In October 2005, Mustafa Setmarian Nassar, a Spanish citizen of Syrian origin and an influential Islamic theorist, was apprehended by agents of the Pakistani government and handed over to U.S. officials. Nassar'swife and family have not heard from him since. All evidence points to the fact that Nassar was a target of the "extraordinary rendition" program, and to this day, the United States government has refused to discuss its involvement in Nassar's disappearance. His wife and family do not know where he is located, or if he is alive or dead. For the past four years, his four children have been brought up without their father.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), at the invitation of the Obama administration, recently completed a weeklong visit to various immigration detention facilitates in Texas and Arizona. According to the IACHR, "the purpose of the visit was to gather information from detention officials, detainees and civil society organizations regarding immigration enforcement, detention, and due process issues in the United States."
Throughout this week, representatives from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will visit immigration detention centers in Arizona and Texas, as part of a fact-finding mission to examine U.S. immigration detention conditions and due process rights. The ACLU of Arizona and the ACLU of Texas along with local grassroots organizations will be accompanying and coordinating local meetings in their respective states. The visit, at the invitation of the Obama administration, marks a continued effort on the part of immigrants and human rights advocates who have been working to address egregious human rights violations in U.S. immigration detention system.
Tomorrow morning, the U.N. expert on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and other related forms of intolerance, Githu Muigai, will present his annual report findings on contemporary forms of racism before the Human Rights Council. This is following a fact-finding mission in various countries, which included a visit to the U.S. by Muigai's predecessor, Doudou Diène, that took place in May and June 2008 at the invitation of the Bush administration's State Department.
Today at 3:00 pm, the U.S. House of Representative's Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security will convene a hearing on H.R. 2289, the "Juvenile Justice Accountability and Improvement Act of 2009.” This legislation would deny funding to states that refuse to offer a parole option to juvenile offenders and authorize state grants to improve legal representation for youths charged with life sentences.
On Wednesday, the United Nations independent expert on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Special Rapporteur Philip Alston, made a presentation before the Human Rights Council on U.S. policies and practices that have led to unlawful deaths and other abuses. Alston presented his findings based on a fact-finding mission to the United States in June 2008, when he toured the country and met with federal and local government officials and representatives of non-governmental organizations.
The ACLU has just sent an urgent letter to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to bring his attention to the cruel, inhuman, degrading and unlawful treatment of the 30 hunger striking detainees currently held at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility. The letter urges Secretary Gates to bring an end to the inhumane and unlawful practice of force feeding hunger-striking detainees.
