HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST RIGHTS WIRE E MAIL NEWSLETTER 1FEB11

STORIES and updates from Human Rights First on Egypt, the murder of David Kato in Uganda, the terrorism trial and sentencing of ahmed ghailani in NYC, and internet censorship in the prc....

HRF'S E-NEWSLETTER

February 1st, 2011

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From Our President and CEO» What's in Store for Egypt?» Homophobia in Uganda Fuels Tragic Murder» Sentencing of Ex-Guantanamo Detainee in NYC Shows Federal Courts Work» Tear Down the Great Firewall!» Winning Human Rights Quote» HRF in the News» From the President and CEO In recent days we've seen dramatic developments in two countries where Human Rights First does extensive work. In Egypt, citizens are taking to the streets to demand human rights. And in Uganda, amid a climate of hatred and fear, a leading gay rights activist was brutally murdered. For many years, we've been partnering with activists in both Egypt and Uganda, amplifying their voices and working to protect them from persecution. And we've been pressing the United States government to use its influence to advance human rights in both countries. Now—as homophobic violence claims the life of a human rights champion and the protests in Egypt intensify—we are redoubling our efforts to help citizens in each country gain the freedoms to which they're entitled. Thank you for your ongoing support, which makes this work possible. You can help today by signing our petition to Ugandan President Museveni. What's in Store for Egypt? Human Rights First has been working with frontline activists in Egypt for decades—including some who spent years in jail for the cause of democracy, and human rights. And what is happening right now—hundreds of thousands of protestors in the streets, facing off their corrupt, authoritarian leader—shows that the steady drumbeat for freedom will not be silenced. Egyptians deserve basic human rights and an end to repression. Mubarak responded to these demands with violence. More than 100 protestors have died. He shut down all means of communication in his power—Twitter, cell phones, then the entire Internet. Mubarak's actions have demonstrated that he's not fit to rule in a way that meets the legitimate interests of Egyptians. The Obama Administration has belatedly and tentatively recognized the need for change. What's needed now—and what the United States should demand—is a transition plan from the Egyptian government that will reestablish order, schedule free elections, and ensure that basic rights are respected. And the United States should make clear that if the Egyptian army uses force against protestors, it will suspend military aid immediately. Listen to Gamal Eid, one of the voices for change in Egypt. He and others have been muted by this recent crackdown—but they will not be silenced. Help support our work by making a donation today. Homophobia in Uganda Fuels Tragic Murder Last year in Uganda there was a threat to human rights in the form of a bill that would've made homosexuality punishable by death. Joining with other human rights groups and with frontline activists, we helped to block the bill. But the hatred behind it persists. Last week David Kato, Uganda's most prominent gay rights activist, was found dead in his home. An intruder had beaten him to death with a hammer. A Ugandan paper had recently featured 100 prominent gay men on its front page under the headline "Hang Them." David Kato was one of them. As Ugandan LGBTI advocate Julius Kaggwa said in his acceptance speech at our Human Rights Award Dinner in October, being homosexual in Uganda is a "death sentence." Sadly, his words were prophetic. Working with Julius, we will intensify our efforts to fight intolerance in Uganda and do all we can to protect those at risk. Help us put pressure on Ugandan President Museveni to ensure Kato's murderer comes to justice—and to make sure that the bill that would mete out death sentences for being gay is shelved for good. Take action now! Sentencing of Ex-Guantanamo Detainee in NYC Shows Federal Courts Work "This case was tried well, it was tried efficiently, it was tried properly," the judge in the federal court trial of former Gitmo detainee Ahmed Ghailani said. That's also what HRF's Daphne Eviatar said throughout the trial, which she monitored closely and reported on at our blog. Last week, Ghailani was sentenced to life in prison in a federal court in Manhattan. In Sunday's Chicago Tribune, General Joseph Hoar and General Charles Krulak, two leading members of the group of retired admirals and generals who have partnered with HRF to make sure that the United States' national security policies conform with our laws and values, ask: "Where is President Obama's will to win? Close Guantanamo now." Watch our video spoofing what fearmongers had to say about this sentence. Hint: crickets. Since Federal Courts get the job done, ask your members of Congress why they are blocking these trials. Tear Down the Great Firewall! It took two questions to get an answer from Chinese President Hu Jintao about China's human rights record. His first answer was that he didn't hear the question. As HRF's Elisa Massimino said on Fox News immediately following the White House press conference: "Could there be a more striking metaphor for China and human rights?" Watch Elisa Massimino on Fox and listen to our podcast on the Great Firewall of China. Winning Human Rights Quote On Human Rights Day, we asked you to vote on your favorite human rights quote. The winner, by a wide margin, was Martin Luther King Jr: "True peace is not merely the absence of tension, it is the presence of justice."  HRF in the News Commenting on the Egyptian government's shutdown of the Internet at MSNBC, HRF's Neil Hicks makes clear that a crack down on Internet communication is a violation of human rights because it's a violation of the right of free speech. On January 6, in a letter to the editors at the Washington Post "Obama needs a stronger strategy on human rights," Elisa Massimino argued that the U.S. is taking a dangerous path in Pakistan, China, and Egypt in its (lack of) human rights strategy. On the Ghailani trial—and the question of evidence that was excluded because it was out of torture—HRF's Dixon Osburn was clear: "When it came to the issue of torture, the court clearly ruled against it." And he added: "Even with that, the jury got a conviction."—CNN

Gitmo Detainee Gets Life in NYC Court from HUMAN RIGHTS FIRST 27JAN11

CLICK the header or the links to join Human Rights First in calling on Congress to stop blocking federal trials for Gitmo detainees...

