Home > Programs
> Democracy
Now! > Tues., Feb. 1, 2005
Democracy Now!
ATTN: ALL STATIONS
From: Democracy Now!
Re: Rundown 2-1-05
PRSS Channel: A67.7
EXCLUSIVE: British Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Pierce Says
Torture "Is the Recipe for the Destruction" of International
Human Rights
World Social Forum 2005: Speakers Take on Bush, Iraq War
in Porto Alegre
EXCLUSIVE: British Human Rights Lawyer Gareth Pierce
Says Torture "Is the Recipe for the Destruction"
of International Human Rights
In a Democracy Now! exclusive, we speak with leading British
human rights lawyer, Gareth Pierce. She is the lawyer for
two of the four British citizens recently released from Guantanamo
Bay and has represented the Birmingham Six and Guilford Four.
Actress Emma Thompson played her character in the movie "In
the Name of the Father." In a rare interview, Pierce
says that Guantanamo Bay is evidence of "an appalling
chasm...for the whole of our society morally to have fallen
into."
A federal judge ruled Monday that the military tribunals
set up by the Pentagon to determine the status of men and
women held at Guantanamo Bay are unconstitutional in nature
since they don't allow detainees access to lawyers or to evidence
against them.
More than 540 men and women from 42 countries are still being
held at Guntanamo. The judge wrote the war-on-terror cannot
"negate the existence of the most basic fundamental rights
for which the people of this country have fought and died
for well over two hundred years."
The ruling comes a week after four British citizens were
released without charge from Guantanamo after nearly 3 years
in custody. They are now suing the US government for tens
of millions of dollars in damages. The four are: Moazzam Begg,
Feroz Abbasi, Martin Mubanga and Richard Belmar.
On Democracy Now!, we have covered these cases extensively,
particularly that of Moazzam Begg. He was detained in Pakistan
in 2001 and was imprisoned without charge or trial in Guanatanmo
after being transferred there from a base in Afghanistan.
For nearly two years, he had no contact with fellow prisoners,
denied access to daylight and kept in seclusion
In a 25-page testimony written while in solitary confinement,
Begg accuses the US of threatening his family, killing his
fellow detainees and interrogating him more than 250 times.
The testimony was obtained by the London Independent. Begg
said his interrogation included being shackled and dragged,
having a "suffocating hood" placed on his head and
being struck on the head several times.
Gareth Pierce is the attorney for Moazzam Begg as well as
Richard Belmar. Pierce is one of the leading human rights
lawyers in Britian. She represented the Birmingham Six and
Guilford Four as well as the three other British citizens
released from Guantanamo last year known as the "Tipton
Three". Actress Emma Thompson played her character in
the movie "In the Name of the Father."
This past weekend, I was in England and Ireland as part of
the international "Exception to the Rulers" book
tour. I had the rare opportunity to sit down with Gareth Pierce
in her home for an extended conversation.
- Gareth Pierce, British human rights lawyer.
World Social Forum 2005: Speakers Take on Bush, Iraq
War in Porto Alegre
Over 150,000 participants attended the fifth World Social
Forum in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre. We hear
an address by George Martin of United for Peace and Justice
speaking about the war in Iraq.
The 5th World Social Forum ended Monday at the southern Brazilian
city of Porto Alegre. Over 150,000 participants attended six-days
of conferences workshops and panel discussions tackling a
vast spectrum of issues ranging from environmental conservation
to global poverty to the war in Iraq.
Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez joined with thousands of activists who
attended the forum. The World Social Forum was designed to
counter the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland.
George Martin, from United for Peace and Justice was one
of the many speakers at the forum. He spoke on a panel made
up of voices from the United States, addressing the World
Social Forum on the war in Iraq.
For a copy of today’s program, call 1 (800) 881 2359.
Our website is www.democracynow.org.
Our email address is mail@democracynow.org.
Democracy Now! is produced by Mike Burke, Sharif Abdel Kouddous,
Ana Nogueira, Elizabeth Press, Jeremy Scahill and Parvez Sharma.
Mike Di Filippo is our engineer.
Thanks also to Uri Galed, Angela Alston, Orlando Richards,
Simba Russeau, Johnny Sender, Rich Kim, Joe Murgio, John Randolph,
Chris Zucker, Karen Ranucci, Denis Moynihan, Eric Rweyemamu,
Jenny Filipazzo and Isis Phillips.
|
Listen
to the show
Help
whole
show
