Israeli Brief to U.S. Supreme Court on Detainee Rights
During their next session, the U.S. Supreme Court will be hearing the cases of several of the detainees imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay to decide whether they have a right to challenge their imprisonment in court, also known as the right of habeas corpus. A group of Isreali lawyers and scholars has submitted a brief in the case providing information on the treatment of terrorism suspects in Israel, where over 6,000 people have been killed by terrorist attacks since the year 2000. Nina Totenberg of NPR listed the safeguards that the Israeli authorities provide to all people held as suspects in cases of terrorism in Israel:
prompt review by independent courts; access to a lawyer for the detainee within a month of capture; a bar to coerced testimony, including, in Israel, a ban on stress positions and sleep deprivation; judicial review of classified evidence to determine if secrecy is justified; and periodic review of the detainee’s status
None of these safeguards is provided to the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. She gives these specifics:
The way the system works in Israel is this, according to the brief. Supposing a terrorist suspect is seized during a shootout in Israel or elsewhere, he would be brought before a judge within 14 days. In most instances a lawyer is provided at the first hearing, but in no case may the detainee be without a lawyer for more than 34 days.
Photo: Detainees hold onto a fence at Camp 4 of the maximum security prison Camp Delta at Guantanamo Naval Base, in Guantanamo, Cuba, in 2004. Many prisoners at Guantanamo have been held there for many years and not yet legally charged or tried. (AFP/Pool/File/Mark Wilson)
More NPR coverage of Guantanamo Bay Prison
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