MB Civic

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/17/opinion/17qassim.html?pagewanted=print

A former Guantanamo detainee – a Chinese “Uighur” – speaks out on the very real possibility of the cessation of habeas corpus for detainees. “Without my American lawyers and habeas corpus, my situation…would still be a secret. I would be sitting in a metal cage today. Habeas corpus helped me to tell the world that Uighurs are not a threat to the United States or the West, but an ally. Habeas corpus cleared my name – and most important, it let my family know that I was still alive.”

His plea: “So I respectfully ask American lawmakers to protect habeas corpus and let justice prevail. Continuing to permit habeas rights to the detainees at Guantanamo will not set the guilty free. It will prove to the world that American democracy is safe and well.”