Blog of Rights
Jamil
Dakwar

Jamil Dakwar is the Director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Human Rights Program (HRP) which is dedicated to holding the U.S. government accountable to its international human rights obligations and commitments.  He leads a team of lawyers and advocates who use a human rights framework to complement existing ACLU legal and legislative advocacy primarily in the areas of counter-terrorism, racial justice, immigrants’ rights, women’s rights, and criminal and juvenile justice. HRP conducts human rights research, documentation and public education, as well as engages in litigation and advocacy before U.S. courts and international human rights bodies.

HRP’s docket includes both domestic lawsuits and petitions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of individuals sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were children; victims and survivors of torture, forced disappearance, trafficking and domestic violence; disenfranchised felons; domestic workers and low-wage undocumented immigrants; as well as a challenge to the Oklahoma constitutional amendment banning the use of Sharia and international law. Jamil also serves as the ACLU Main Representative to the United Nations, and has testified before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, United Nations human rights bodies, and the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe (OSCE), about human rights violations in the U.S.

Prior to joining the ACLU in 2004, Jamil worked at Human Rights Watch, where he conducted research, advocated, and published reports on issues of torture and detention in Egypt, Morocco, Israel, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Before coming to the United States, he was a senior attorney with Adalah, a leading human rights group in Israel, where he filed and argued human rights cases before Israeli courts and advocated before international forums. He is a graduate of Tel Aviv University and NYU School of Law.

05/16/2006

"The Mouth That Prohibits Is the Mouth That Permits"

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 9:37am
Guantanamo military commission proceedings will resume tomorrow in the case of U.S. v. Abdul Zahir. It's very hot and humid down here in Guantanamo and the heat is only expected to exacerbate by the end of June and early July when the Supreme Court delivers its decision with respect to the legality of the military commissions.

Last Fr
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04/07/2006

Impartiality and AG Gonzales

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 5:59pm

After a long voir dire hearing, the defense team decided to challenge the presiding officer's fitness and impartiality on two grounds: 1) his extensive search and research of media articles regarding the case, in violation of the model code for judicial conduct; 2) his pending job application with the Justice Department for a position as an immigration law judge.

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04/07/2006

"Excuse Me, Mr. Judge"

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 10:54am

Thursday’s long hearing started with a dramatic statement read by Omar Khadr. Lt. Col. Colby Vokey, his assigned military lawyer, asked the presiding officer to allow Omar to make a short statement. Mr. Khadr — who looked much older than 19 — read in English from a handwritten note:

"Excuse me Mr. Judge I'm being punished for exercising my right and being cooperative in participating in this military commission. . For that I say with my respect to you and everybody else here that I’m boycotting these procedures until I be treated humanely and fair."
You can also see an image of Mr. Khadr's handwritten statement on the Miami Herald Web site.

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04/05/2006

Questions for the Presiding Officer

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 4:53pm

The four pages of charges against Mr. Zahir contain very little detail regarding the attack on the car. But they are replete with information about al Qaida and its terrorist mission and plans, and about Mr. Zahir’s work as a translator for the Taliban and his other services to al Qaida.

It’s ironic that while Mr. Zahir worked as a translator for the Taliban, in Tuesday's hearing there was no official translation to Farsi available to him. Despite his prolonged detention at Guantánamo and the fact he was designated as entitled to a trial almost 2 years ago, Mr. Zahir received the written charges against him in English, Arabic and Peshtu but not in his native Farsi.

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04/05/2006

"Judging" Abdul Zahir

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 9:17am

Tuesday was the first appearance of Abdul Zahir before the military commission. Mr. Zahir is 35-year-old Afghani who was designated eligible to face this military commission by President Bush in 2004. But he was only formally charged this year, in February 2006.

Mr. Zahir walked slowly into the commission room escorted by military personnel, his hands shackled. He sat next to the defense interpreter and military defense counsel, Lt. Col. Thomas Bogar. Unlike most of the prisoners who have appeared before the commission, he did not have a civilian counsel (though he later he may ask for one in the future). According to the commission rules, prisoners facing charges are entitled to a free military defense counsel and unpaid civilian attorney who must be a U.S. citizen with appropriate security clearance.

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04/04/2006

Treatment of Young Prisoners and Detainees

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 5:06pm

One of the cases before the military commission this week is the case of Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen who was 15-year-old when he was detained in Bagram, Afghanistan in July 2002. He was transferred to Guantánamo in October 2002 and held without charges until November 2005. Omar was held for 40 months in solitary confinement, and according to his lawyers was subjected to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment at the hands of U.S. military personnel in both Bagram and Guantánamo.

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04/04/2006

No Resort

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 2:19pm

On my way to Guantánamo, I read the front page Washington Post story about Bisher al-Rawi and Jamil el-Banna, two permanent UK residents who were abducted and disappeared in Gambia by U.S. intelligence officers in 2002. They were unlawfully rendered to the U.S. military airbase in Bagram, Afghanistan before being sent to Guantánamo, where they continue to be held without charges or fair trials.

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04/04/2006

Gitmo Hearings Resume

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 11:27am

As Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice concludes a visit to Iraq and the UK, amid increasing opposition to U.S. policies, and with the Supreme Court challenge to the Guantánamo military tribunals pending a final decision, the military commission hearings are resuming here this week.

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11/09/2004

"The President Is Not a Tribunal"

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 12:00pm

Today was an exceptionally dramatic day at the U.S. naval base in Guantánamo. The Military Commission abruptly halted its session about 40 minutes into pre-trial arguments in the case of Mr. Salim Hamdan, who was charged in July 2004 with conspiracy to commit terrorism. Everyone in the Commission's hall was stunned when the presiding judge, Colonel Peter Brownback III, after briefly adjourning the hearing, returned seven minutes later to announce that the proceeding would go into recess "indefinitely."

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11/07/2004

Hamdan's First Military Commission

By Jamil Dakwar, Director, ACLU Human Rights Program at 12:00pm

After staying less than 24 hours in Guantánamo Bay you start to be more appreciative for your freedom of movement while off the Naval Base. As representatives of human rights groups, however, we agreed to the military 'ground rules' that limit our freedom of movement here, in order to observe the trials of persons who are denied their basic human rights. Only four of the 550 Guantánamo detainees were 'privileged' so far to face charges before a Military Commission. This Military Commission was created by a Presidential Order signed in November 2001. The order essentially creates an extra-judicial system for the "detention, treatment and trial of certain non-citizens in the war against terror," in violation, we believe, of United States and international law.

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