By: Julie Hysenaj
The Obama administration is considering exemptions for people who have been mislabeled "terrorists" under U.S. immigration laws. This is Julie's story.
Arben is from Kosovo. When I married him, he was applying for asylum in the United States. When he was told he had to...
Posted November 3, 2011 | 11/3/11
Next week, I'll be on the ground in Guantanamo as Abd al Rahim Hussayn Muhammad al-Nashiri will be arraigned before a U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for his alleged role in the USS Cole bombing, the USS The Sullivans attempted bombing, and the bombing of a French civilian...
Posted July 8, 2011 | 7/8/11
As revelations and speculations concerning the sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, continue to play out in the media, some attention has turned to the U.S. asylum system because of allegedly dishonest claims his accuser made...
Posted June 30, 2011 | 6/30/11
Adam Jacobson
Program Assistant, Law and Security
For the past two weeks, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has waged a campaign of fear and inaccuracy in an attempt to discredit our nation's federal courts and their ability to try terrorism suspects. He would rather have their trials in the flawed...
Posted June 16, 2011 | 6/16/11
By Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security Program
Almost a decade after reports of death and abuse of detainees in U.S. custody at Abu Ghraib and other sites came to light, the prosecutor appointed to look into some of these serious, criminal allegations...
Posted June 13, 2011 | 6/13/11
Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security
Once again, the Obama administration shirked its legal and moral responsibility to ensure torture victims are provided an enforceable remedy when it advised the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear a case brought by Iraqi detainees tortured by private military contractors...
2 Comments | Posted May 27, 2011 | 5/27/11
By Winny Chen
U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Princeton Lyman will head to the Sudan this week in an effort to stem renewed fighting between northern and southern forces. As the United States works with international partners to prevent the current crisis from escalating into another full-fledged civil war, it...
Posted May 24, 2011 | 5/24/11
By Melina Milazzo
Pennoyer Fellow, Law and Security Program
Recent news that Blackwater founder and bad boy, Erik Prince, is creating an American-led mercenary army in the United Arab Emirates is a bleak reminder of how Blackwater became the poster child for the unaccountable, gun-slinging...
Posted April 21, 2011 | 4/21/11
By Meg Roggensack; Senior Advisory, Business and Human Rights
With President Obama fresh off a visit to Facebook Headquarters in Silicon Valley for a town hall meeting on the role of social media in politics, the social networking company is considering investments in China, a country whose government wants social...
Posted April 19, 2011 | 4/19/11
by Joe Navarro
Has the CIA been displaced from its rightful role as global terrorist jailer and interrogator, a shift that may make the United States less safe as a result? Those reading Ken Dilanian's recent Los Angeles Times story "CIA has slashed its terrorism interrogation role" may have...
Posted March 18, 2011 | 3/18/11
By Gabor Rona
International Legal Director
Drone strikes conducted by the United States in Pakistan are an increasingly hot flash point in relations between the two countries. This week, a drone strike is reported to have killed approximately 40 people. The New York Times reports that it...
Posted March 16, 2011 | 3/16/11
At 10:00 a.m. Thursday, in Courtroom 201 of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, a lawyer for the president who campaigned on the closure of Guantanamo and the end to the discredited military commissions will argue to the United States Court of Military Commission Review in support of the...
Posted March 8, 2011 | 3/8/11
The International Community Should Condemn Attacks On African Migrants and Refugees in Libya and Urge Libyan Forces not to Block Departures
On Monday March 7, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed a steep drop in the number of individuals leaving...
Posted February 18, 2011 | 2/18/11
"I have never been a member of al Qaeda or the Taliban." These are the words of Noor Uthman Muhammed, read to a panel of military commission members charged with helping decide his fate as he remains in Guantanamo, where he has been held for almost nine years. Referred to...
Posted February 16, 2011 | 2/16/11
In theNew York Times, reporters James Glanz and John Markoff investigate the actions that led to Egypt's Internet shutdown from Jan 27 - Feb 2. They argue that the primary targets of the Egyptian Government were the international fiber optic connections that connect Egypt with the rest of...
Posted February 8, 2011 | 2/8/11
Posted January 28, 2011 | 1/28/11
By Meg Roggensack,
Senior Advisor, Business and Human Rights Program
Organizers of mass protests against repressive governments in Tunisia and Egypt relied on Facebook to get the word out. Photos of protestors in Egypt showed posters with Mark Zuckerberg as their hero. And then the government turned off the...
Posted January 25, 2011 | 1/25/11
Raha Wala
Georgetown Fellow, Law and Security
Proponents of trying individuals in military commissions are all but declaring victory after the Obama administration cleared the way for new cases to be brought in the Guantanamo war crimes tribunals. Marc Thiessen speculates that the case of Ahmed...
Posted December 20, 2010 | 12/20/10
Gabor Rona
International Legal Director
To paraphrase H.L Mencken, no one ever went broke underestimating how low a politician will go to gain an advantage.
Exhibit A: Vice President Joseph Biden, who likens Wikileaks honcho Julian Assange to a "high-tech terrorist."
What...
Posted December 15, 2010 | 12/15/10
By Pamela Takiff
Advisor, Fighting Discrimination Program
Last month, on November 8, a Pakistani woman from Punjab was sentenced to death by hanging under section 295-C of the country's blasphemy code - which carries a mandatory death sentence for defaming the Prophet Mohammed. Aasia Bibi, a...

1 Comments | Posted February 3, 2012 | 2/3/12