Contact: Carol Gregory, [email protected], 202-675-8759
(Washington, DC) – Amnesty International USA Executive Director Suzanne Nossel responds to reports that earlier today Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) offered an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) requiring the Obama administration to create another Guantanamo-like prison overseas:
“Senator Ayotte’s call for another Guantanamo — a new human rights free zone — is irresponsible and unnecessary. Military and intelligence experts repeatedly assert that terrorism suspects are most effectively tried by U.S. federal courts. The Senate should focus its efforts on addressing the detention provisions in the NDAA that must be amended in order to end indefinite detention and support closure of the Guantanamo prison. It is time for the U.S. government to stop using the flawed doctrine of unending ‘global war’ to justify human rights violations.”
Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.