Obama Administration Should Not Institutionalize Indefinite Detention For Guantánamo Prisoners, Says ACLU

Group Responds To Proposed Executive Order

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

WASHINGTON – According to news reports, the Obama administration is considering an executive order that would establish a periodic review process for Guantánamo detainees who are being held indefinitely without charge or trial. The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo, some of whom have been held in U.S. custody without charge or trial for as many as eight years.

The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

“It is impossible to evaluate the review process in the proposed executive order without seeing it, but we have serious concerns about any order that would institutionalize indefinite detention for Guantánamo detainees. Where credible evidence exists against Guantánamo detainees, they should be charged and prosecuted under our criminal justice system, which has a successful record of prosecuting terrorism suspects and is the only way to provide the fair and reliable outcomes that Americans deserve.”

There have been hundreds of successfully completed terrorism trials in the federal courts, both before and after 9/11.