Dear ACLU Supporter,
According to news reports, President-elect Barack Obama intends to issue an executive order to close Guantánamo Bay right after his Inauguration. But, no one will say when it will end -- other than making clear the actual closing won’t take place until well into the future. Here’s one powerful reason why we need a detailed plan, a certain timeline, and specific proposals.
Unless Barack Obama immediately shuts down the military commissions operating at Guantánamo Bay, Omar Khadr -- who has been detained at the infamous prison since he was 15 -- will become the first person in recent history to be tried by any western nation for war crimes allegedly committed as a child.
It’s a dishonorable distinction that the U.S. can ill afford -- and a violation of international standards of justice that must not be allowed to go forward.
This impending trial adds even more urgency to the ACLU’s call for an immediate end to the unjust military commissions underway at Guantánamo Bay. Omar Khadr’s trial is scheduled to begin on January 26th -- just six days after Barack Obama’s Inauguration.
Urge President-elect Obama to stop Guantánamo child soldier trials and immediately end the military commissions at Guantánamo.
Khadr is slated to be tried for offenses he allegedly committed when he was 15. He was detained for over two years before even being allowed to meet with a lawyer. Now 22 years old, he has been held at Guantánamo Bay for over six years.
The ACLU has joined with other leading human rights groups in urging Barack Obama to drop the military commission charges against Khadr and either repatriate him to Canada or, if there is evidence to support it, to prosecute him in U.S. federal courts in accordance with international child protection and fair trial standards.
One thing is certain: Allowing Khadr to stand trial before the deeply discredited Guantánamo military commissions would be an absolute travesty.
Urge President-elect Obama to stop Guantánamo child soldier trials and immediately end the military commissions at Guantánamo.
Barack Obama voted against the legislation that authorized the Guantánamo military commissions, calling the law “a betrayal of American values.” And he has co-sponsored legislation designed to help end the use of child soldiers. Now, we need his immediate leadership to halt the trials of Omar Khadr and Mohammed Jawad, the other known child soldier detainee at Guantánamo Bay, and end the military commissions entirely.
Please tell the President-elect it’s time for it to end. Urge him to immediately halt the human rights disaster about to unfold at Guantánamo Bay. Thank you for standing with the ACLU in the pursuit of justice.
Sincerely,
Anthony D. Romero
Executive Director
ACLU
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