Contact: Sharon Singh, [email protected], 202-509-8194
(Washington, DC) Amnesty International issued the following statement in response to President Barack Obama signing the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) into law:
"Despite expressing serious reservations, the Obama administration has paved the way for legislation that will authorize indefinite detention. The bill places enormous power in the hands of future Presidents, and the only answer the President has is to say "trust me."
"Once any government has the authority to hold people indefinitely, the risk is that it can be almost impossible to rein such power in. President Obama has failed to take the one action – a veto – that would have blocked the dangerous provisions in the NDAA. In so doing, he has allowed human rights to be further undermined and given Al Qaeda a propaganda victory."
Amnesty International and over 45 other organizations will protest the NDAA and Guantanamo in front of the White House on January 11–the 10th anniversary of the "war on terror" prison. Sign up at https://www.amnestyusa.org/jan11.
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 and dignity are denied.