* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty

International *

15 November 2001

AMR 51/165/2001

202/01

Amnesty International is deeply troubled by the Military Order

signed by President George W. Bush on 13 November allowing for

the trial by special military commissions of non-US citizens

suspected of involvement in "international terrorism."

Since the attacks in the USA on 11 September, Amnesty

International has been calling for anyone suspected of

involvement in these crimes to be brought to justice in

accordance with international standards for a fair trial. This

sweeping presidential order bypasses those fundamental

principles, in contravention of US obligations under

international law, specifically the International Covenant on

Civil and Political Rights, ratified by the USA in 1992. As

such it is unacceptable and should be revoked.

Amnesty International is particularly concerned that the

Military Order:

- is discriminatory by affording foreign nationals a lower

standard of justice than US nationals;

- gives unfettered and unchallengeable discretionary power to the

executive to decide whom will be prosecuted and under what rules,

as well as to review convictions and sentences. This is

inconsistent with the principle of the separation of the

executive and the judiciary;

- expressly bypasses the normal principles of law and rules of

evidence applied in the trials of people charged with criminal

offences in the US courts;

- provides no right of appeal against conviction or sentence to a

higher court, or access to redress for any human rights

violations that may occur during arrest, detention or prosecution;

Amnesty International believes that the Military Order

creates a parallel system which violates fundamental principles

of justice in any circumstances, including in times of war. For

example, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, ratified by the USA in

1955, require that prisoners of war must be tried in courts which

guarantee fundamental rights of fairness, including the right of

appeal.

Amnesty International is particularly alarmed that the

death penalty may be imposed by such a tribunal. International

standards require that the legal process in any capital

proceedings provide "all possible safeguards" to ensure a fair

trial, including the right to appeal.

The Military Order creates the risk that people may be

executed after a trial conducted by a court whose decision cannot

be appealed but only reviewed by the executive who selected the

individual for prosecution in the first place.

Amnesty International believes that the Military Order

threatens to severely undermine, rather than reinforce,

confidence in the administration of justice and maintenance of

the rule of law. The organization considers that in proceedings

undertaken pursuant to this order, justice will neither be done,

nor seen to be done.

Times of crisis pose particular challenges to

governments. It is precisely in such times that the principles

of fair justice must be scrupulously upheld. The suffering of

the victims of the attacks of 11 September, their families, and

the public at large, deserves no less.