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ACLU of Florida Condemns Decision Upholding the Detention of American
Citizen As 'Enemy Combatant'
January 8, 2003
MIAMI ? Saying the indefinite detention of a 21-year-old American citizen as an "enemy combatant" violates core protections of the Constitution, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida condemned today's federal appeals court ruling permitting the government to hold U.S. citizens without any access to counsel.
"The ruling sets a dangerous precedent," said Howard Simon, Executive Director of the ACLU of Florida. "No American citizen should be held without charges, for the 'duration of hostilities' and without access to a lawyer.
"What we're headed for is a major test of the integrity of the U.S. Supreme Court, analogous to the test of integrity that the court faced ? and failed ? when it permitted the internment of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor," added Simon.
In July, a federal district court judge in Norfolk, Va. ruled that the Department of Justice had not provided sufficient evidence to show that Yaser Hamdi, an American citizen who was captured in Afghanistan in November 2001, was an enemy combatant.
The Justice Department appealed that decision to the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. In October, the national office of the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the appellate court on behalf of Hamdi, who is being held in isolation in a military brig in Norfolk.
According to news reports, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that Hamdi's citizenship did not "change the fact he was captured ? while fighting alongside Taliban and al-Qaida fighters."
For additional comment on this issue, call Howard Simon, Executive Director, at 305-576-2337 ext. 16.
