Is it really necessary to sacrifice fair trial standards
to prosecute terrorism?

The current U.S.-led war on terror has triggered a debate, not only in the U.S. but also around the world, about whether and to what extent the right to a fair trial may be compromised in the name of security.

We asked human rights lawyers and practitioners to give us their input as to whether it is truly necessary to sacrifice fair trial standards to prosecute terrorism. Does the threat of terrorism make the existing standards outdated or irrelevant? Are federal courts in the U.S. up to the challenge of handling such cases? Here is what they had to say.

  • Bartram Brown: "Ultimately, our security and self-preservation requires not only physical survival but also the maintenance of the legal standards, checks and balances that are the foundation of the rule of law ..." | More »

  • Phillip Carter: "In the past two decades, federal criminal courts have handled cases involving domestic terrorists (United States v. McVeigh), notorious international narcotraffickers (United States v. Noriega), and even senior leaders from Al Qaeda (United States v. Bin Laden, tried in absentia) ..." | More »

  • Benjamim B. Ferencz: "In principle, every human being is always entitled to fair and humane treatment. Even the Nuremberg defendants, accused of murdering millions of innocent people were given a fair trial." | More »

  • Paul Hoffman: "The dramatic photographs of abuses at Abu Ghraib should be a constant reminder of what happens when the rule of law is abandoned in the fight against those who wish to do us harm." | More »

  • Joseph Margulies: "... When thinking about the administration's detention policy, I encourage you not to focus on the legal justifications because legal justifications are insignificant. Focus on the policy, the policy to put people beyond the reach of the law." | More »

  • David Weissbrodt: "Not only is it unnecessary to violate fair trial standards in order to bring terrorists to justice, but it would violate the international legal obligations of the United States." | More »

  • Rick Wilson: "In my view, the true purpose of the original system for military commissions was to assure that the accused received a less fair trial than one by court-martial or the standard criminal trial." | More »