Palestinian Civilians

Betsy Iger — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:20:38 -0400

On May 2, 2007, a federal judge dismissed the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case against senior Israeli official Avi Dichter for his role in dropping a one-ton bomb on a Gaza City apartment building, killing 15 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others.

Ninth Circuit to Decide Validity of Alien Tort Claims Act

Betsy Iger — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 13:23:56 -0400

An important oral argument is taking place on June 17, 2003 before the full Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California concerning the legal status of the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) in Doe v. Unocal, a case CCR commenced the case in 1996.

Victory Against Human Rights Violators

Betsy Iger — Tue, 04 Jan 2005 12:27:29 -0500

CCR won a $66 million victory in its civil suit against Indonesia's former Vice Chief of Staff, accusing him of crimes against humanity and other human rights violations.

CCR scored a major victory this month when a judge awarded the six plaintiffs in Doe v. Lumintang $66 million dollars in compensation. The civil suit had been filed against Johnny Lumintang, the former vice Chief of Staff for Indonesia, for crimes against humanity and human rights violations during a crackdown against East Timorese activists.

CCR Welcomes the Family Connections Bill Introduced by New York Assemblymembers to Reform Prison Prison Phone System

Betsy Iger — Thu, 21 Jun 2007 13:33:37 -0400

“It is an injustice that families of inmates are forced to pay this backdoor tax,” said Assemblyman Aubry, Chair of the Assembly Correction Committee. “This is a public safety issue because it disrupts the need for families of inmates to maintain relationships with their loved ones, who will ultimately return to the community.”

Families Win Victory in Court of Appeals on Prison Telephone Challenge

Betsy Iger — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 12:40:44 -0500

On February 20, 2007, The Court of Appeals ruled that a constitutional challenge brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of New York family members who pay a grossly inflated rate to receive phone calls from their loved ones in state prisons must be allowed to move forward.

Federal Judge Rules on Constitutionality of Kickback in Contract Between New York State Prisons and MCI

Betsy Iger — Tue, 30 Aug 2005 13:44:26 -0400

Center for Constitutional Rights announced a major victory on August 30, 2005 for the families and friends of people incarcerated in New York State prisons. The federal trial court in Byrd v. Goord issued an opinion upholding the constitutional challenge lodged by inmates’ families, ministers, friends, and counselors to the inmate telephone system in New York, which is designed to provide the Department of Correctional Services with millions of dollars in “commissions” or “kickbacks.”

Highest Court in New York to Hear Challenge to Monopoly Prison Telephone Contract

Betsy Iger — Mon, 10 Jul 2006 13:48:52 -0400

The Center for Constitutional Rights welcomes the news that its motion for leave to appeal to the highest court of the state, the Court of Appeals, was granted in Walton v. NYSDOCS. The lawsuit seeks an order prohibiting the State and Verizon/MCI from charging exorbitant rates to the family members of prisoners to finance a 57.5% kick back to the State.

Verizon/MCI is currently charging these family members a 630 percent markup over consumer rates to receive a collect call from their loved ones, the only method of calling from a DOCS institution.

New York's Highest Court to Hear Challenge to Discriminatory Prison Telephone Charges

Betsy Iger — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 12:53:20 -0500

On January 9, 2007, Rachel Meeropol, a lawyer from the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) will argue that the New York State Court of Appeals should stop the state government and the telephone service provider from charging exorbitant phone rates to families of prisoners in Walton v. New York State Department of Correctional Services (NYSDOCS).

Victory for Families of New York

Betsy Iger — Mon, 08 Jan 2007 12:57:23 -0500

Families in New York with a loved one in prison won a long-awaited victory on January 8, 2007 when Governor Spitzer committed to end the burdensome, back door tax on collect calls to inmates' families.

CCR Achieves Historic Settlement In Street Crimes Unit Class Action

Betsy Iger — Thu, 18 Sep 2003 14:04:46 -0400

On September 18, 2003, the City of New York agreed to settle a federal class-action lawsuit that charged the New York Police Department with engaging in illegal racial profiling practices in stop and frisk situations. The out-of-court agreement between the City and the Center for Constitutional Rights in Daniels v. City of New York was announced at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin.

CCR and NLG Release New "Jailhouse Lawyer's Handbook"

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:07:59 -0500

The Center for Constitutional Rights, in alliance with the National Lawyers Guild, has just released “The Jailhouse Lawyer’s Handbook: How to Bring a Federal Lawsuit to Challenge Violations of Your Rights in Prison.” The handbook is a free resource for prisoners and their family members who wish to learn about legal options to challenge mistreatment in prison. It can be downloaded, or you can request a copy by writing to us at the following address:

CCR Challenges Secret Service in Protest Case

Betsy Iger — Mon, 12 Apr 2004 14:12:13 -0400

CCR Condemns Arrest of 3 Community Leaders Lawfully Monitoring Police Activity

Betsy Iger — Wed, 09 Feb 2005 13:16:21 -0500

On February 9, 2005 in New York, The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) denounced the arrest of three community organizers by officers of the New York Police Department on the night of February 8th. The arrest occurred when the three individuals were engaged in legal monitoring of police activities as part of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Copwatch Program.

CCR Condemns Harassment of Former Members of Black Panther Party

Betsy Iger — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 13:21:11 -0500

Today, December 8, 2005, in Washington, D.C., the Center for Constitutional Rights condemned what it views as a campaign of harassment and political persecution of former members of the Black Panther Party.

CCR Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Black Seminoles

Betsy Iger — Fri, 21 May 2004 14:29:07 -0400

CCR files Amicus to Support Oversight of Electronic Voting

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:33:36 -0500

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed a Amicus Brief urging the California court to investigate questions of the integrity of electronic voting in Riverside County and that claims by election officials are not enough to satisfy the requirements of California law. CCR also requested that the plaintiff in the case of Soubirous v. Riverside gain access to basic information to determine that the votes were properly and fully counted as required by California law.

CCR Files Civil Rights Lawsuit on Behalf of Three Black Copwatch Activists Arrested While Monitoring Police Activity

Betsy Iger — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 14:38:22 -0400

On April 26, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a federal civil rights lawsuit on behalf of three Black activists who were manhandled and arrested while peacefully and lawfully filming New York Police Department officers in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn as part of a CopWatch program on the evening of February 9, 2005. All charges against the three were later dismissed.

CCR Files Lawsuit Challenging Withdrawal from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty

Betsy Iger — Tue, 11 Jun 2002 14:42:51 -0400

CCR Joins National Lawyers Guild in Civil Rights Lawsuit Against New York City For Those Arrested During Republican Convention

Betsy Iger — Mon, 22 Nov 2004 13:48:00 -0500

On November 22, 2004, a group of protesters and bystanders wrongfully arrested during the Republican National Convention last August filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of the almost 2,000 who were wrongfully arrested and detained under filthy and toxic conditions for unreasonably prolonged periods of time. They contend that the City and the NYPD took these actions to punish them for engaging in political expression and protest. The Center for Constitutional Rights is a signatory of this lawsuit filed by the National Lawyer’s Guild.

CCR joins NLG in Seeking Reparations for Victims of Tulsa Race Riots

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:56:06 -0500

CCR along with the National Lawyer’s Guild, the National Conference of Black Lawyers, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People filed an amicus brief in the case Alexander v. Oklahoma, supportive of the plaintiff’s petition for writ of certiorari to the United Stated Supreme Court.

The plaintiffs, victims of the Tulsa Race Riot, are seeking reparations for the devastating human rights abuses that occurred in Greenwood, Oklahoma in 1921 when the African American community of Tulsa was destroyed.

CCR Joins With Other Human Rights Groups to Advocate on Behalf of Women in Prison

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 13:58:50 -0500

CCR Opposes Alito Supreme Court Nomination

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:02:51 -0500

CCR Opposes the Nomination of Alberto Gonzales

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:06:21 -0500

“The best way for the American people to send a message to the Bush administration and the world that ‘we the people’ of the United States do not condone torture is to mobilize to reject the nomination of Alberto Gonzales.” - Ron Daniels, Executive Director, the Center for Constitutional Rights

CCR Partners with Greenpeace and Calls on the World to Unite for Peace

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 14:30:16 -0500

Greenpeace has joined CCR in calling for the UN General Assembly to prevent a possible war in Iraq by using UN resolution 377, "Uniting for Peace", a little known resolution that can be used when the Security Council is split on the issue of how to maintain international peace and security.

CCR Sues the NYPD for Protester Arrests

Betsy Iger — Thu, 12 Feb 2004 14:38:58 -0500

In February 12, 2004, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a multi-plaintiff federal lawsuit on behalf of protesters who were illegally arrested during an anti-war rally April 7, 2003, in New York. The suit charges that the New York Police Department unlawfully arrested the peaceful protesters and detained them for excessively long periods of time at 1 Police Plaza. Over 70 protesters were illegally arrested outside the offices of an affiliate of the Carlyle Group, a defense-related investment firm with financial ties to the Bush and bin Laden families.

CCR Visits Cincinnati to Meet with Boycott Leaders

Betsy Iger — Sat, 17 May 2003 15:45:38 -0400

The Center for Constitutional Rights visited Cincinnati to release its report on the findings of the hearing convened by CCR at the University of Cincinnati in May, 2003. The visit included meetings with local area officials, both public and private, business leaders and members of the Boycott Council to discuss progress in addressing the crisis affecting Black communities in Cincinnati and CCR’s recommendations for future steps to be taken. Executive Director Ron Daniels made the following statement:

CCR Files EEOC Discrimination Charges for Three African-American Applicants to the NYFD

Betsy Iger — Thu, 24 Feb 2005 14:54:36 -0500

Center for Constitutional Rights Files Lawsuit Challenging City’s Policy of Prohibiting Political Marches Along Fifth Avenue

Betsy Iger — Wed, 16 Mar 2005 15:04:22 -0500

The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a complaint on behalf of the International Action Center and the Troops Out Now Coalition on Wednesday March 16 challenging the City’s policy of refusing new permits for marches on Fifth Avenue. CCR called for a reversal of the policy and for the City to allow the march this weekend to proceed on Fifth Avenue, arguing that the City is silencing dissent by refusing permits for demonstrations on Fifth Avenue.

CCR Says Tough Questions for Gonzales Are Not Enough

Betsy Iger — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 15:09:08 -0500

In New York, on January 5, 2005, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) urged senators to think of the message confirming Alberto Gonzales to the post of Attorney General will send to the world. Said CCR Executive Director Ron Daniels, “To confirm Gonzales as Attorney General will send a message to the world that we feel no shame for the torture and abuse that has occurred at our hands. Asking him tough questions is not enough: opposition to the nomination must have backbone.

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Democratizing the Media: A Victory for Low Power Radio

Betsy Iger — Thu, 08 Feb 2001 15:13:01 -0500

CCR won a suit on behalf of community and grass roots radio broadcasters when a federal appeals court ruled that the "pirate provisions" governing radio licensing were "unique and draconian" and violate the First Amendment.

Low power and micro radio broadcasting are vital to community formation and the development of a robust and expressive society.

Unfortunately the Federal Communications Commission has chosen to crack down on grassroots and community-based radio, denying them licenses to broadcast.
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DOJ Files Lawsuit Against the City of New York for FDNY's Discriminatory Hiring Practices

Betsy Iger — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 15:16:49 -0500

On May 21, 2007, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the City of New York, charging it with discriminatory hiring practices against black and Latino potential firefighters. The lawsuit is in response to the Center for Constitutional Rights’ two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) charges of discrimination, one filed on behalf of the Vulcan Society in 2002, and the other filed in 2004 on behalf of a number of individual black and Latino candidates.
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Federal Appeals Court Finds for Minority Public School Teachers Who Say NYC Board of Education Discriminated Against Them

Betsy Iger — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:19:48 -0400

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Five More Sikhs to Resist MTA Turban Branding Policy

Betsy Iger — Fri, 15 Jul 2005 16:26:09 -0400

On July 15, 2005 in New York, five Sikh Station Agents announced their intention to file discrimination charges against the MTA. The Sikh workers charge that a post-9/11 policy requiring them to brand their turbans with an MTA logo amounts to religious discrimination.
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Judge Throws Out Charges in “Los Angeles Eight” Case

Betsy Iger — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 15:30:58 -0500

Los Angeles - In a decision received today, Los Angeles Immigration Judge Bruce J. Einhorn ordered an end to deportation proceedings against Khader Hamide and Michel Shehadeh, members of the “Los Angeles Eight” (LA8).

In his decision, Einhorn said that the proceedings must be terminated because of the government's refusal to disclose evidence favorable to the immigrants in compliance with his orders.
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Supreme Court Rules Prisoners Guaranteed Due Process Review Before Supermax Confinement

Betsy Iger — Mon, 13 Jun 2005 16:34:11 -0400

In Washington, D.C, on June 13, 2005, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that prison officials cannot confine inmates in long term solitary confinement in a supermaximum prison without first giving them the opportunity to challenge their placement.

Ruling in Wilkinson v. Austin, a class action case brought on behalf of inmates of the Ohio supermax prison, Justice Kennedy held that prisoners have a liberty interest in not being sent into the extreme isolation of long term supermax confinement.
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Docket: CCR Files Amicus Brief in Support of Voting Rights for Felons

Betsy Iger — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 15:37:25 -0500

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CCR Files a Freedom of Information Law Request on Behalf of Stop the Disappearances Campaign

Betsy Iger — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 10:51:24 -0500

In April 2001, Mohammed Jafar Alam applied for an employment certification under the 245-I LIFE Act, a crucial first step to gaining status for himself and his family; he is still waiting for approval. Mr. Alam registered as part of the FBI and then-INS’ Special Registration program, a problematic program that has resulted in the delay in receiving his employment certificate.
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U.S. GOVERNMENT FILES OPPOSITION BRIEF IN CCR GUANTANAMO SUPREME COURT CASE

Owen Henkel — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:37:29 -0400

On October 9, 2007, the U.S. government filed its opposing brief in the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Supreme Court case that will decide once again whether the Guantanamo detainees have the right to challenge their detention.