Watch our "Silence of the Fearmongers" video spoof. And write your member of Congress to ask why they're obstructing justice for 9/11 by blocking the closing of Gitmo. A federal court in Manhattan sentenced a former Guantanamo detainee, Ahmed Ghailani, to life in prison on Tuesday. So, why did Congress block transfers of Guantanamo detainees to the United States for federal court trial? It was certainly not based on facts. Watch our latest "Fight Fear" video which spoofs some of the critics of federal court trials who claimed that if Guantanamo detainees were tried in federal court there would be chaos. Watch our video, and help us fight back with the facts by writing your member of Congress The sentence of Ahmed Ghailani—to serve more years in prison than all detainees tried in contested military commissions proceedings combined—only proves once more the foolishness of that legislation. Federal courts have convicted more suspected terrorists than military commissions (over 400 vs. 5). Federal trials have done it more quickly. With stiffer sentences. Furthermore, trying terrorism suspects in military commissions—calling them "warriors"—dignifies them and is disrespectful of the real warriors who serve in America's military. So why are we listening to fearmongering, and not the facts? Blocking federal court trials for Guantanamo detainees is equivalent to obstructing justice. Write today to tell your member of Congress that federal courts can handle the Guantanamo cases—and Ghailani's sentencing only proves it. The legislation expires in September. It's critical that we show Congress, between now and then, that the decision to block these trials is foolish. Help us put the pressure on. Thanks for your help. Sincerely, C. Dixon Osburn Director, Law and Security Program

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Gitmo detainee Ghailani gets life sentence in embassy plot from WASHINGTON POST 25JAN11

JUST as the trial in New York City never produced the security and terrorism threats tea-baggers and right wing fanatics predicted, this sentence by the FEDERAL COURT proves again the federal court system is the best way to prosecute the Gitmo detainees. Justice has been served, this is a victory for America and for our civil rights and civil liberties. The only ones who oppose the justice of the American judicial system are the military-industrial complex, the politicians they have paid for and those right wing fanatics and tea-baggers who spread lies and propaganda of fear and hate, as so end up being a greater threat to our Republic than the terrorist themselves. For more on this trial and the issue of trying terrorist in federal court see my earlier post on this blog GITMO TRIAL HITS NYC, MANHATTAN YAWNS (WATCH THE VIDEO) 24OKT10, AHMED GHAILANI, GITMO DETAINEE, ACQUITTED OF ALL BUT 1 CHARGE IN NY 17NOV10, and FACTS ON TRYING TERROR SUSPECTS IN FEDERAL COURT 18NOV10. From the Washington Post....
By Peter Finn


The first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in U.S. federal court under the Obama administration was sentenced to life in prison Tuesday for his role in the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings.
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said the sentencing of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a 36-year-old Tanzanian, was a vindication of the "strength of the American justice system."
"As this case demonstrates," Holder said in a statement, "we will not rest in bringing to justice terrorists who seek to harm the American people, and we will use every tool available to the government to do so."
But opponents of closing the Guantanamo prison, who favor the use of military commissions to try terrorism suspects, said the trial exposed the real risk of acquittal when detainees are brought into civilian court.
"The punishment fits the crime," said Kirk Lippold, a senior fellow at Military Families United and former commander of the USS Cole, which was attacked by al-Qaeda in 2000. "What cannot be forgotten from this trial is that the verdict handed down in November represented a mockery of justice and is further proof that civilian trials for enemy combatants are a foolish and misguided strategy."
Ghailani was convicted of one count of conspiracy to destroy government buildings but was acquitted of 284 other counts of murder and conspiracy. The nearly simultaneous attacks on U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and began al-Qaeda's assault on U.S. interests.
"It was a cold-blooded killing and maiming of innocent people on an enormous scale," said U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, speaking to a packed courtroom in Manhattan, according to the Associated Press. "The purpose of the crime was to create terror by causing death and destruction on a scale that was hard to imagine in 1998 when it occurred."
The courtroom included survivors and relatives of the victims, both African and American. "It was a very emotional hearing," said Daphne Eviatar of Human Rights First, who was at the sentencing.
James Ndeda of Nairobi, whose skull was fractured in the attack, asked Kaplan to impose one year in prison for each victim.
"Ghailani and his accomplices shattered our lives," said Ndeda, one of 11 victims and relatives who spoke, according to the AP.
The defendant chose not to speak on his own behalf before sentencing. His lawyers had portrayed him as an unwitting dupe of those who organized the attack. But prosecutors said he was a "remorseless terrorist."
Ghailani was first brought to the United States in June 2009, just a few months after Obama issued an executive order calling for the closure of the military detention center in Cuba within 12 months. Bipartisan political opposition on Capitol Hill has almost completely overwhelmed that plan, and no other federal trials of Guantanamo detainees are expected, at least not before the next presidential election.
Civil liberties groups said the Obama administration should draw courage from the Ghailani verdict to revitalize its original plan to close Guantanamo.
"Federal courts are not only the right place but the most effective place to prosecute terrorism suspects," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project. "As the Obama administration reportedly considers prosecuting some terrorism suspects in the illegitimate military commissions, we hope it will heed the lesson of the Ghailani case - federal courts work, military commissions don't."
But Charles D. "Cully" Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs in the George W. Bush administration, said the Ghailani case was no precedent for more federal trials of Guantanamo detainees.
"Unlike every other person at Guantanamo, Ghailani is different," Stimson said. "It is a pre-9/11 case, and almost all of the evidence was gathered before 9/11."
Preet Bharara, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said, "This was a difficult case for a number of reasons." He didn't elaborate, but Ghailani was held in secret custody by the CIA and subjected to coercive interrogations. The prosecution did not try to introduce any of those statements, and a key witness was excluded because the government learned of him from the CIA's questioning of Ghailani.
In the end, Ghailani received the same sentence that he would have if he had been convicted on all counts. He "will never again breathe free air," Bharara said.

