PHA-Exchange> U.S. Congress strips right of habeas corpus

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

Detainee Treatment Bill Goes to White House Following
Senate Approval
The Senate has agreed to give President Bush
extraordinary power to detain and try prisoners in the
so-called war on terror. The legislation strips
detainees of the right to file habeas corpus petitions
to challenge their own detention or treatment. It
gives the president the power to indefinitely detain
anyone it deems to have provided material support to
anti-U.S. hostilities. Secret and coerced evidence
could be used to try detainees held in U.S. military
prisons. The bill also immunizes U.S. officials from
prosecution for torturing detainees who the military
and the CIA captured before the end of last year. The
Senate passed the measure sixty five to thirty four.
Twelve Democrats joined the Republican majority. The
House passed virtually the same legislation on
Wednesday. Legal groups, including the Center for
Constitutional Rights, are already preparing to
challenge the constitutionality of the law in court. 

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