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Going to See a Ghost: Majid Khan and the Abuses of the 'War on Terror'

Owen Henkel — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 16:39:24 -0400

Gitanjali Gutierrez, a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who was the first habeas corpus lawyer to travel to Guantanamo, wrote this op-ed in The Washington Post on CCR client Majid Khan, a former Baltimore resident who was "disappeared" into a CIA secret prison and then sent to Guantanamo. She will be meeting with Majid for the first time this week.
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Maher Arar Testified Before Congressional Hearing On Rendition About U.S. Sending Him To Be Tortured In Syria

Owen Henkel — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 16:43:27 -0400
On October 18, 2007, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) client and extraordinary rendition victim Maher Arar testified at a House Joint Committee hearing convened to discuss his rendition by the U.S. to Syria for torture and interrogation.
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Secretary of State Rice Admits U.S. Government Mishandled Rendition of Maher Arar

Esther Wang — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 14:12:52 -0400
October 24, 2007, Washington, DC – According to press reports, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice admitted during a House Foreign Affairs Committee Hearing today that the U.S. government mishandled the rendition of Center for Constitutional Rights client and Canadian citizen Maher Arar, saying, “I do not think this case was handled as it should have been. We do absolutely not wish to transfer anyone to any place in which they might be tortured.”

Maher Arar is not available to comment in person, but is issuing the following statement:
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Donald Rumsfeld Charged with Torture During Trip to France

Owen Henkel — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:53:09 -0400

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HUMAN RIGHTS LAWSUITS BROUGHT AGAINST FORMER BOLIVIAN PRESIDENT AND MINISTER OF DEFENSE FOR COMPLICITY IN ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400
September 26, 2007, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced that it, along with other human rights lawyers, has filed two lawsuits charging former Bolivian President Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante and former Bolivian Minister of Defense Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín for their roles in the killing of civilians during popular protests against the Bolivian government in September and October 2003.

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Blackwater USA Sued for Firing on Iraqi Civilians, According to Legal Team for Injured Survivor and Families of Three Killed

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400
On October 11, 2007, a legal team including the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) sued Blackwater USA, the private military contractor whose heavily armed personnel allegedly opened fire on innocent Iraqi civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad on Sept. 16.

The suit was filed on behalf of an injured survivor and three families of men killed in the incident, according to the legal team representing the civilians. The case was brought be the Center for Constitutional Rights and the firms of Burke O'Neil LLC and Akeel & Valentine, P.C.

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CCR APPEALS CASE CHARGING ISRAELI OFFICIAL WITH WAR CRIMES IN KILLING OF PALESTINIAN CIVILIANS

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400
On September 24, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appealed a lower court's decision to dismiss the case charging an Israeli official with war crimes for his role in dropping a one-ton bomb on a Gaza City apartment building, killing 15 Palestinians and injuring more than 150 others.

In a related development last this week, Israel agreed to establish an independent commission that will decide whether criminal charges should be brought against those involved in the decision to bomb the Gaza City neighborhood.

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COURT OF APPEALS DISMISSES CCR CASE AGAINST CATERPILLAR FOR DEATHS AND INJURIES IN PALESTINIAN HOME DEMOLITIONS

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400
On September 17, 2007, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of CCR's case charging Caterpillar, Inc. with aiding and abetting war crimes and other serious human rights violations on the grounds that the company provided bulldozers to Israel knowing they would be used unlawfully to demolish homes and endanger civilians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

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CCR Case Argued Before Court of Appeeals: First Case Filed by Former Guantanamo Detainees Accountability for Torture

Mon, 17 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

On September 14, 2007, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) co-counsel argued the appeal of the first case filed by Guantanamo detainees seeking to hold U.S. officials accountable for the physical, psychological, and religious torture and abuse at the offshore prison camp. The civil case Rasul v. Rumsfeld was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) along with co-counsel in October 2004 on behalf of four British citizens who were unjustly held for more than three years.

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CHEVRON TO STAND TRIAL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN NIGERIA

Tue, 14 Aug 2007 00:00:00 -0400
In a series of rulings issued August 14, 2007, United States District Court Judge Susan Illston rejected Chevron Corporation's final attempts to avoid trial for its involvement in brutal attacks on Nigerian villagers.

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GOVERNOR SPITZER SIGNS FAMILY CONNECTIONS BILL, ENDS BACKDOOR TAX ON PRISON FAMILIES

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400

On July 19, 2007, Governor Eliot Spitzer signed into law the Family Connections bill, which states that prison telephone service is a right and not a revenue generator.

"Words cannot describe what this victory means to me - unless they are written on a phone bill that I can now afford to pay," said Cheri O'Donoghue, whose young son is incarcerated in New York State. "It is such a relief that I can now talk to my son more frequently without financial hardship."
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BLACK FIREFIGHTERS FORMALLY BECOME PARTIES IN DOJ LAWSUIT CHARGING NYC AND FDNY WITH DISCRIMINATORY HIRING PRACTICES

Sat, 14 Jul 2007 00:00:00 -0400
On July 17, 2007, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) formally filed to intervene on behalf of the Vulcan Society in the Department of Justice's lawsuit against the City of New York. That suit charges the Fire Department of New York with discriminatory hiring practices. The intervention means that the Vulcan Society becomes a party in the lawsuit as plaintiffs.

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CCR AND OTHER LEADING HUMAN RIGHTS GROUPS NAME 39 CIA "DISAPPEARED" DETAINEES

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 00:00:00 -0400
On June 7, 2007 CCR and five other leading human rights organizations published the names and details of 39 people who are believed to have been held in secret U.S. custody and whose current whereabouts remain unknown. The briefing paper, the comprehensive accounting to date, also names relatives of suspects who were themselves detained in secret prisons, including children as young as seven.

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Urgent Appeal Filed Before United Nations Special Rapporteurs Because of French Prosecutor's Failure to Act on Rumsfeld Torture

Owen Henkel — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 16:15:18 -0400
October 29, 2007, New York, Paris – Today, human rights groups filed an urgent appeal with two United Nations Special Rapporteurs because the failure of the French Prosecutor to act on a complaint filed against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld for torture.
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Blackwater Employees' Immunity Will Not Affect Civil Case

Esther Wang — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:23:21 -0400
October 31, 2007, New York, NY – The Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsel issued a statement today in response to the news that the State Department had promised the employees of private military contractor Blackwater USA immunity in relation to the killing of innocent Iraqi bystanders in Nisoor Square in Baghdad on September 16:

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CCR Calls For Senate To Vote Down Attorney General Nomination

Esther Wang — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 13:43:42 -0400
November 1, 2007, New York, NY – Today the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement against the nomination of Michael Mukasey for the next Attorney General of the United States:

Michael Mukasey is not fit to be Attorney General because he supports torture, illegal spying on Americans, and limitless powers for the Executive Branch. He made clear in the Senate confirmation hearing and in his letter to the Senate that he does not understand the difference between the role of the Attorney General and the role of Counsel to the President.
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CCR Honored with Human Rights Award for Defense of Men Imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay

Esther Wang — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 16:44:11 -0400
The Center for Constitutional Rights is honored to be awarded the Frederick Douglass Human Rights Award, given annually by the Southern Center for Human Rights to those who have made outstanding contributions to the protection of human rights.

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Corporation Responsible for Interrogations at Abu Ghraib Will Be Tried by Jury for Torture

Esther Wang — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:32:06 -0500
November 6, 2007, New York, NY – In a key victory in the war against torture, today a federal court ruled that the lawsuit against a private military contractor in Iraq should be heard by a jury of Americans. The action was filed in 2004 against CACI and Titan, both of which were named in the military investigation of the Abu Ghraib scandal. The Center for Constitutional Rights, Burke O’Neil LLC, and Akeel Valentine PLC brought the suit as a class action on behalf of the hundreds of Iraqi torture victims.
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CCR Argues Appeal of Rendition Victim Maher Arar: U.S. Officials Must Be Held Accountable for Sending Him to Torture in Syria

Esther Wang — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 12:31:56 -0500
November 9, 2007, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued before the Court of Appeals that rendition victim Maher Arar’s case against U.S. officials should be reinstated.

“Maher’s case must be allowed to proceed,” said CCR Senior Attorney Maria LaHood. “He deserves justice to right the tremendous wrong our government did in delivering him to torture, and it is incumbent on our courts to provide that justice.”

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New York City-Area Anti-Raids Network Launches: No More ICE Raids!

Esther Wang — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 18:05:43 -0500
November 7, 2007, New York, NY – Today, a New York City anti-immigrant raids network launched with the release of this statement condemning the ICE raids across the country and in New York City:

In August 2007, the Department of Homeland Security announced new regulations that will unjustly punish millions of immigrants across the country and break apart many families in the years to come. These laws were passed without any legislative approval and public discussion yet will impact the lives of immigrants and citizens alike.

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CCR, Other Human Rights Groups Ask German Court to Review Federal Prosecutor's Decision to Dismiss Rumsfeld Torture Case

Esther Wang — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:46:55 -0500
November 13, 2007, Frankfurt, New York, Paris – Today an appeal was filed before the Frankfurt High Regional Court seeking review of the German Federal Prosecutor’s April 2007 decision not to proceed with an investigation of former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, former CIA Director George Tenet, and other high-ranking U.S. officials for torture and war crimes committed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo.
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CCR Condemns Murder of 18-Year-Old Khiel Coppin at Hands of NYPD

Esther Wang — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 13:51:23 -0500
November 13, 2007, New York, NY – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which brought the historic NYPD racial profiling case Daniels v. City of New York in 1999 in the wake of the Amadou Diallo killing, issued the following statement in response to the murder of 18-year-old Brooklyn resident Khiel Coppin last night:

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CCR Files Amicus Brief in First Guantánamo Case Before European Court of Human Rights

Esther Wang — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 12:40:46 -0500
November 15, 2007, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed an amicus brief in the first Guantánamo case before the European Court of Human Rights. The petitioners in this case are some of the same petitioners in the Guantánamo case which will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on December 5, the consolidated cases of Al Odah v. United States and Boumediene v. Bush.

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The Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation Award Annual Prize to CCR President Michael Ratner

Esther Wang — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:48:45 -0500
November 15, 2007, New York – Attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner is the recipient of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship. One of the country's foremost defenders of human rights and civil liberties, Ratner has led the fight to demand due process for Guantánamo detainees, adequate safeguards against intrusive government surveillance, and an end to torture and extraordinary rendition.
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Leaked Guantanamo Manual Shows Red Cross Denied Access to Groups of Detainees

Esther Wang — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 19:50:34 -0500

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CCR Calls NYPD Rand Report a Distortion of the Facts: NYPD Still Engaging in Racial Profiling

Esther Wang — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:22:58 -0500
November 21, 2007, New York, NY – Yesterday, the RAND Corporation issued a report [attached at the bottom of the press release], commissioned by the New York Police Foundation and requested by Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, that acknowledges certain racial differences in the NYPD’s raw data concerning stop-and-frisks, but disputes that the NYPD is racially biased in its policing. The Center for Constitutional Rights, which filed the historic racial profiling case Daniels v. City of New York, issued the following statement in response to the report:

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Blackwater Faces New Death and Injury Claims and Drug Allegations, According to Legal Team for Iraqi Families

Esther Wang — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 09:17:18 -0500

WASHINGTON, November 27, 2007 - The estates of two more Iraqis killed when Blackwater USA personnel allegedly opened fire on civilians in Nisoor Square in Baghdad on Sept. 16 and an injured survivor of the incident joined the pending civil litigation against the private military contractor late Monday.

Survivor Abdulwahab Abdulqadir Al-Qalamchi and the estates of Dr. Mahasin Mohson Kadhum and her son, Ahmed Hathem Al-Rubaie, filed new claims against Blackwater and affiliated companies in Washington federal court, according to their U.S.-based legal team.
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France in Violation of Law Grants Donald Rumsfeld Immunity, Dismisses Torture Complaint

Esther Wang — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 11:58:01 -0500
Paris, New York, 26 November 2007 - The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the French League for Human Rights (LDH) were informed last week that the complaint filed on October, 25, 2007 against Donald Rumsfeld for acts of torture has been dismissed.

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City Data Released Today on Fire Department Tests and Applicants of Color Does Not Tell Whole Story, Say CCR Attorneys

Esther Wang — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:56:43 -0500

November 27, 2007, New York – Today, the City of New York released preliminary data from its January 2007 firefighter written exam and claimed that the percentage of Black and Latino firefighters who passed the test went up from the previous 2002 exam.

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Fox News Channel Rejects Danny Glover Guantanamo Ad

Esther Wang — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:46:03 -0500
NEW YORK, NY — The Fox News Channel has denied the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) the opportunity to advertise on the national news network. The ad, which features actor Danny Glover, shows a replica of the Constitution being shredded and issues a call to action for all Americans to learn more about basic Constitutional rights.

The ad can be seen at www.BeyondGuantanamo.org.

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Leaked 2004 Guantanamo Manual Shows Continued ICRC restrictions, Severe Pyschological illness, and Risk of Suicide

Tue, 04 Dec 2007 16:08:04 -0500

December 4, 2007, New York – The manual detailing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for Guantánamo’s Camp Delta in 2004 was leaked and posted on Wikileaks. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and affiliated Guantánamo habeas attorneys helped provide a detailed analysis of the approximately 250-page document and compared it to the 2003 SOP manual leaked two weeks ago. The document, which is not classified but was not intended to be public, gives a detailed picture of conditions at the camp.

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LISTEN TO THE SUPREME COURT ARGUMENT LIVE!

Owen Henkel — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 09:05:42 -0500

The argument is being streamed on C-Span.

Listen Here.

Guantánamo Attorneys to Justices: Restore the Constitution

Owen Henkel — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 12:05:05 -0500

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a landmark human rights case with significant implications for the separation of powers, the Supreme Court today heard a challenge brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel to the legality of Guantánamo Bay detentions.

This case will decide whether federal courts have any say in checking the power of the Executive Branch to hold men at Guantanamo indefinitely and outside of the law.

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CCR Executive Director and President at "A Question of Impeachment" at the Culture Project

Esther Wang — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 16:58:32 -0500

Click on the link below to watch CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren, CCR President Michael Ratner, and others speak at an event held at the Culture Project in New York City on November 27, 2007.