Ahmed Ghailani, Gitmo detainee, acquitted of all but 1 charge in NY 17NOV10

JUSTICE has prevailed in America, and in a perversion that is so hypocritical to our Constitution may be used to deny others their civil rights. What a sad commentary on the "land of the free and the home of the brave"!
By Peter Finn
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 17, 2010; 7:04 PM


The first former Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in federal criminal court was found not guilty on Wednesday on all but one of the 285 counts he faced for his role in the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings.
The verdict will likely kill the already fading prospect of putting other Guantanamo detainees on trial in U.S. civilian courts.
After deliberating for five days, a jury of six men and six women found Ahmed Ghailani, 36, guilty of conspiracy to damage or destroy U.S. property, but acquitted him of all 276 counts of murder and attempted murder, as well as other conspiracy charges.
Ghailani, a native of Tanzania, was sent to New York for prosecution in June 2009 in what the Obama administration hoped would be the first case in a series of federal prosecutions of Guantanamo detainees, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four co-conspirators accused of organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
That plan has run into fierce, cross-party opposition in Congress and New York. The failure to convict Ghailani on the most serious terrorism charges will bolster the arguments of those who say that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay should be kept open, both to host military commissions for some prisoners and hold others indefinitely under the laws of war.
Ghailani still could be sentenced to life in prison, and faces a minimum of 20 years, according to the Justice Department. But the verdict was a blow to administration officials who were quietly confident that Ghailani would be found guilty on all charges, despite the judge's ruling against the government on a key issue. Just last week, a senior administration official said a not guilty verdict would be a "disaster" for the administration's Guantanamo policy.

Gitmo Trial Hits NYC; Manhattan Yawns (WATCH THE VIDEO) from HRF 1OKT10

BY THE BY, the terrorism trial of Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani has been going on in Federal Court in NYC WITHOUT ANY TERRORIST ATTACKS ON THE CITY, AND WITHOUT THE CITY BEING PARALYZED BY MASSIVE SECURITY BY THE GOVERNMENT OR FEAR AMONG CITY RESIDENTS, WORKERS AND TOURIST. This from Human Rights First.......

New Keep America Afraid video documents the "mayhem" caused by NYC terrorism trial. Watch the video and spread to your friends! Did you know that a Guantánamo detainee is currently on trial in New York City? Yep. Most people don't. And those who do, don't care. Human Rights First went to the scene of the federal court house in downtown Manhattan today to check in on New Yorkers' reactions to the first Guantánamo trial in New York. No big deal. We ate our bagels, drank our coffee, and hurried on to work. Watch our video reporting from the scene. Ahmed Ghailani, a former Guantánamo detainee, is charged with plotting with Al Qaeda in the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa that killed 224 people. Not a nice guy. Former Mayor Giuliani says these trials will make New York unsafe, even though as Mayor he supported the federal court trial of the blind sheik who bombed the World Trade Center. Karl Rove said, "we will see that this was an utter unmitigated disaster for the security of the United States." Yet, our federal courts have convicted 400 terrorists since 9/11, while Guantánamo has convicted only 4. Politics based on fear rather then national security do not serve the public. Here was the scene around the federal court house for the Ghailani trial: The streets were not blocked off. There were no legions of helicopters. Those who live and work near the court did not stay away. The police didn't need an extra dime for added security. New York courts and police have done the drill many times. It is just no big deal. Help us spread the word about this trial, and the nonevent it turned out to be. Watch our video and forward it to your networks! Sincerely, C. Dixon Osburn Director, Law and Security Program

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