American Civil Liberties Union

Today, a federal court today dismissed our lawsuit challenging the unconstitutional government spying law known as the FISA Amendments Act (FAA). Congress passed the law last year, effectively legalizing the secret warrantless surveillance program approved by President Bush in late 2001. The FAA also gave the government new, sweeping spying powers, including the power to conduct dragnet surveillance of Americans' international emails and phone calls.

Yesterday, White House Homeland Security Chief John Brennan indicated the Obama administration might not meet President Obama’s January 22, 2010, deadline to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay. When asked about the president’s executive order to close the prison within a year, Brennan stated, "I don’t have a crystal ball. At this point it is unknowable exactly how many people will be transferred next week, month, several months and what the conditions on the ground will be on 1 January and 21 January…Everybody is doing everything possible in the administration to realize the President's goal.”

Today, we filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request demanding the disclosure of a May 2009 legal memo from the Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). The memo reportedly addresses the constitutional rights that Guantánamo detainees could legally claim during military commission proceedings, as well as the admissibility of statements obtained through coercion in those proceedings.

Pop quiz! This Friday, June 26 is:

A: International Day in Support of Torture Victims
B: The U.N. anniversary of the day the Convention Against Torture came into effect
C: A day to take action and demand accountability for torture
D: All of the above

If you answered "D," you are correct!

The Convention Against Torture (CAT) is the most important international human rights treaty that deals exclusively with torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment.  The treaty went into effect on June 26, 1987, and was ratified by the U.S. in 1994. Countries that have signed the treaty are obligated to prohibit and prevent torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in all circumstances. The treaty also compels governments who ratified it to investigate all allegations of torture, to bring to justice the perpetrators, and to provide a remedy to victims of torture.

In this new video, Jamil Dakwar, Director of the ACLU's Human Rights Program, explains more about international legal standards — including CAT — that criminalize acts of torture, as well as the United States' obligations to seek accountability for torture.

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Given the significance of this date, June 26 has also been named as International Day in Support of Torture Victims, a day to demonstrate solidarity with victims of torture.  Although the U.S. once led the fight against torture around the world, this June 26 we face a different challenge — one that requires this country to face the facts and come to terms with the reality of this country's use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and the abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody that took place over the last eight years.

We hope you'll join us by taking action on June 26 (stay tuned for details), because if we don't demand accountability for the crimes that were in committed in our name, who will?