The event, titled "A Question of Impeachment," focused on the Bush administration's use of torture and rendition in it so-called "war on terror."
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In Wake of French Immunity to Rumsfeld, Rights Groups Ask - Will France Become a Safe Haven for Torturers?

Esther Wang — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:23:02 -0500

Paris, New York, December 7, 2007 – Human rights groups issued an open letter [attached below] yesterday to French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner detailing dangerous repercussions of a decision to dismiss a complaint filed on October, 25, 2007 against Donald Rumsfeld for acts of torture. The groups include the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and the French League for Human Rights (LDH).
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CCR Argues Appeal of Case Charging Former Israeli General with War Crimes in Attack on United Nations Compound

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:01:38 -0500
December 10, 2007, Washington, DC – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued the appeal of CCR’s class-action civil case charging a former Israeli official with war crimes and extrajudicial killing for his role in the Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF’s) shelling of a UN compound in Lebanon. The bombardment killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians – about half of them children – who had taken shelter there. Representatives from the Lebanese and the Israeli embassies were present in the court, and the judges appeared to recognize the importance of the case, say
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CCR Attorneys Release Revelations of Torture of Former Ghost Detainee Majid Khan

Esther Wang — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 15:30:50 -0500

Last week, a motion that Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys filed in the case of former ghost detainee Majid Khan was made public. The heavily redacted motion, which was filed in order to preserve evidence of Majid's torture, contains new revelations of his treatment while interrogated at a CIA black site. The motion was filed before it was revealed that the CIA had destroyed interrogation tapes.
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European Parliament Passes Resolution which Calls on EU to Resettle Guantanamo Detainees who Fear Torture

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 15:34:50 -0500

December 12, 2007, New York, NY – Today, the European Parliament adopted an amendment that calls for the resettlement in European countries of Guantánamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries for fear of torture. The resolution calls for the European Commission and the Council of Europe to “launch an initiative at the European and international level for the resettlement of Guantánamo prisoners from third states that cannot be returned to their countries of origin because they risk being persecuted or tortured.”

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Court Orders Government Not to Destroy Torture Evidence

Esther Wang — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 16:27:59 -0500
December 12, 2007, Washington, DC – A federal appeals court has issued an interim order requiring the government to take “all measures necessary to preserve” evidence relating to Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan, including evidence of his torture by the CIA. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the order, by its own initiative, in connection with a motion filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights asking for an order requiring the government to preserve torture evidence.

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The Nation Institute and the Puffin Foundation Award Annual Prize to CCR President Michael Ratner

Owen Henkel — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 12:28:41 -0500

December 10, 2007, New York, NY - Attorney, author and Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner is the recipient of the 2007 Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.
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House Votes to Outlaw Waterboarding

Esther Wang — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 09:16:53 -0500
December 13, 2007, New York – The House of Representatives this evening voted to outlaw waterboarding and other forms of torture not permitted in the Army Field Manual (AFM). The latest version of the AFM was released on the same day that the government brought Majid Khan, who is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights, and others to Guantánamo from years of secret CIA detention on September 6, 2006. At the time, Lt.
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Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Strikes Down Portion of Material Support Law

Owen Henkel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 13:29:51 -0500

December 10, 2007 - On Monday, December 10, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling in a Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) case that struck down portions of the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) and a set of amendments from 2004 that prohibit providing "material support" to organizations on the State Department's list of "terrorist" organizations.
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Redacted Motion to Declare Interrogation Methods Used on Majid Khan Are Torture Cleared By CIA

Owen Henkel — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 15:15:27 -0500
New York – Just days after a federal appeals court issued an interim order requiring the government to preserve evidence of Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan’s torture by the CIA, a second motion filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) was declassified in redacted form today. The new motion asks the Court of Appeals to declare that the interrogation methods applied against the 27-year-old former Baltimore resident by U.S. personnel “constitute torture and other forms of impermissible coercion.”

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More Than 250 Torture Victims Come Forward to Sue CACI for Participating in Conspiracy to Torture

Esther Wang — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:52:01 -0500
December 18, 2007, Washington D.C. – Hundreds of innocent torture victims came forward and filed a complaint in Washington federal court last night against CACI, the private military contractor involved torturing and abusing prisoners at Abu Ghraib and other prisons in Iraq.

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Military Commission Issues Key Ruling in Support of Detainee Rights and Geneva Conventions in Hamdan Case

Esther Wang — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:26:02 -0500
New York, NY – Today, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) attorneys hailed the decision of Guantánamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan’s military commission as a significant development in the battle for fair hearings and humane treatment for the men held by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay.

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Blackwater Accused of Another Civilian Killing in New Lawsuit, According to Legal Team for Family of Slain Baghdad Man

Esther Wang — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:52:20 -0500
December 19, 2007, Washington, D.C. - The estate of an Iraqi man who was killed when Blackwater personnel opened fire on innocent bystanders in and around Al Watahba Square in Baghdad on Sept. 9 sued the private military contractor in Washington federal court today.

The family of Ali Hussamaldeen Albazzaz, who was the father of a newborn daughter, filed new claims against Blackwater and affiliated companies, according to their U.S.-based legal team.

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CCR President Michael Ratner Speaks to TruthOut About Guantanamo, CIA Tape Destruction

Esther Wang — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:01:04 -0500

Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner - and the winner of this year's Puffin/Nation Prize - was recently interviewed by truthout on Guantanamo as well as the CIA's destruction of tapes that document torture. Visit truthout.org to watch the interview and read the accompanying article below.
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Santa Claus Delivers 37,000+ Copies of Constitution to President Bush

Owen Henkel — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:21:16 -0500

December 20, 2007, Washington, DC – This morning, Santa Claus (in the person of noted constitutional lawyer Bill Goodman) drove his sleigh to the White House to deliver thousands of copies of the U.S. Constitution to President Bush.

Americans from all over the country – more than 37,000 of them – asked that a copy of the Constitution be delivered to the President in their name and cordially requested that he make time in his busy schedule to read it.

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Haitian Human Rights Abuser Emmanuel "Toto" Constant Will Face Trial in Mortgage Fraud Case

Esther Wang — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 14:41:20 -0500
January 9, 2008, New York, NY – Today, Haitian former paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant rejected a plea bargain that would have given him a prison sentence of three to nine years in a mortgage fraud case, electing instead to go to trial. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which in 2006 won a landmark judgment in a civil case charging Constant with human rights abuses including massacres, gang-rapes, and other torture while leader of the paramilitary group FRAPH in Haiti, is pleased that Constant will finally go before a jury for some of his crimes.
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Judges Dismiss Suit Seeking Damages for Guantanamo Torture

Esther Wang — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 13:30:48 -0500

January 11, 2008 – On the sixth anniversary of the imprisonment of detainees at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit today dismissed an action brought by four former British detainees against Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers for ordering torture and religious abuse. The British detainees – Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith – spent more than two years in Guantánamo and were repatriated to the U.K. in 2004.

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Government Declassifies Majid Khan Torture Motion

Esther Wang — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 14:05:51 -0500
On Friday, January 18, the government made public a motion filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of Majid Khan, a former CIA ghost detainee now held at Guantanamo. The motion and its attached exhibits were heavily redacted by the CIA.

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CCR Charges NYPD With Racial Profiling in Federal Lawsuit

Esther Wang — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:40:31 -0500
New York, NY, January 31, 2008 – Today, in federal court in Manhattan, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) is filing a companion case to its ground breaking racial profiling case, Daniels et al. v. The City of New York, et al., which led to a settlement agreement in 2003 that required the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to provide CCR with data on all of the stop and frisks conducted from the last quarter of 2003 through the first quarter of 2007.
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CCR challenges validity of military commissions and use of torture evidence in new death penalty cases

Owen Henkel — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 12:11:59 -0500
February 11, 2008, New York – Military commission charges were handed down that seek the death penalty against Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) client Mohammed al Qahtani. CCR issued the follow statement:

For the past six years, the United States government has refused to conduct traditional criminal trials or courts martial against Guantanamo detainees suspected of wrongdoing.

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CCR Challenges Racial Profiling of Muslim, Arab, South Asian Men in Post-9/11 Immigrant Detention Case at Court of Appeals

Esther Wang — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 16:11:11 -0500
February 14, 2008, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) challenged the post-9/11 racial profiling, illegal detention and abuse of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Attorneys called again for high-ranking officials to be held accountable for the round-ups and subsequent abuse that occurred while plaintiffs were detained, and argued that the men were deprived of their constitutional rights.

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Center for Constitutional Rights Calls for End of Cuba Travel Embargo Post-Castro

Esther Wang — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:03:24 -0500
February 19, 2008, New York, NY – With the stepping down of Fidel Castro, the United States must end its extreme sanctions on Cuba in favor of open dialogue that allows for the exchange of ideas, said attorneys for the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). The United States has maintained harsh restrictions on travel to Cuba for roughly a quarter century, most recently in the form of an embargo on any sort of financial transaction with Cuban nationals (making travel to the island effectively impossible).

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Guantánamo Attorneys Say Detainees Will Not Be Tortured If Returned to Yemen

Esther Wang — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:57:01 -0400
March 12, 2008, New York, NY – Today, more than 30 attorneys from the United States who represent Yemeni men held at Guantánamo issued a statement saying they do not believe the detainees would be tortured if returned to Yemen, and called for all of the Yemeni detainees to be released and repatriated.

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CCR Attorney Gives Unprecedented Classified Briefing to Senate Intelligence Committee on Details of CIA Torture Program

Esther Wang — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:17:52 -0400

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Rep. Delahunt Holds Field Briefing in Boston on Guantánamo’s Refugees

Esther Wang — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:29:05 -0400
March 26, 2008, Boston, MA – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and other Guantánamo attorneys testified during a Congressional field briefing on Guantánamo’s refugees for the House Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight. Dozens of men at Guantánamo cannot return to their native countries for fear of torture, and CCR called on the U.S. government to do more to find safe havens for all of them.

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CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren Speaks at the United Nations on the Global Struggle Against Racism

Esther Wang — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:13:17 -0400

On Wednesday, March 26, 2008, CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren spoke at the United Nations as part of its panel discussion "What Would Martin Say? Human Rights and the Global Struggle against Racism Forty Years after the Death of Martin Luther King Jr."

The panel was part of the UN's new Human Rights Dialogue Series, which is a 12-part monthly series of discussions at the UN Headquarters, leading up to the celebration on December 10, 2008 of the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
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CCR Denounces Use of Flawed Secretive Guantanamo Commissions to Try Suspect

Owen Henkel — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:10:56 -0400
March 31, 2008, New York – The U.S. government referred capital military commission charges today against Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian man who was transferred to Guantánamo from secret CIA detention in September 2006. Mr. Ghailani was in the CIA interrogation program for over two years and is accused of playing a role in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A Manhattan Federal court indicted him 10 years ago.
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CCR Director's Statement on Defense Counsel for Guantánamo Military Commissions

Esther Wang — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:51:46 -0400

April 4, 2008, New York – Today, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

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Highest-level Bush Administration Officials Approved, Discussed U.S. Post-9/11 Torture Program

Esther Wang — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:28:05 -0400

April 10, 2008, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement on the accountability of top Bush administration officials for the U.S. government’s torture program post-9/11:

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ON 12TH ANNIVERSARY OF IDF SHELLING U.N. COMPOUND CCR CALLS ON ISRAEL TO COMPENSATE QANA SURVIVORS

jnessel — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:16:19 -0400
April 18, 2008, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), commemorates the 12th anniversary of the 1996 shelling by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of the UN compound in Qana, Lebanon and calls for justice and for Israel to compensate the survivors. The bombardment killed more than 100 Lebanese civilians who had taken shelter there – about half of them children – and seriously injured even more.

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CIA Acknowledges It Has More than 7,000 Documents Relating to Secret Detention Program, Rendition, and Torture

Esther Wang — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:44:45 -0400
April 23, 2008, New York and Washington, DC — The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must stop stonewalling congressional oversight committees and release vital documents related to the program of secret detentions, renditions, and torture, three prominent human rights groups said today.
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CCR Condemns Full Acquittal of Police Officers Who Killed Sean Bell

jnessel — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:55:04 -0400
April 25, 2008, New York, NY – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which brought the historic NYPD racial profiling case Daniels v. City of New York in 1999 in the wake of the Amadou Diallo killing, issued the following statement in response to the full acquittal of the three NYPD police officers who killed Sean Bell and seriously injured his two friends on November 25, 2006:

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CCR Demands Release of Inspector General Report on Maher Arar

Esther Wang — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 14:23:35 -0400
April 28, 2008, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) sent a formal letter to the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in response to the single page Unclassified Summary of the OIG’s report released on the case of Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen and rendition victim sent by the United States to be tortured in Syria more than five years ago.
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CCR Files New Abu Ghraib Torture Claims Against Military Contractors

jnessel — Mon, 05 May 2008 18:12:17 -0400
Los Angeles, California, May 5, 2008 – New torture claims have been leveled at two U.S. military contractors by a former Abu Ghraib “ghost” detainee who was wrongly imprisoned and later released without charge, according to a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles federal court by his U.S. legal team.

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Notorious Haitian Human Rights Abuser to Stand Trial for Mortgage Fraud in New York

Esther Wang — Tue, 06 May 2008 13:26:57 -0400
Brooklyn, NY, May 6, 2008 - Today, The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the International Support Haiti Network (ISHN) joined members of the New York City Council and representatives of Haitian human rights groups, Dwa Fanm, International Action Network and Lavalas Family rallied outside of New York’s Supreme Court on the first day of Haitian former paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant’s trial for grand larceny and mortgage fraud. They are calling for Constant to be held accountable for crimes both here and in Haiti.

