Press Release

Humanists See Hamdi's Access to Lawyer as First Step

For Immediate Release - Contact: Roy Speckhardt (202) 238-9088

(Washington, D.C., December 3, 2003) After two years of detention as an 'enemy combatant' the Defense Department has granted Yaser Esam Hamdi access to a lawyer. "This decision is a step toward respecting Hamdi's constitutional rights, but if the government can detain Hamdi without full due process, then allowing him a lawyer doesn't change much," said Tony Hileman, executive director of the American Humanist Association.

"The Justice Department mistakenly argues that allowing Hamdi due process would be a threat to national security. Governments may understandably take measures to counter terrorism. However, we must not obliterate our constitutional rights in an attempt to secure them. The path to national security is through due process, not around it," explains Hileman.

Evidence submitted to the courts against Hamdi, a U.S. citizen detained after being captured in Afghanistan with Taliban fighters in November 2001, indicates that he is being held only because of his supposed intelligence value. U.S. citizens are protected from unlawful detention under habeas corpus guaranteed in the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments.

"Article 1 section 9 of the U.S. constitution states that the right of habeas corpus may only be suspended in cases of rebellion or invasion. For the executive branch to eliminate judicial review of these rights by assigning 'enemy combatant' status is a blatant disregard of constitutional rights and misuse of power," states AHA president and constitutional lawyer Mel Lipman.

Continues Lipman, "The Department of Defense made clear that providing Hamdi a lawyer 'should not be treated as a precedent'-as if precedent was needed to establish this basic element of American jurisprudence. First Hamdi, then Jose Padilla, and Ali Saleh Kahlah al Marri-all 'enemy combatants' detained without due process or a lawyer until yesterday's decision which only applies to Hamdi."

"Whose rights will be in jeopardy next? Who else will be detained by the military, be denied access to an attorney and a hearing, all without being given proper knowledge of what charges, if any, they are being held for?" asks Hileman.

The American Humanist Association is the oldest and largest Humanist organization in the nation. The AHA is dedicated to ensuring a voice for those with a positive nontheistic outlook, based on reason and experience, which embraces all of humanity .

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