U.S. Citizen Caught in Afghanistan Gets Lawyer Visit

[stevedeshazer]

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan and detained for more than two years without charges saw a lawyer for the first time on Tuesday in a meeting closely monitored by his military guards.

Frank Dunham, a federal public defender, said he spent about an hour with Yaser Esam Hamdi inside a South Carolina navy base, but could not disclose what his client said since everything Hamdi says is classified.

"I'm not allowed to discuss anything that he said to me. That's one of the rules and conditions for seeing him," Dunham told reporters outside the gate of the Charleston Naval Weapons Station.

Hamdi, who was born in the United States to Saudi parents and raised in Saudi Arabia, has been designated an "enemy combatant" and held without charge.

more: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4274656
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The article goes on to say that Hamdi and his attorney were not afforded a private conversation, and that their interchange was videotaped and witnessed by a naval officer. Anyone who thinks the USA PATRIOT Act is benign should read this...we're talking about a US citizen here.

1. here's the case

http://www.eurolegal.org/pdf/hamdirums100103pet.pdf






Also you can find a more recent case
Brief in Rasul, et al. v. Bush, et al.
which is about the same issues at
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=14704&c=206#FileAttach

[stevedeshazer]

2. Thanks, 56kid

I hadn't seen this.

3. sure thing, the more people who read it, the better

It scares me because of how much the Executive is overreaching, but it makes me optimistic because there is so much judicial precedent to ensure liberties which is eloquently detailed in the petition.

[CHIMO]

4. Benign?

Definitely not. I would say it was downright unsportsmanlike!