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Guantanamo Attorneys to Congress: Resettle Imprisoned Refugees

Lindsey Kaley — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:26:19 -0400
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a first-of-its-kind hearing, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) attorney Emi MacLean and other Guantanamo attorneys today told Representatives on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight about the imperative of resettling refugees currently imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

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Guantánamo Attorneys to Congress: Resettle Imprisoned Refugees

Esther Wang — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:27:45 -0400
May 6, 2008, Washington, D.C. — In a first-of-its-kind hearing, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) attorney Emi MacLean and other Guantánamo attorneys today told Representatives on the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight about the imperative of resettling refugees currently imprisoned at the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

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CCR and Guantánamo Habeas Attorneys Believe Government Is Illegally Spying on Them Without a Warrant

jnessel — Wed, 07 May 2008 11:52:46 -0400

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New Case Charges NYPD With Illegal Stop-and-Frisks

jnessel — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:01:13 -0400
May 7, 2008, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) supports the New York Civil Liberties Union’s decision to join in the fight to end racial profiling and illegal stop-and-frisk practices by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) with the filing of their new federal stop and frisk lawsuit, Blair v. City of New York, et al.

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New Abu Ghraib Torture Claims Filed Against Military Contractors

jnessel — Wed, 07 May 2008 13:25:04 -0400
Los Angeles, California, May 5, 2008 – New torture claims have been leveled at two U.S. military contractors by a former Abu Ghraib “ghost” detainee who was wrongly imprisoned and later released without charge, according to a lawsuit filed today in Los Angeles federal court by his U.S. legal team.

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Mohammed Al Qahtani's Military Commission Charges Dismissed

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:39:11 -0400
May 13, 2008, New York – Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys learned last night that Military Commission charges against their client, Mohammed al Qahtani, were dropped. He had originally been charged as one of six in a 9/11 conspiracy where the government was seeking the death penalty.

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CCR Files Amicus in Lawsuit Challenging Bush Administration’s Family Visit Travel Restrictions to Cuba

Esther Wang — Fri, 16 May 2008 17:51:38 -0400
May 16, 2008, MIAMI and MONTPELIER, Vt. - The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), along with American Civil Liberties Union affiliates in Florida, Vermont and Massachusetts, today filed a joint friend-of-the-court brief in Vilaseca v. U.S. Department of Treasury, a federal lawsuit in Vermont challenging severe restrictions imposed by the Bush administration on travel to visit close family members in Cuba.

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Sweeping New Federal DNA Database Must Have DOJ Hearings First, Say CCR Attorneys

Esther Wang — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:14:41 -0400
May 19, 2008, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) requested hearings on a new federal database that would require the collection of millions of new DNA samples and keep them on file permanently. CCR also submitted extensive public comment to the Department of Justice opposing the database today, which is the last day for public comment.
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CCR Subpoenas RAND Corporation for NYPD Stop-and-Frisk Data in Racial Profiling Lawsuit

Esther Wang — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:08:07 -0400
May 19, 2008, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) served a subpoena on the RAND Corporation as part of CCR’s racial profiling lawsuit against the New York City Police Department (NYPD), Floyd, et al. v. City of New York, et al. Last year, the NYPD provided RAND with the stop-and-frisk data (known as form UF-250 data) but has refused to make the same data publicly available. The NYPD Foundation paid the RAND Corporation to write a report which, unsurprisingly, found that the NYPD was not guilty of racial profiling in its stop-and-frisks.
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Newly Declassified Notes Reveal Guantanamo Detainee Mohammed al Qahtani Suicidal After Military Commission Capital Charges

jnessel — Tue, 20 May 2008 11:07:25 -0400
May 20, 2008, New York – Newly declassified notes from Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) attorney Gitanjali Gutierrez’s meetings with her client, Mohammed al Qahtani, earlier this month reveal that he attempted suicide in early April after he learned death penalty charges were referred against him by the government to the Military Commissions at Guantanamo.   Mr. al Qahtani cut himself a series of times with escalating severity. His third cut resulted in a deep wound, profuse bleeding and hospitalization.

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Congressional Hearing Calls for Urgent Solution for Refugees Imprisoned at Guantánamo

jnessel — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:27:28 -0400

May 20, 2008, WASHINGTON, D.C. — Guantanamo attorneys, experts, and – for the first time - a former detainee today testified to Congress to call for a solution for the approximately 50 refugees still imprisoned at Guantánamo and unable to be safely repatriated to their home countries. Witnesses testified to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight about the mistakes of Guantanamo.
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Open Letter Submitted to French Minister of Justice in Rumsfeld Torture Case

jnessel — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:48:06 -0400

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U.N. Special Rapporteur on Racism Brings Fact-Finding Mission to NYC, Meets with CCR Representatives

Esther Wang — Fri, 23 May 2008 15:35:27 -0400

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Report: U.S. Government Allows Security Forces from Brutal Human Rights Abusing Regimes to Threaten Prisoners at Guantánamo

Esther Wang — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 14:33:38 -0400
June 3, 2008, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released two reports on the conditions and treatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay. One report highlights numerous instances of threats and abuse of prisoners at Guantánamo by interrogators from brutal human rights abusing regimes who are given full access by the U.S. The second report demonstrates the deteriorating mental health of the overwhelming majority of Guantánamo prisoners relegated to solitary confinement at the prison.

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Government Brief Says Confirming Whether Guantánamo Lawyers are Illegally Spied Upon is National Security Threat

Lindsey Kaley — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:28:59 -0400

June 5, 2008, New York – Late yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) received the government's reply brief in their case demanding that the government comply with requests to turn over all records related to the NSA's warrantless wiretapping of attorneys who represent detainees at Guantánamo. The brief states that confirming or denying the illegal wiretapping would have "exceptionally grave consequences for the national security of the United States."

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Statement by Vincent Warren on CCR Client Mohammed al Qahtani and the Military Commission Processes

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:08:24 -0400
June 5, 2008, New York—“Today’s sham proceedings further illustrate the absurd nature of the process this White House has established at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. government admits it only intends to try a very small number of Guantánamo prisoners. All the Europeans have been returned home, and virtually all to freedom; those from other countries remain. Only a single person has been convicted at Guantanamo: his plea agreement was negotiated by politicians – and he is now free at home.
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CCR Files Damages Claims on Behalf of Families of Men Who Died at Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:34:02 -0400

New York, NY – Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys today filed two tort claims against the Department of Defense on the second anniversary of the deaths of three Guantanamo prisoners.

Today’s filings seek damages on behalf of two of the families that suffered emotional distress after the death of their sons at the prison.
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CCR Demands Fair Trials for Former Guantanamo and Bagram Detainees in U.S. Built Afghan Facility

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:01:03 -0400
Paris, New York, June 12, 2008 – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today submitted a letter on the plight of former Guantánamo and Bagram prisoners in Afghanistan to foreign government dignitaries attending an international conference on Afghanistan. Many of these prisoners face continuing detention and flawed criminal prosecutions, an issue human rights attorneys say is in need of international attention. The conference brings together delegations from 67 countries and is co-chaired by Afghanistan, the United Nations and France.

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CCR Files Damages Claims on Behalf of Families of Men Who Died at Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:57:34 -0400
New York, NY – Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys today filed two tort claims against the Department of Defense on the second anniversary of the deaths of three Guantanamo prisoners.

Today’s filings seek damages on behalf of two of the families that suffered emotional distress after the death of their sons at the prison.

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LANDMARK WIN FOR GUANTANAMO DETAINEES!

jnessel — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:08:44 -0400

Washington, DC — In one of the most important human rights cases of the decade, the Supreme Court of the United States held today, in a 5-4 decision, that the men imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay have the constitutional right to habeas corpus.

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Judge Rules Government Can Keep Secret Whether It Spied on Guantánamo Attorneys

jnessel — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 13:29:55 -0400

June 26, 2008, New York – Late yesterday, a federal court judge ruled that the government did not have to disclose whether it was illegally spying on Guantanamo attorneys’ conversations. The judge ruled that the National Security Agency (NSA) could not be forced to reveal information about its domestic spying program because, “confirming or denying whether plaintiffs' communication with their clients has been intercepted would reveal information about the NSA's capabilities and activities.”

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Rights Groups Challenge CIA for Failure to Release Documents Relating to Secret Detention, Rendition, and Torture Program

Lindsey Kaley — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:03:54 -0400
June 26, 2008, New York and Washington, DC—The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must no longer be allowed to use classification arguments in its attempts to prevent the disclosure of illegal or embarrassing conduct in its secret detention, torture, and rendition programs, three prominent human rights groups said today. The statement came just hours after they collectively filed a motion to require the CIA to make certain information public and to provide more details about all the documents withheld.

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Attorneys File First New Habeas Petitions Following Historic Supreme Court Ruling Protecting Guantánamo Detainees

Lindsey Kaley — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:20:19 -0400
June 26, 2008, New York—Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed one of the first new habeas corpus petitions since the Supreme Court ruled on June 12 that the men at Guantánamo have the constitutional right to habeas corpus. The petition was filed on behalf of detainee Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, a UN mandate refugee from Somalia protected by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

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CCR Files Four New Abu Ghraib Torture Lawsuits Targeting Military Contractors in U.S. Courts

jnessel — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:33:54 -0400
New York, June 30, 2008 – Four former Abu Ghraib detainees who were wrongly imprisoned, tortured and later released without charge are suing two U.S. military contractor corporations and three individual contractors, according to four separate lawsuits being filed today by their U.S. legal team.

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No Justice for Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:52:44 -0400
June 30, 2008, New York – Today, the majority in a federal Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 against Center for Constitutional Rights client Maher Arar’s case against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and interrogated for a year under the extraordinary rendition program.

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CCR Supports Congressional Call for Special Counsel in Maher Arar Rendition Case

Lindsey Kaley — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:41:56 -0400

July 10, 2008, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement in response to a letter sent from members of Congress requesting Attorney General Michael Mukasey to criminally investigate federal officials involved in the rendition of Canadian Citizen Maher Arar.

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Ex-Guantánamo Detainees Effectively Disappeared After Transfer To Algeria Nearly Two Weeks Ago

Lindsey Kaley — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:45:13 -0400
On July 2, 2008, the U.S. government transferred two Algerians from Guantánamo to the custody of the Algerian government. These were the first Algerians transferred from Guantánamo to Algeria, and the men have effectively disappeared for the approximately twelve days subsequent to their transfer.

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CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren Denounces Mukasey Scheme to Have Congress Delay Habeas Hearings

Alison Roh Park — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:20:53 -0400
July 21, 2008, New York – In response to leaked portions of Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s speech to be delivered this morning, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

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CCR Looks Forward to Hague Vindication for All

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:05:36 -0400
July 22, 2008, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today welcomed the arrest of notorious war criminal and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić. CCR and co-counsel brought a federal lawsuit in 1993 on behalf of Bosnian Muslim and Croat women and men who were the victims of his genocidal campaign of murder, rape and other forms of torture: in 2000 the court handed down a judgment against Karadžić of $4.5 billion in compensatory and punitive damages that is still outstanding.

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Mukasey Acknowledges Information From Syria Cannot Be Trusted

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:49:47 -0400
July 23, 2008, New York – Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Senior Attorney Maria LaHood, who represents Maher Arar in the U.S., issued the following statement in response to Attorney General Michael Mukasey’s Comments before Congress today:

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Notorious Haitian Death Squad Leader “Toto” Constant Found Guilty of Grand Larceny and Mortgage Fraud

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 13:38:04 -0400

July 25, 2008, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today welcomed the conviction of the former Haitian paramilitary leader Emmanuel “Toto” Constant, who was found guilty for all counts on grand larceny and mortgage fraud in New York’s Supreme Court in Brooklyn.

According to the U.S. State Department’s own reports, as the leader of the paramilitary group, Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH), Constant was responsible for murder and rape and other torture of thousands of Haitians in the early 1990’s.

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$19 Million Judgment Upheld Against Notorious Haitian Death Squad Leader “Toto” Constant for Murder, Rape and Other Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:17:38 -0400
July 31, 2008, New York – Late yesterday, a U.S. federal court rejected attempts by former Haitian death squad leader Emanuel “Toto” Constant to have a 2004 case against him dismissed and the $19 million judgment for victims of his brutal regime of murder, rape and other torture revoked. Last week, Constant, who had been living in Queens, NY, was found guilty of mortgage fraud and awaits sentencing.

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CCR Statement on Hamdan Decision

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:38:48 -0400
August 5, 2008, New York – In response to the hand-picked military jury’s decision in the Military Commission against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, Shayana Kadidal, Senior Managing Attorney of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Guantánamo Global Justice Initiative, issued the following statement:

“Hamdan’s trial violated two of the most fundamental criminal justice principles accepted by all developed nations: the prohibition on the use of coerced evidence and the prohibition on retroactive criminal laws.

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CCR Executive Director Vincent Warren Denounces Medellin Execution and U.S. Flouting of International Law

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 13:59:03 -0400
August 6, 2008, New York – In response to the execution in Texas today of Mexican citizen Jose Medellin, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

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Guantanamo Detainee Files First Petition Against U.S. Before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:32:16 -0400

August 6, 2008, Washington D.C. – Today, Djamel Ameziane filed the first ever petition by a person detained by the United States at Guantánamo Bay with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to consider the torture, abuse, and other human rights violations perpetrated against him during his six-year history of near-incommunicado detention there. Among other abuses, Mr. Ameziane was subjected to a form of waterboarding.
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In Extremely Rare Occurence Court Moves to Rehear Case of Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:28:50 -0400

August 14, 2008, New York – The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an extremely rare order that the case of Canadian rendition victim Maher Arar would be heard en banc by all of the active judges on the Second Circuit on December 9, 2008. For the court to issue the order sua sponte, that is, of its own accord without either party submitting papers requesting a rehearing, is even more rare.
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Antiwar Activists Win $2 Million Settlement from New York City in Major Victory for Free Speech Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 12:32:15 -0400

August 19, 2008, New York, NY – A group of 52 local activists today announced a $2 million settlement in their lawsuit against the City of New York. The activists were illegally arrested on April 7, 2003 while protesting against the Iraq war in front of a military contractor's offices in midtown. The settlement in Kunstler et al v. New York City follows the dismissal in 2003 of all criminal charges brought against these individuals and four costly years of delays by the City in negotiating an end to the civil lawsuit.

