Topic: The Law
Your Police State at Work Protecting You. Secret Court Proceedings Make Us All Safe
I came across this at TalkLeft.com and found it odd. But perhaps it is only of interest to the two lawyers I know who sometimes log on here.
Mohamed Kamel Bellahouel was secretly jailed after the Sept. 11 attacks. His court case was kept secret. It's now before the Supreme Court. According to The Washington Post the Bush Administration has filed a request to continue to keep his case secret. More than 20 media organizations have filed requests to open the proceedings.
According to the Post:
Justices sometimes are asked to keep parts of cases private because of information sensitive for national security or other reasons, but it's unusual for an entire filing to be kept secret.Behind the Homefront: The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has much more on the case.
Lucy A. Dalglish, executive director of The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said she was disappointed by the government's request. "The idea that there is nothing that could be filed publicly is really ridiculous," she said. "It just emphasizes our point that we're living in frightening times. People can be arrested, thrown in jail and have secret court proceedings, and we know absolutely nothing about it."
The case is The case is M.K.B. v. Warden, 03-6747.
Posted by Alan at 20:15 PST
|
Post Comment |
Permalink
Updated: Monday, 5 January 2004 21:09 PST
home