TAKE ACTION: Restore Habeas Corpus
Constitution Under Attack

Last September, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) which restricted habeas corpus rights, allowing the government to continue holding prisoners at Guantanamo indefinitely with no access to a fair hearing in court.

Indefinite imprisonment without a fair trial or hearing is unconstitutional and un-American.  Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA), Patrick Leahy (D-VT), and Christopher Dodd (D-CT) have authored legislation to restore the right of habeas corpus, and give detainees access to a fair hearing in a court of law.

At present, very few of the nearly 400 Guantanamo detainees has yet been charged or brought to trial and many have been imprisoned for over five years.  They are being held as enemy combatants even though many of these individuals were turned over to U.S. forces far from any battlefield in return for large financial rewards, and many may be innocent.  The government plans to hold military trials for about 80 of the detainees.  The others have no legal way of challenging their continued detention, and little hope of being released.

We need you to support the senators by joining a national effort to restore habeas corpus and due process of law.  Sign the on-line petition and urge your senators and representatives to fight for justice and support the Specter-Leahy-Dodd bills.

 What's at Stake

The impact of the habeas corpus restrictions in the new MCA go far beyond the walls of Guantanamo prison.  The law allows the government to arrest any non-citizen—including permanent residents in the United States—and hold them indefinitely without charge and with no access to an attorney or a fair hearing.

Sometimes the government makes mistakes.  The ordeal of Maher Arar is just one example.  Arar, a Canadian software engineer was detained when changing planes at JFK airport on suspicion of being a member of Al Qaeda.  The US Government secretly sent him to Syria where he was imprisoned and tortured for ten months.  Canada later determined he has no terrorist ties and apologized.

 Learn More

To read the Military Commissions Act, click here.

To read A Voice from Gitmo's Darkness, click here.  A current detainee speaks of the torture and humiliation he has suffered at Guantanamo since 2002.

To read Faces on Guantanamo: Guantanamo's Many Wrongly Imprisoned, a report from the Center for Constitutional Rights, click here.

For more on pending legislation in Congress to restore habeas corpus, click here and here.

There are three important steps you can take to help:

1. Add your name to the national on-line petition supporting restoration of full habeas corpus rights. Click here to add your name to the on-line petition (please include your name, state of residence, zip code).
2. Forward this information and the petition to everyone you know;
3. Send a letter to your Senators and House members supporting the Specter-Leahy-Dodd legislation to restore habeas corpus rights. Click here to send a letter to your elected representatives.