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Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Moves to Halt Torture at Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:53:45 -0400
August 21, 2008, New York – Late yesterday afternoon, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued urgent precautionary measures to protect Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian citizen held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay for more than six years. Mr.
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Government Conclusions on Guantanamo Deaths Do Not Absolve Government of Responsibility

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 13:18:30 -0400
New York, NY – Late last week, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) released more than 3,000 pages of documents concerning its investigation into the deaths of three detainees at Guantanamo Bay on June 10, 2006. The NCIS report concludes that the detainees – Saudis Yasser al-Zahrani and Mani al-Utaybi, and Yemeni Ali Abdullah Ahmed Naser al-Sulami – died as the result of suicide. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) just obtained a full copy of the report and will be working in the coming days to present an analysis of the government’s findings.

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CCR and Co-Counsel File Petition for Certiorari to U.S. Supreme Court to Appeal D.C. Circuit Decision in Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:18:11 -0400

August 28, 2008, New York – On August 22, 2008, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Baach Robinson & Lewis, filed a petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf the plaintiffs in Rasul v. Rumsfeld, seeking the high court’s review of the D.C. Circuit decision.
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Legality of Prison Telephone Rates Argued in Court

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 10:16:49 -0400

Albany, NY, September 8, 2008 – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) challenges the constitutionality of the unlawful tax levied on families who received collect calls at exorbitant rates from their loved ones in New York State prison. CCR is seeking refunds for the men and women who were the victims of 10 years of a kickback contract that gave New York State 57.5 percent of the phone company’s profits.

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Court Compels NYPD to Release 10 Years of Stop and Frisk Data to CCR for Racial Profiling Class Action

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:36:28 -0400
New York, September 11, 2008 – This week, the United States District Court in Manhattan ordered the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to provide the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) with all stop-and-frisk data from 1998 through the present. The data will no longer be covered by a protective order as it was in an earlier suit, which means that CCR will be able to make it public along with an analysis.

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CCR Argues in Opening Brief That U.S. Officials Must Be Held Accountable for Conspiring to Torture Maher Arar

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:27:18 -0400
September 23, 2008, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed an opening brief for rehearing en banc with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals on behalf of Canadian rendition survivor Maher Arar. The filing follows the Court’s extremely rare order last month that the case will be heard en banc by 12-13 judges on the Second Circuit on December 9, 2008. The Court acted sua sponte, that is, of its own accord without either party requesting a rehearing.

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Media Advisory: Details of Release of 10 Years of NYPD Data to CCR to be Revealed in Court Conference

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 20:18:34 -0400

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Guantánamo Detainees To Be Heard Before Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 12:25:33 -0400

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Court Orders Release of 17 Innocent Guantanamo Detainees into U.S.

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:14:21 -0400
October 7, 2008, New York – Today, for the first time, a federal court ordered the release into the United States of 17 innocent Uighur men who have been imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay for nearly seven years. The men are refugees who would face persecution and imprisonment, if not death, if returned to their native China.

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Royal Dutch Shell to Go to Trial for Complicity in Torture and Murder of Nigerian Protesters

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 10:30:28 -0400
New York, October 8, 2008 — Yesterday, Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York set a trial date of February 9, 2009 for a human rights and racketeering case against the Royal Dutch Shell company (Shell) and the head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson. The case was first filed in 1996. The judge rejected Shell’s attempt to file additional legal motions to postpone a trial date.

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17 Innocent Guantanamo Detainees Remain Imprisoned as Bush Administration Continues Stall Tactics

Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:53:51 -0400
October 8, 2008, Washington – The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals has granted the U.S. government’s request for an administrative stay of District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina’s order that 17 innocent Uighur men be released from Guantánamo into the United States. Judge Urbina had ordered the release on Tuesday, and the men were due to arrive in Judge Urbina’s courtroom on Friday. Plans had already been made for their arrival.

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Canada Urged to Offer Refugee Resettlement to Detainee at Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:02:27 -0400

22 October 2008, Montreal – Human rights groups today urged Canada to offer refugee resettlement without delay to Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian who has been unlawfully detained for more than six years at Guantanamo and who has strong ties to Canada. The Anglican Diocese of Montreal has applied to resettle Mr. Ameziane through the Private Sponsorship of Refugees Program.
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International Human Rights Tribunal Hears Guantánamo Detainees’ Claims

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:18:38 -0400

October 28, 2008, Washington, DC – Today, an international human rights tribunal met to review the U.S. government's treatment of detainees at Guantanamo. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) convened the hearing to assess the United States’ compliance with urgent measures of protection issued for Djamel Ameziane, an Algerian refugee detained without charge at Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years, and for all Guantanamo detainees.

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Haitian Death Squad Leader Toto Constant Sentenced to 12-37 Years in New York State Prison for Mortgage Fraud

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 21:27:39 -0400

October 29, 2008, New York – Yesterday, Judge Abraham Gerges handed down a stiff sentence for Haitian former death squad leader Emanuel “Toto” Constant who was found guilty on all counts of grand larceny and mortgage fraud this summer. Constant is to serve 12.3 to 37 years for his crimes against the people of New York. Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Senior Attorney Jennie Green issued the following statement in response:

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Muslim, Arab, South Asian Men Rounded Up Post-9/11 Based on Racial, Religious Profiling With Knowledge of Ashcroft, Others

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:22:16 -0400
October 31, 2008, New York – Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men were targeted solely based on race, country of origin, and religion in post-9/11 immigration sweeps with the knowledge of former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, according to a brief filed today with the Supreme Court by plaintiffs in Turkmen v. Ashcroft, Center for Constitutional Rights’s (CCR) class action challenge.
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Human Rights Groups Call on European Governments to Offer Humanitarian Protection to Guantánamo Detainees

Alison Roh Park — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:08:13 -0500

Berlin, November 10, 2008 -- Five leading human rights groups today call on European governments to provide humanitarian protection to Guantánamo detainees who will not be charged with any crime but cannot be returned to their countries of origin for fear of torture or other serious human rights violations. European governments should agree to accept them into their countries and ensure they are provided with adequate support.
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UC Berkeley Report Details Shattered Lives of Released Guantánamo Detainees

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:19:03 -0500

Washington, D.C. — Detainees released from U.S. detention in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba and Afghanistan live shattered lives as a result of U.S. policies in the “war on terror,” according to a new report by human rights experts at the University of California, Berkeley done in partnership with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). The report is available below.
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BREAKING NEWS: Five Guantánamo Prisoners Ordered Released

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 12:58:52 -0500

Washington, D.C. – Following Judge Richard J. Leon’s decision today in U.S. District Court ordering the release of five of the six Boumediene habeas defendants, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren released the following statement:

This decision illustrates once again that the arbitrary detention of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay has been and continues to be unlawful.
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Government Contests Order to Release Innocent Uighurs from Guantánamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 15:52:50 -0500
Washington, D.C. – A panel of judges in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments in the government’s appeal of District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina’s order issued six weeks ago that 17 innocent Uighur men be released from Guantánamo Bay into the United States in Washington Monday.

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Chevron Found Not Liable For Killings, Shootings and Torture of Nigerian Peaceful Protesters

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 19:15:45 -0500

San Francisco, CA -- Almost ten years after the events, and after four weeks of trial, a jury in federal court in San Francisco today found Chevron not liable for the shootings, killings and torture of unarmed, peaceful protesters on a Chevron oil platform off the Niger Delta in 1998. While disappointed with the ruling, the plaintiffs have announced they will appeal the decision to the 9th Circuit.

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Rights Groups Launch Campaign to End Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:12:02 -0500

December 8, 2008, New York – This week, the Coalition to Abolish the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act launched a campaign to repeal the Animal Enterprise Terrorist Act (AETA), a law that broadens the scope of activities by animal rights, environmental, and labor groups that can be prosecuted as acts of terrorism. The Coalition also unveiled a new website with resources, actions, and ways to join. Visit the Coalition's website.
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CCR Argues Case of Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar Against Ashcroft, Thompson, Mueller, et al.

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 16:02:54 -0500

December 9, 2008, New York – Today the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) argued that high-level government officials must be held accountable for sending Canadian rendition victim Maher Arar to torture in Syria. The hearing was held before twelve Second Circuit judges after their extremely rare decision to rehear the case sua sponte, that is, of their own accord without a request by either party, in August of this year.

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CCR Statement on Ashcroft v. Iqbal: Supreme Court Must Hold High-Level Officials Accountable for Post-9/11 Sweeps

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:14:57 -0500

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CCR Applauds Portuguese Leadership in Offering to Accept Guantánamo Detainees Who Fear Torture or Persecution

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 10:46:56 -0500
December 11, 2008, New York – Today, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said that Portugal is willing to accept Guantanamo detainees who cannot return to their home countries, and urged other European Union countries to follow suit. Portugal is the first country to offer to accept at-risk Guantánamo detainees since Albania accepted eight men from Guantánamo as refugees in 2006.

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CCR Statement on Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Abuse of Detainees in U.S. Custody

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 15:19:20 -0500
December 11, 2008, New York – In response to the release today by the Senate Armed Services Committee of a bi-partisan report almost two years in the making on the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) President Michael Ratner, author with CCR of The Trial of Donald Rumsfeld (The New Press, 2008), issued the following statement:

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CCR Appeals Ruling That Government Can Keep Secret Whether It Spied on Guantánamo Attorneys

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 17:15:52 -0500

December 12, 2008, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) appealed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals the decision of a federal court judge who ruled that the government did not have to disclose whether it was illegally spying on Guantanamo attorneys’ conversations.
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Supreme Court Sends Guantanamo Torture Case Back to Lower Court

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:25:02 -0500
December 15, 2008, Washington, D.C. – In Rasul v. Myers, the first case to challenge torture and violations of religious freedom at Guantánamo, the U.S. Supreme Court today granted certiorari, vacated the underlying opinion and remanded the case for reconsideration in light of its opinion in Boumediene v. Bush, which earlier this year recognized the constitutional right of Guantanamo detainees to challenge detention through habeas corpus.

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First Guantanamo Detainees Released Due to Court Order Land Safely in Sarajevo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:19:59 -0500
December 16, 2008, New York – In response to the safe return home from Guantanamo of three of the men who were at the center of this year’s Supreme Court case ruling in favor of the detainees at Guantánamo, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

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CCR Joint Statement on Senate Armed Services Committee Report on Abuse of Detainees in U.S. Custody

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:29:18 -0500

December 12, 2008, New York – This week, the Senate Armed Services Committee released a bi-partisan report almost two years in the making on the abuse of detainees in U.S. custody, proving, beyond dispute, that Donald Rumsfeld was directly responsible for abusive interrogation techniques used abroad.
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Rights Groups Demand CIA Turn Over 49 Cables Relating to Use of Waterboarding

jnessel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:49:58 -0500
December 23, 2008, New York and Washington, DC — The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) must turn over information regarding 49 cables it has admitted it has in its possession related to the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, said three prominent human rights groups today.
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CCR Statement on the Selection of Rev. Rick Warren to Lead the Convocation at the Presidential Inauguration

jnessel — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 12:22:19 -0500
December 23, 2008 – The Center for Constitutional Rights is outraged at President Obama’s choice of the right wing Rev. Rick Warren to lead the convocation at his inauguration. This is “change” we can neither believe in nor support. Many of us have been looking forward to this inauguration as we have no other in the past, with great hope that the new administration will restore our Constitution and its place in a nation of laws. We understand, too, that the new president is working to reach across the aisle and make people of different beliefs welcome at his table.
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Court Rejects Government's Attempt to Stall Cases of Detainees Cleared to Be Released From Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:15:19 -0500
January 2, 2009, New York, NY - On December 17, 2008, the government attempted to halt the cases of approximately 20 detainees the Defense Department had cleared for transfer out of Guantanamo. This afternoon, the court rejected the government's motion to stay the cases of these detainees. The ruling, from Judge Thomas Hogan of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, will allow lawyers for the detainees to go forward with attempting to seek release from detention for these individuals.

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CCR Condemns Israeli Massacre in Gaza and Calls for Just and Lasting Ceasefire

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:04:05 -0500

New York, NY – In response to the ongoing atrocities in Gaza, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:

For over 40 years the Center for Constitutional Rights has made it a point to apply an international law analysis to events at home and abroad. In that spirit, CCR condemns the Israeli war crimes against Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which have killed nearly 700 Gazans since December 27, 2008.
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Court of Appeals Affirms: Material Support Statute, Penalizing Humanitarian Aid, Is Unconstitutional

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 17:34:40 -0500
New York, NY – This week, the full Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit refused to reconsider the ruling of a three-judge panel which held that key provisions of the federal statute that makes it a crime to provide “material support or resources” to any group on a State Department list of designated “foreign terrorist organizations” were unconstitutional.

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CCR Thanks MoveOn.org, Their Members, The Atlantic Philanthropies and The Open Society Institute

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:22:18 -0500
The Center for Constitutional Rights thanks MoveOn.org and its membership for their incredible outpouring of support, and the Atlantic Philanthropies and the Open Society Institute for stepping into the breach to triple gifts made by MoveOn.org members; all of which went to support CCR. Since its founding in 1966 by renowned attorneys who represented civil rights groups in the American South, CCR has taken a creative approach to public-interest lawyering, working in tandem with progressive movements to address the most press
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Attorneys Release Detailed Report, Closing Guantánamo Easy as 1-2-3

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:18:48 -0500

January 12, 2009, New York, NY – Today, attorneys for Guantánamo detainees held a conference call to discuss their report on closing Guantánamo, including the newest and most comprehensive numbers and lists of detainee status by nationality. The three simple steps are: 1) send those who can go home home, 2) secure safe haven for those who cannot, and 3) charge those who can be charged and try them in ordinary federal criminal court.

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Mohammed al Qahtani Attorneys’ Statement on Government Official Torture Admission

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:56:54 -0500
January 14, 2009, New York, NY – Center for Constitutional Rights Attorneys for Guantánamo detainee Mohammed al Qahtani released the following statement in response to news stories today reporting that the head of the military commissions at Guantánamo revealed that she would not charge him because his treatment at the base was torture.
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Major Human Rights Groups Meet in D.C. to Set Human Rights Agenda for Obama’s First 100 Days

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 10:58:51 -0500
January 14, 2009, Washington, D.C. – A summit of major human rights groups met today to set a human rights agenda for advocates and government for the first 100 days of the Obama administration and beyond. The groups came together and issued a joint “Human Rights Call to Action.”

