Expanding the right to detain and torture
Minnesota Daily, MN In a hasty attempt to win elections, Congress takes a jab at the Constitution.
Congress has passed the military tribunal bill - a piece of legislation that abrogates crucial elements of international law and institutes incomplete definitions of torture.
One of the most debated components of the legislation is the right for detainees to receive habeas corpus. Habeas corpus allows the defendant to have the right to challenge the imprisonment. However, efforts to amend the military trials bill to include habeas corpus rights were blocked, and detainees no longer have the right to challenge their imprisonment.
The new legislation questions the process of judicial review by preventing and denying courts from viewing information from military courts with the exception of the verdicts by military tribunals. In this bill, information obtained from torture and other coercive measures may be used in court.
Furthermore, the bill also includes a narrow definition of what can be considered torture. The notion of cruel and unusual punishment is defined so loosely that it only includes “severe” mental and physical pain. Interestingly, the new bill is structured in a way that rape does not even fall into the category of torture. [more]