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Newly Released NYPD Data Shows Shocking Disparity in Stop-and-Frisks

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:00:05 -0500
January 15, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released its preliminary analysis of UF-250, or “stop-and-frisk,” data from 2005 to the first half of 2008, the years covering a class action racial profiling lawsuit filed by the Center in early 2008. A ruling last September by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin required the NYPD to make public all stop-and-frisk data from1998 through the present in relation to the case, Floyd v. City of New York. This is the first time this data has been made publicly available.
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CCR Applauds French Leadership in Offering to Consider Accepting Guantánamo Detainees Who Fear Torture or Persecution

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:16:40 -0500

January 15, 2009, New York – This morning, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that France is willing to consider, on a case-by-case basis, accepting Guantanamo detainees who are stateless or who cannot return to their home countries for fear of torture or other abuse.

France now joins Finland, Germany, Ireland, Portugal, and Sweden as countries where government ministers in recent weeks have publicly recognized the need for European assistance to close Guantanamo and accept some men who cannot be returned to their home countries safely.
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Letter to President Elect Obama from Former Guantánamo Detainee

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 14:31:47 -0500
New York, NY – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) has released the following statement at the request of CCR colleague Gareth Peirce, on behalf of former Guantánamo detainee Jarallah S. K. Al-Marri regarding his brother at Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri who remains detained at a naval brig in near Charleston, South Carolina as a so-called enemy combatant:

Dear President Elect Obama:

I write to ask what you are going to do about my brother, and when?

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War Crimes Case for Fatal Gaza Attack Argued in U.S. Court

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 16:01:34 -0500

New York, N.Y. January 16, 2009 – Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard arguments in the human rights case, Matar v. Dichter. The lawsuit charges former Director of the Israel General Security Services Avi Dichter with planning and directing the bombing of a residential apartment building in Gaza City in the Occupied Palestinian Territory at midnight in July 2002, knowing it would result in a significant number of civilian deaths and injuries.
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President Obama Circulates Draft Order to Close Guantánamo

jnessel — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 14:32:49 -0500
January 21, 2009, New York – Center for Constitutional Rights attorneys for Guantánamo detainees responded today to portions of President Obama’s draft executive order to close the offshore prison camp that appeared in the news.

According to accounts, the president will order that Guantánamo “shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order.” In addition, President Obama requested yesterday that the notorious military commissions be halted for 120 days while his administration reviews the cases.

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CCR Praises Obama Orders, Cautions Against Escape Hatch for Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:07:57 -0500

January 22, 2009, New York – In response to President Obama’s signing of new executive orders today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:
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Text of Executive Orders Signed by President Obama on January 22, 2009

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 13:32:18 -0500

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release: January 22, 2009

EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
REVIEW OF DETENTION POLICY OPTIONS
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CCR Executive Director Decries Reported Holder Promise Not to Prosecute for Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:19:50 -0500

January 28, 2009, New York – In response to reports of a possible promise by Attorney General Nominee Eric Holder to senior Republican members of Congress that he would not prosecute Bush Administration officials involved in torture, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:
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Families Demand Justice for Abuse and Deaths of Wrongfully Detained Sons at Guantanamo

jnessel — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 11:33:18 -0500

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Letter About Uighurs to Secretary of Defense Gates and Attorney General-Designate Holder

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 16:28:49 -0500
From: Sabin Willett

January 23, 2009

Eric H. Holder, Jr., Esq., Attorney General-designate
Mark R. Filip, Esq., Acting Attorney General

The Honorable Robert M. Gates
Secretary of Defense

Re: Uighur detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Gentlemen:
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Human Rights Groups Praise EU Resolution to Accept Guantanamo Detainees Who Cannot Return Home for Fear of Persecution, Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:28:40 -0500

February 5, 2009, Strasbourg, New York, Paris, London – Yesterday, the European parliament passed a cross-party resolution by overwhelming majority calling for European Union member states to accept those prisoners at Guantanamo who are in need of humanitarian protection. The vote came after debate Tuesday on the question of whether to offer humanitarian protection for the approximately 60 prisoners who remain in Guantánamo because they cannot be safely repatriated to their home countries for fear of torture or persecution.
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Mohammed al Qahtani Seeks Exculpatory Evidence in His Case, Contempt Ruling for Government Delay

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 14:51:05 -0500

February 5, 2009, New York – Attorneys for Mohammed al Qahtani, the victim of the “First Special Interrogation Plan” overseen by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, filed a motion last night to compel the government to turn over exculpatory evidence in their client’s case and to hold the government in contempt for it’s “flagrant violation” of a judge’s November 2008 order to do so.

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Obama’s Support of Arrest Warrant for Sudanese President Al Bashir Pushes the US Administration’s Reasoning Forward but Must Avo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 17:06:30 -0500

“We support the ICC in its pursuit of those who've perpetrated war crimes. We see no reason to support deferral [of the indictment] at this time.” — Ben Chang, Spokesman for President Obama's National Security Adviser, February 5, 2009

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Guantánamo Prisoner in Despair Urgently Seeks Relief

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 10:50:23 -0500
February 6, 2009, New York – Today, in the case of Khan Tumani v. Obama, attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel sought emergency relief for a young Syrian detained at Guantánamo. Mohammed Khan Tumani, who was 17 when his incarceration began, is in solitary confinement without access to his father, who is also detained at the prison camp, and has been continually subjected to coercive interrogations and physical and psychological abuse.
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Obama Fails on Transparency

jnessel — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:00:35 -0500
February 9, 2009, New York – In response to the position Obama’s Justice Department took today in a key rendition case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Mohamed et al v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc., Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:

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D.C. Appeals Court to Rule on CACI and L-3 Complicity in Abu Ghraib Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:19:24 -0500
February 10, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, attorneys for torture victims abused in the notorious Abu Ghraib prison and elsewhere in Iraq asked the federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to affirm a lower court ruling letting the lawsuit proceed to trial against CACI International Inc. and overturn as premature the summary judgment granted to L-3.

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New NYPD Data Shows Record Number of Stop-and-Frisks in 12-Month Period

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:07:10 -0500
February 11, 2009, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) responded to new data released to the City Council by the New York City Police Department showing the final total of stop-and-frisks for 2008 to be a record 531,159, over 80% of which were of Black and Latino New Yorkers. The NYPD is required to keep a database of its stop-and-frisks as a result of CCR’s 1999 racial profiling lawsuit filed in the wake of the Amadou Diallo shooting, Daniels v. City of New York.

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Rights Groups Release Documents Obtained in FOIA Case Relating to Secret Detention, Extraordinary Rendition, and Torture Program

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 11:51:31 -0500
February 12, 2009, New York and Washington, DC—Documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit confirm Department of Defense involvement in the CIA’s ghost detention program, revealed three prominent human rights groups today. The groups—Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ)—today released documents obtained from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and U.S.
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Two-Thirds of Americans Want to See Bush Investigations for Torture and Wiretapping; 40 Percent Want Prosecutions

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:33:50 -0500
February 12, 2009, New York – In a USA Today Gallup poll released today, two-thirds of Americans say they want investigations into the role of Bush administration officials in torture and warrantless wiretapping, and 40 percent want to see prosecutions. CCR President Michael Ratner issued the following statement in response:
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D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision Authorizes Continued Illegal Detention of 17 Wrongly-Detained Guantánamo Detainees

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 13:57:45 -0500

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NY Post Cartoon Stuns Executive Director of Center for Constitutional Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:22:23 -0500
February 19, 2009, New York – Vincent Warren, Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), issued a statement today in response to yesterday’s New York Post editorial cartoon depicting two white police officers standing over a chimpanzee they had just shot making a comment that suggests the chimp is a stand-in for President Obama.
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Respected Activist Lawyer Bill Quigley Will Be New CCR Legal Director

jnessel — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:12:38 -0500
“Those who practice social justice law are essentially swimming upstream while others are on their way down. Unless you are serious about your direction and the choices you make and the need for assistance, teamwork and renewal, you will likely grow tired and start floating along and end up going downstream with the rest. We all grow tired at points…The goal is to try to structure our lives and relationships in such a way that we can recognize when we get lost and be ready to try to reorient ourselves and start over.”

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Report: Current Conditions of Confinement at Guantánamo Still in Violation of the Law

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:19:44 -0500

Download CCR's report on current Guantanamo conditions.
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CCR Releases Independent Report on Current Conditions at Guantánamo, Calls for Closure of Camps 5, 6, and Echo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:25:03 -0500
February 23, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released a report on the current conditions in Camps 5, 6, and Echo following the press conference today of Adm. Patrick M. Walsh, the Vice Chief of Naval Operations, who delivered his own report on conditions to the White House on Friday. Adm. Walsh determined in his report that conditions at the base meet the standards of the Geneva Conventions, an assertion the attorneys dispute.

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CCR Statement of Support of Senator Lugar's Efforts to Reconsider Cuba Embargo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:33:13 -0500
New York, NY - This week, Senator Lugar of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee released a draft report calling for the reconsideration of the United States' unilateral embargo on Cuba. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement in response:
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Outpouring of Support Worldwide Urging the U.S. Supreme Court to Review the Convictions of the “Cuban Five”

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:35:13 -0500

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CCR President Michael Ratner Talks about Prosecutions of Bush Officials on Democracy Now!

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:32:15 -0400

On Capitol Hill, debate has begun over forming a truth commission to shed light on the Bush administration’s secret polices on detention, interrogation and domestic spying. A hearing on the issue was held Wednesday, two days after the Obama administration released a series of once-secret Bush administration Justice Department memos that authorized President Bush to deploy the military to carry out raids inside the United States. Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! speaks to human rights attorney Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
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New Congress and Obama Leave Family Cuba Travel Restrictions in Place

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 18:10:22 -0400
New York – This week, President Obama signed legislation prohibiting the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from spending any money to enforce restrictions from 2004 on family travel to Cuba between now and October and in response, OFAC rescinded regulations on family travel made more severe by the Bush administration. Travel regulations prior to the Bush administration continue in effect as they have been for over 45 years, and it remains illegal for anyone to travel to Cuba. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the statement below in response:
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Four British Former Guantánamo Detainees Return to Court of Appeals in Torture Suit

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:06:42 -0400
March 13, 2009, Washington, D.C. – Four British former detainees alleging torture and religious abuse at Guantanamo filed their brief today in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and the Department of Justice, in its first opportunity under the new administration to address those issues, argued that detainees had no constitutional rights. The United States Supreme Court earlier granted the men’s certiorari petition and remanded the case for further consideration in light of the Supreme Court’s decision last summer in Boumediene v.
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Black Firefighters Ask Court to Rule in DOJ Lawsuit Charging FDNY with Discriminatory Hiring Practices

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 14:04:00 -0400

New York, NY – Today, Black firefighters ask the court to rule in their favor in a lawsuit charging the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with discriminatory hiring practices. The case, filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in 2007, is due to go to trial next month if the court denies today’s request for summary judgment.

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Court Rules Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Can Sue Contractor CACI, According to Legal Team for Former Detainees

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:43:26 -0400

WASHINGTON, March 19 /PRNewswire/ -- A Virginia federal court ruled Wednesday that four former Abu Ghraib detainees who were tortured and later released without charge can sue U.S. military contractor CACI International Inc. (NYSE: CAI), according to their U.S. legal team.

U.S. District Judge Gerald Bruce Lee, of Alexandria, Va., denied CACI’s motion to dismiss the detainees’ claims which allege multiple violations of U.S. law, including torture, war crimes and civil conspiracy.
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Court Orders FDA to Reconsider Decision on Morning-After Pill Restrictions

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:44:29 -0400

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Obama Administration Offers Essentially Same Definition of Enemy Combatant Without Using the Term

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 15:06:57 -0400
March 13, 2009, New York – In response to this afternoon’s government filing in multiple Guantánamo cases, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:

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Xe - Blackwater Faces New Claims Over Civilian Shootings in Iraq, According to U.S. Legal Team for Iraqi Families

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 15:47:03 -0400
WASHINGTON, March 27 /PRNewswire/ -- A group of injured civilians and families of Iraqis killed in two unprovoked shootings in Baghdad by Blackwater “shooters” sued the company and founder Erik Prince in separate lawsuits filed today and Thursday in California federal court, according to their U.S.-based legal team.

The lawsuits allege that several Blackwater defendants – now operating as Xe and other names under the control of Mr. Prince – have demonstrated “a pattern and practice of recklessness in the use of deadly force.”

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CCR Applauds Spanish Efforts to Hold U.S. Torture Conspirators Accountable

jnessel — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 12:51:44 -0400
March 29, 2009, New York – According to the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), yesterday’s announcement that a Spanish judge has initiated a criminal investigation into the actions of John Yoo and other Bush administration lawyers is an important step forward in holding these officials and others accountable for their crimes. The case may well lead to investigations of top officials, including Donald Rumsfeld and Alberto Gonzales.
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Rights Groups Submit Allegations Against NATO Supreme Commander General Craddock for Force Feeding in Guantanamo in 2004-2006

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 16:43:12 -0400

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17 Innocent Uighurs Detained at Guantánamo Ask Supreme Court for Release

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 12:26:19 -0400

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D.C. Circuit Court Decision Refuses to Allow Advance Notice Before a Guantanamo Detainee is Transferred

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:52:49 -0400

Decision Would Increase the Risk of Illegal Transfers to Torture

Washington, DC. - Today, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued its opinion in Kiyemba v. Obama. The Court vacated the District Court decision, which had required the government to give thirty days advance notice before an individual is transferred from Guantánamo. The Court held that it could not test the Executive’s promise not to transfer someone to a country where he could be tortured.
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Rights Groups Call on Obama to Declassify Documents on Secret Detention, Rendition, and Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:32:42 -0400
New York and Washington, DC—April 13, 2009 - The Obama administration should take immediate steps to declassify and release documents that would allow the American public to understand the truth about the human rights violations committed as part of the U.S.
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CCR Decries Immunity for Torture, Secrecy

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:55:00 -0400

April 16, 2009, New York – In response to President Obama’s decision to guarantee immunity to CIA officials who carried out the drowning torture known as waterboarding, which his attorney general has classified as torture, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:

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CCR Applauds Spanish Judge’s Decision to Pursue Case Holding U.S. Torture Conspirators Accountable

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 13:10:13 -0400
April 17, 2009, New York –The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many of the men detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo, praised Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon’s decision to pursue a criminal investigation into the actions of six Bush administration lawyers for providing legal cover for torture at the base. His move comes the day after the Spanish attorney General overrode his prosecutors to recommend that the case not go forward.
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Coalition Requests Impeachment of Jay Bybee

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:13:44 -0400

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CCR Calls for Attorney General to Appoint Special Prosecutor for Entire Torture Team

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 15:23:55 -0400

April 16, 2009, New York – In response to President Obama’s statement today that the decision to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate Bush officials who committed crimes related to the Torture Program and other issues was up to the Attorney General, the Center for Constitutional Rights issued the following statement:
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Judge Rejects Last Ditch Attempt by Shell to Stop Human Rights Trial

jnessel — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:24:02 -0400
New York, April 23, 2009— This afternoon, Judge Kimba Wood of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York rejected Royal Dutch Shell’s motion to dismiss a human rights case charging the company and the head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture and killing of peaceful Nigerian protesters more than 10 years ago.

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Senate Armed Services Committee Report Underscores Need for Prosecution

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:35:20 -0400
On April 22, 2009, the Senate Armed Services Committee issued the declassified version of its full report on the treatment of detainees in U.S. custody, particularly in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. The report’s Executive Summary was released in December, and the release of the full 250-page report provides yet another striking example of the approval and authorization of torture and war crimes at the highest levels of the Bush administration. It further illustrates the severe harm that government officials and private contractors have done to men, women, and children held in U.S.
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Court Of Appeals Rules Detainees are not “Persons” in Guantánamo Torture Suit

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:27:36 -0400
April 24, 2009 Washington, D.C. – In a suit brought by British men imprisoned for two years at Guantanamo, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals today reaffirmed its previous ruling that Guantanamo detainees lack the fundamental constitutional right not to be tortured and are not “persons” under a U.S. statute protecting religious freedom.

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CCR Applauds Spanish Judge’s Decision to Open New Criminal Investigation into U.S. Torture Program

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 13:51:41 -0400
April 29, 2009, New York –The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), which represents many of the men detained by the U.S. government at Guantánamo, praised Spanish judge Baltazar Garzon’s decision today to pursue a new criminal investigation into the torture conspiracy and the torture program at the base where five Spanish nationals were tortured and abused.

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CCR Testifies on Need for Independent Oversight and Greater Transparency for NYPD

Alison Roh Park — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 14:37:56 -0400

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Center for Constitutional Rights Urges Obama Administration to Abandon Failed Guantanamo Military Commissions

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:44:36 -0400
May 15, 2009, New York, New York – In response to President Obama’s announcement of his plans to revive the military commissions at Guantanamo, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), issued the following statement:

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Rights Group Commends France for Accepting Algerian Detained at Guantánamo Bay, Urges U.S. and Other Countries to Step Forward

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 15 May 2009 17:01:42 -0400
May 15, 2009, New York, New York – Today, Lakhdar Boumediene, an Algerian citizen who had been detained at Guantánamo Bay since his seizure in Bosnia in 2001, was released to France. Mr. Boumediene, who was exonerated by the Bosnian government in 2004 and whose detention was determined to be unlawful by a United States federal court in 2008, will join his wife and two daughters in France. The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement in response to his release:

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CCR Statement on Supreme Court Ruling Against Holding High-Level Officials Accountable for Post-9/11 Domestic Sweeps

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:13:03 -0400

May 18, 2009, New York – Today the United States Supreme Court issued a decision against a post-9/11 detainee’s challenge to former Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller’s role in his discriminatory confinement and abuse. The 5-4 majority ruled that Mr. Iqbal has not included enough facts in his complaint to show those defendants “adopted and implemented the detention policies at issue ... for the purpose of discriminating on account of race, religion, or national origin,” rather than “for a neutral, investigative reason.”
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CCR Guantánamo Attorneys Comment After President’s Speech

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 21 May 2009 11:55:27 -0400
May 21, 2009, New York – Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner and Managing Attorney for CCR’s Guantanamo project Shayana Kadidal responded with disappointment to President Obama’s speech this morning. CCR represents the detainees at Guantánamo and is part of the key FOIA lawsuit surrounding the torture photo disclosures.

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Landmark Human Rights Trial Against Royal Dutch/Shell for Human Rights Abuses in Nigeria Postponed

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:51:19 -0400
New York, May 26th, 2009 – The beginning of the trial in the landmark human rights lawsuits Wiwa v. Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) and Wiwa v. Anderson has been delayed. The case had been previously scheduled to begin tomorrow, May 27, 2009 in the Southern District of New York.

Further updates will be provided as they become available.

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CCR Statement on Prop 8 and SCOTUS Decision on Questioning Defendants Without Lawyers Present

jnessel — Wed, 27 May 2009 19:02:44 -0400
May 27, 2009, New York – In response to both the California Supreme Court ruling supporting Proposition 8, the anti-gay marriage ballot initiative, and the United States Supreme Court ruling overturning the ban on police initiating questioning without the defendant’s lawyer present, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) released the following statement:

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Center for Constitutional Rights Condemns History of Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 11:20:22 -0500
January 23, 2007, New York - Authorities in San Francisco announced the arrests and indictments of former Black Panthers in the 1971 killing of police officer Sgt. John V. Young despite the use of torture to obtain confessions. Attorneys with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) compared the documented torture by law enforcement of Black Panthers arrested in New Orleans in 1973 to the documented torture the U.S. government has practiced recently at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo.

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Second Round of Homelessness for Katrina Victims as FEMA Prepares to Enforce June 1 Eviction Date

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 14:34:48 -0400

This is a repost of a press release by the US Human Rights Network of which the Center for Constitutional Rights is a member.

Atlanta, May 29, 2009 - In response to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s decision to repossess temporary housing from survivors of Hurricane Katrina on June 1, the US Human Rights Network issued the following statement:
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CCR Statement in Response to the Murder of Dr. George Tiller

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:23:45 -0400
June 1, 2009, New York, NY – In response to the murder of respected and celebrated OB-GYN physician and abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in Wichita, Kansas this week, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:

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Appeals Court Rules Against Shell Nigeria, Allows Plaintiffs to Seek Further Information to Establish Connections to U.S.

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 16:24:27 -0400
New York, June 3, 2009 – Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the District Court decision dismissing the Wiwa v. Shell plaintiffs’ claims against Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, Ltd. (Shell Nigeria). The District Court had dismissed the case against Shell Nigeria on March 4, 2008, finding it did not have jurisdiction over the company because the plaintiffs had failed to establish that Shell Nigeria was doing sufficient business in the United States to justify trying them in U.S.
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CCR Statement in Response to EU JHA Agreement on Accepting Men Transferred From Guantánamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 15:55:22 -0400
June 4, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement in response to the agreement reached by EU Ministries of the Interior and Schengen associated countries establishing a framework for accepting men transferred from Guantánamo:
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Settlement Reached in Human Rights Cases Against Royal Dutch/Shell

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:00:11 -0400

New York, June 8, 2009 — Today, the parties in Wiwa v. Shell agreed to settle human rights claims charging the Royal Dutch/Shell company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC or Shell Nigeria), and the former head of its Nigerian operation, Brian Anderson, with complicity in the torture, killing, and other abuses of Ogoni leader Ken Saro-Wiwa and other non-violent Nigerian activists in the mid-1990s in the Ogoni region of the Niger Delta.

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Statement of the Plaintiffs in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell, Wiwa v. Anderson and Wiwa v. SPDC

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:07:19 -0400
June 8, 2009

The Plaintiffs in the Wiwa v. Shell cases are pleased to announce a settlement of their claims. The settlement will provide $15.5 million to compensate the injuries to the Plaintiffs and the deaths of their family members, and will also create a trust for the benefit of the Ogoni people, as well as pay the costs of litigation.

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Statement of the Plaintiffs’ Attorneys in Wiwa v. Royal Dutch/Shell, Wiwa v. Anderson and Wiwa v. SPDC

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:10:23 -0400

June 8, 2009

Today, plaintiffs and defendants reached a settlement in the human rights cases brought against Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell Transport and Trading, p.l.c., Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria, and Brian Anderson, who headed Shell Nigeria between 1994-1996.

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Guantanamo Lawyers Urge Portuguese Government to Accept Eight Refugees Who Wish to Come to Portugal

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:53:58 -0400

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Rights Group Says Government Requirements and Penalties Against Cuba Travelers Unconstitutional

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 11:55:53 -0400
July 16, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Sokolski & Zekaria, P.C. filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Brooklyn, New York challenging the government’s attempt to fine individuals thousands of dollars for failing to fill out a self-incriminating questionnaire, as part of its efforts to stifle American travel to Cuba.

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Rights Groups Submit Detailed Comments in Response to ICE “Secure Communities” Stakeholder Questionnaire

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:30:43 -0400

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Advocates Issue Statement Condemning Obama Administration’s Expansion of DHS’ Failed 287(g) Program

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:34:34 -0400

Civil rights and community groups across the country denounce Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano’s plans to expand the highly criticized 287(g) program to eleven new jurisdictions around the country. The program, authorized in 1996 and widely implemented under the Bush Administration, relinquishes, with no meaningful oversight, immigration enforcement power to local law enforcement and corrections agencies.

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In Victory for Black Firefighters, FDNY Hiring Practices Ruled Racially Discriminatory

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 16:02:53 -0400

July 22, 2009, New York, NY – Today, United States District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis ruled in favor of the plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit charging the Fire Department of New York (FDNY) with racially discriminatory hiring practices. The case, which proved the FDNY examination was in violation of civil rights laws, was filed on behalf of the Vulcan Society, the fraternal organization of Black firefighters in the FDNY by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel from Levy Ratner, P.C. and Scott + Scott, LLP.

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Rights Groups Submit Briefing Paper on Post-Katrina Housing Policy to Eviction Advisory Group

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 13:37:27 -0400

This briefing paper is submitted to the Advisory Group on Forced Evictions for the mission its experts are conducting to provide an overview of the international human rights principles’ application to the forced eviction and homelessness crisis in the Gulf Coast region.

Human rights instruments offer a framework for developing an approach to resettlement and reconstruction that is capable of meeting the needs of the impacted communities. The submission is divided in three parts:

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Center for Constitutional Rights Issues Statement in Support of New NGO Formed by Men Who Were Imprisoned in Guantánamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:21:03 -0400
July 30, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement in support of the launch of the Guantanamo Justice Center, a new Geneva-based nongovernmental organization being established by individuals formerly imprisoned in Guantanamo and their allies.
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Center for Constitutional Rights Demands End to Retaliation Against Hunger Striking Immigration Detainees in Louisiana

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:32:28 -0400

August 6, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), one of seven signatories to a letter sent yesterday to Janet Napolitano, Secretary for the Department of Homeland Security, decrying conditions at a Louisiana immigration detention center, issued the following statement in response to continued retaliation against detainees there on hunger strike:
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CCR Submits Amicus Curiae Brief in Support of Juarez Girls and Women

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 14:21:33 -0400

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Opposition to Motion to Dismiss in Consolidated Cases Against Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. et al.

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:45:50 -0400
On August 3, 2009, plaintiffs filed an Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for consolidated Blackwater cases. The cases Estate of Albazzaz, et al. v. Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. et al. and Estate of Abtan, et al. v. Blackwater Lodge and Training Center, Inc. et al. have been consolidated for purposes of pre-trial discovery and briefing.
From the "Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss" in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia - Alexandria Division- Filed on August 3, 2009:
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Soldiers Refuse to Engage in Abuse and Occupation: One Appeals Bad Conduct Discharge, Another Court-Martialed

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 11:35:34 -0400

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Rights Groups Call on Canada to Investigate Guantanamo Psychologist for Possible Torture Complicity

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:32:42 -0400
August 6, 2009, Ottawa and New York – Human rights organizations are calling on the Canadian government to investigate retired U.S. Army colonel and psychologist Dr. Larry C. James, a former high-ranking advisor on interrogations for the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay. According to his own statements, Dr. James played an influential role in both the policy and day-to-day operations of interrogations and detention at the base. Publicly-available information suggests that while Dr.
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UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Urges American Psychological Association Act on Own Policies

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 17:18:47 -0400

August 7, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) responded today to a letter made public from the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture to the American Psychological Association (APA) stating that the conditions of the men held at Guantánamo violate international law and requesting that all psychologists be removed from the base and no longer participate actively or tacitly in interrogations.

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SCOTUS Petition Asks Justices to Review Torture Abuse Case of British Former Guantánamo Detainees a Second Time

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 13:44:13 -0400
August 24, 2009, New York and Washington – Baach Robinson & Lewis PLLC and the Center for Constitutional Rights today filed a petition to the Supreme Court on behalf of four British citizens who were tortured and subjected to religious humiliation at Guantánamo. The petition marks the second time in the last year that the British citizens have asked the Supreme Court to review their case.

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CCR Issues Statement in Response to Word of Appointment of Special Prosecutor

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:48:02 -0400

August 24, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the statement below in response to the rumored announcement of the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate the torture of detainees by the U.S. Press reports say Attorney General Holder likely to name John Durham, who is currently investigating the 2005 destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations that included waterboarding and other methods of torture and abuse.
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CCR, Amnesty and NYU Receive Docs Cheney Wanted Declassified to Justify Torture

jnessel — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:34:44 -0400

August 24, 2009, New York, NY – The attached documents were released through FOIA litigation by the Center for Constitutional Rights, Amnesty International USA, and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law seeking disclosure of information concerning “disappeared” detainees, including “ghost” and unregistered prisoners. The original FOIA requests were filed with several U.S. government agencies including the Departments of Justice and Defense and the Central Intelligence Agency.
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The CIA Inspector General's Torture Report: First Reactions from CCR Senior Managing Attorney Shayana Kadidal

jnessel — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:15:51 -0400

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Groups Demand Obama Terminate Controversial Program Allowing State and Local Police to Act as Immigration Agents

jnessel — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:04:27 -0400

August 28, 2009, WASHINGTON – 521 local and national organizations, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, signed a letter delivered to President Obama on Aug. 25 demanding the administration terminate the 287(g) program granting state and local law enforcement agencies federal immigration enforcement authority. According to the groups, the program, a legacy of the Bush administration, has caused serious civil and human rights abuses, including racial profiling, and endangers public safety.

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Prominent Advocates and Rights Groups Urge International Criminal Court to Define Rape and Other Sexual Violence as Torture

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 16:24:16 -0400
September 4, 2009 – Today, Judge Trendafilova of the International Criminal Court (ICC) denied a petition filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), the International Women's Human Rights Clinic (IWHR) and a prominent group of individuals and organizations requesting to file an amicus brief in the case of Jean-Pierre Bemba. The amicus would call on the ICC to confirm a charge that counts rape and other sexual violence as torture; the pre-trial chamber dismissed this original charge saying that it was cumulative to the charge of rape.
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In Letter to Attorney General, Rights Groups Demand Due Process Protections for Non-Citizens with Mental Disabilities

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 17:40:45 -0400

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Rights Groups Sue Authorities for First Amendment Violations in Advance of G-20 Summit

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 11:39:06 -0400
September 11, 2009, Pittsburgh, PA – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on behalf of groups seeking to hold peaceful demonstrations in downtown Pittsburgh where the Group of 20 summit (G-20) will take place later this month. The complaint charges the U.S.
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CCR Survey Finds New Orleans Magistrates Regularly Violate Rights

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:13:15 -0400
September 15, 2009, New Orleans, LA – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) submitted an amicus brief to the Louisiana Supreme Court in support of Bruce Wallace, a petitioner who alleges his due process rights were violated when the court failed to determine within 48 hours whether or not there was probable cause for his warrantless arrest, as required by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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CCR Calls on Security Council to Adopt Recommendations of UN Report on Gaza Conflict

jnessel — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 16:20:18 -0400
September 15, 2009, New York – In response to today’s release of a report by an independent Fact Finding Mission established by the United Nations Human Rights Council on the December 2008 - January 2009 conflict in Gaza, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued the following statement:

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Free Speech Victory for Rights Groups in Advance of G-20 Summit

Center for Constitutional Rights — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:33:15 -0400
September 17, 2009, Pittsburgh, PA – Today, United States District Judge Gary L. Lancaster ruled today on a suit filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania (ACLU-PA) on behalf of groups seeking to hold peaceful demonstrations in downtown Pittsburgh where the Group of 20 Summit (G-20) will take place next week.
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Obama Administration Continues to Abuse ‘National Security’ Defense

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:09:16 -0400

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Center for Constitutional Rights Calls for Judicial Review of All Evidence When State Secrets Invoked

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:11:15 -0400
September 23, 2009, New York – In response to news the Attorney General is establishing new policy on the question of the use of the state secrets privilege, the Center for Constitutional Rights issues the following statement:
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Supreme Court to Review CCR Case on Statute Criminalizing Humanitarian Aid

jnessel — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 14:57:49 -0400
September 30, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Supreme Court announced that it will hear an appeal from lower court rulings stating that key provisions of the federal “material support” statute are unconstitutional. The statute makes it a crime to provide money or goods, “training,” “personnel,” “expert advice or assistance” or “services” to any organization on the State Department’s list of “foreign terrorist organizations,” resulting in convictions carrying maximum sentences ranging from 15 years to life.

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Government Admits Guantánamo Detainee Mohammed al Qahtani’s Torture Videotaped

jnessel — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:06:25 -0400
October 5, 2009, New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) learned today of the existence of video and audio tapes of the abusive interrogations of client Mohammed al Qahtani, the victim of the “First Special Interrogation Plan” personally overseen by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

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CCR Files Challenge to Government Assertion That No Court Can Hear Abuse Claims from Guantanamo

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 13:48:07 -0400
October 5, 2009, New York – Last night, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed papers with the D.C. District Court challenging the government’s claim that no federal court has the power to hear claims of abuse at Guantánamo. The challenge came in response to the government’s effort to dismiss claims on behalf of two men found dead at the base in 2006, in the case Al-Zahrani v. Rumsfeld. The families of the men filed the case in January seeking accountability for the wrongful deaths of their sons.

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CCR Argues in Court Government Cannot Keep Secret Whether It Spied on Guantánamo Attorneys

jnessel — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 10:02:09 -0400
October 9, 2009, New York, NY – The Court of Appeals heard arguments today in the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) warrantless surveillance case, Wilner v. National Security Agency (NSA). CCR and co-counsel argued that the executive branch must disclose whether or not it has records related to wiretapping of privileged attorney-client conversations without a warrant.

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CCR Challenges Legality of Prison Telephone Rates Before NY Court of Appeals

jnessel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:47:56 -0400
October13, 2009, Albany, NY – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) challenged the legality of prison phone rates in oral arguments before the Court of Appeals of the State of New York, the highest court in the state. The case, Walton v. New York State Department of Correctional Services (DOCS), seeks compensation for years of an unlawful tax levied on families of prisoners who wanted to remain in contact with their loved ones, keeping them connected to their communities.

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13 Innocent Uighurs Still Detained at Guantánamo After Being Cleared for Release Since 2004 Get Their Day in Court

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:34:23 -0400
October 20, 2009, New York – Today, the Supreme Court announced it will hear the case of 13 men who remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay despite being cleared for release since 2004 and will address the issue of whether a court can order them released into the United States when there is no other remedy. The men, Uighurs from China, are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Bingham McCutchen LLP, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Miller & Chevalier, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Reprieve, and Elizabeth Gilson.

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CCR Response to President Obama’s Signing of New Military Commissions Legislation

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:15:10 -0400
October 28, 2009, New York – The following quote can be attributed to Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren in response to President Obama’s signing of new Military Commissions legislation today:

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No Justice for Canadian Rendition Victim Maher Arar

Center for Constitutional Rights — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 13:22:44 -0500

November 2, 2009, New York – Today, a federal Court of Appeals dismissed Canadian citizen Maher Arar’s case against U.S. officials for their role in sending him to Syria to be tortured and interrogated for a year. Arar is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). The court concluded that Arar’s case raised too many sensitive foreign policy and secrecy issues to permit relief. It leaves the federal officials involved free of any legal accountability for what they did.
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Five New York Men Detained and Abused in Post-9/11 Immigration Sweeps Settle Case for $1.26 Million

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:55:38 -0500
November 3, 2009 New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) announced that five men who had been living in New York and were ultimately deported won a $1.26 million settlement from the United States government in a case challenging post-9/11 racial profiling, illegal detention and abuse of Muslim, Arab and South Asian men.

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Guantánamo Uighurs, CCR Clients, Released to Palau

jnessel — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 20:13:13 -0500

October 31, 2009, New York – Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP issued the statement below in response to the release of three of their Uighur clients to the Republic of Palau. Three additional Uighur men were released to Palau, as well.

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CCR: Rendition Victims Can Get Justice in Italy and Canada But Not in U.S.

Center for Constitutional Rights — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 13:58:28 -0500

November 4, 2009, New York – In response to news of an Italian court’s conviction of 23 U.S. officials for their role in the extraordinary rendition of a Muslim cleric unlawfully seized from the streets of Milan more than six years ago, Center for Constitutional Rights Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the statement below. On Monday, an 11-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit here in New York dismissed the case of CCR client and rendition victim, Canadian citizen Maher Arar:
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U.S. Court Allows Human Rights Suit Against Former Bolivian President and Minister of Defense to Proceed

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:30:41 -0500

November 10, 2009, Cambridge, MA – The U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida ruled yesterday that the claims for crimes against humanity and extrajudicial killings could move forward in two related U.S. cases against former Bolivian President Gonzalo Daniel Sánchez de Lozada Sánchez Bustamante (Sánchez de Lozada) and former Bolivian Defense Minister Jose Carlos Sánchez Berzaín (Sánchez Berzaín). The cases, Mamani, et al. v. Sánchez Berzaín, and Mamani, et al. v.
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CCR Charges Congress Violated Constitution in Vote to De-Fund ACORN, Affiliates, Allies

Alison Roh Park — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:22:21 -0500

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CCR Files Opening Brief in First Supreme Court Case to Challenge Patriot Act

jnessel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:10:29 -0500
November 17, 2009, New York – Yesterday, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed the first brief in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the first case to challenge a portion of the Patriot Act before the Supreme Court.
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McCarthy Era Blacklist Victims, Peace Groups, Academics, and Media File Amicus Briefs in CCR Case

jnessel — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:46:25 -0500
November 24, 2009, New York – A group of former McCarthy era blacklist victims filed a friend-of-court brief in a Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Supreme Court case yesterday, arguing that the Court should not allow the government to repeat the mistakes of the McCarthy era in the name of cutting off material support to organizations the State Department has labeled “terrorist.” The group, which included individuals and family members of individuals subjected to the Hollywood blacklists, argued that the “material support” statute parallels the McCarthy era laws because it impos
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Court Ignores Plea of Prisoners’ Families Who Paid Millions in Unlawful Phone Tax

Alison Roh Park — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:27:39 -0500

November 24, 2009, Albany, NY – Yesterday, the Court of Appeals of the State of New York
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Louisiana Court Battle Over Guantanamo Psychologist Continues Today

jnessel — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:17:42 -0400
October 15, 2009, Baton Rouge and New York – Today, attorneys filed an appeal before the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal, in the case Dr. Trudy Bond v. Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. Toledo-based psychologist Dr. Trudy Bond is calling on the Louisiana State Board of Examiners to investigate Louisiana psychologist and retired U.S. Army colonel Dr. Larry C. James, a former high-ranking advisor on interrogations for the U.S. military in Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib.

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$19 Million Judgment Upheld Against Former Haitian Death Squad Leader

Alison Roh Park — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:03:52 -0500

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CCR Files Amicus Brief in South African Apartheid Case Before U.S. Courts

Alison Roh Park — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 15:52:51 -0500

December 1, 2009, New York, NY - CCR filed an amicus brief in support of a lawsuit seeking accountability for American and German corporations who allegedly assisted the South African Apartheid regime.
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Final Guantánamo Supreme Court Brief Filed

Esther Wang — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:40:23 -0500

November 14, 2007, New York, NY – Last night, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) attorneys and co-counsel submitted the final brief to the Supreme Court in the case that will determine whether detainees at Guantánamo possess the fundamental constitutional rights to due process and habeas corpus.

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Innocent Uighurs Still Detained at Guantánamo after Being Cleared for Release Since As Long Ago As 2003 Ask Supreme Court to Set

Alison Roh Park — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:42:39 -0500

December 4, 2009, New York – Today, attorneys asked the Supreme Court to allow seven men who remain imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay despite being cleared for release to be released into the United States when there is no other remedy available. The men, Uighurs from the East Turkestan region of China, are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) and co-counsel Bingham McCutchen LLP, Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP, Miller & Chevalier, Baker & McKenzie LLP, Reprieve and Elizabeth Gilson.
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CCR Lawyers in Court Today Charge Congress Violated Constitution in Vote to De-Fund ACORN, Affiliates, Allies

Alison Roh Park — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:38:45 -0500

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Independent Report on ACORN Shows Need to Stand Up for Groups that Make Democracy Work

Alison Roh Park — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:42:49 -0500

December 7, 2009, Washington, DC—Former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger today issued a report on an independent inquiry into ACORN’s organizational systems and processes and made public his recommendations.

The following are statements by leaders of major progressive organizations.

Nan Aron, President, Alliance for Justice

“We are pleased to see former Attorney General Harshbarger’s recommendations to ACORN.
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CCR Letter to Supporters on Human Rights Day, December 10, 2009

Alison Roh Park — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:26:33 -0500

Dear CCR Supporter,

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Supreme Court Refuses to Hear Suit Seeking Accountability for Guantanamo Torture

jnessel — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:46:49 -0500
December 14, 2009—Today, the United States Supreme Court refused to review a lower court’s dismissal of a case brought by four British former detainees against Donald Rumsfeld and senior military officers for ordering torture and religious abuse at Guantánamo. The British detainees spent more than two years in Guantanamo and were repatriated to the U.K. in 2004.

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CCR Criticizes Announcement that GTMO Detainees Will Be Moved to Illinois Prison

Center for Constitutional Rights — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:18:17 -0500

December 15, 2009, New York – In response to the announcement today that the Obama administration would be transferring detainees from Guantánamo to the Thomson Correctional Center in Illinois, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) Executive Director Vincent Warren issued the following statement:
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Human Rights Groups Address European Parliament on Resettlement of Guantanamo Detainees Who Fear Torture in Home Countries

Esther Wang — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 11:25:09 -0500
February 28, 2008, Brussels – Today, a representative from the Paris-based International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) addressed the European Parliament in Brussels at a three-hour session on Guantanamo and the refugee population who cannot return to their home countries for fear of torture. CCR is the US member league of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH).
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Historic Win for Constitutional Rights! Injunction Granted in CCR Lawsuit on Behalf of ACORN

Center for Constitutional Rights — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 18:16:20 -0500
December 11, 2009. New York, NY - Today, U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon granted a preliminary injunction against the United States for unconstitutionally withholding funds from ACORN. In its decision, the court found that there is a likelihood the plaintiffs will be able to show that Congress’ targeted defunding of ACORN violates the Constitution’s prohibition against Bills of Attainder, legislative acts which single out a specific person or group for punishment.

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CCR Lawyers Ask Judge to Apply Ruling from Last Week to New ACORN De-Funding

jnessel — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 12:13:26 -0500

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Appeals Court Rules in Case Challenging Racial Profiling of Muslim, Arab, South Asian Men in Post-9/11 Sweeps

Alison Roh Park — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:57:47 -0500

December 18, 2009, New York, NY – Today, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) case challenging the racial profiling, arbitrary detention and abuse of Muslim, Arab, and South Asian men swept up after 9/11. The men, who were not citizens, were held for investigation based only on their race and religion. Without any evidence to connect them to terrorism, they were treated as terrorists.
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