Friday, August 17, 2007

Bringing Someone to Justice

Despite the bushbaby playpen's devious efforts to deprive him of a trial, despite the fact that most of the charges against him were dropped when it was time to lay them out in a court of law, Padilla has finally met justice.
Sworn jurors, under the eyes of a judge, have, in an American court of law, found the man guilty of those charges brought against him.
This is one of the few correct ways of fighting terrorism and that form of fundamentalism desirous of eliminating justice from the word. This trial is a demonstration of practicing what you preach: equal justice for all in a court of law as a foundation of democracy and civil rights!
It is only a great shame that the playpen stalled on this case, as it is still stalling on so many others today.

Below, excerpts from and links to editorials on the subject in today's papers and then a link to all judicial actions in terrorist cases in the US.


Jose Padilla, symbole des excès de la lutte antiterroriste, a été reconnu coupable
LEMONDE.FR 17.08.07
La Maison Blanche a immédiatement salué cette importante victoire, évoquant une décision "juste". Mais le verdict, qui ne fait pas mention d'un projet d'attentat à la "bombe sale", rappelle toutefois, pour ses opposants, les excès de l'administration Bush dans sa lutte contre le terrorisme.
© Le Monde.fr

Jose Padilla's Due Process
The five-year path to a verdict is an indictment of the administration.
The Wahington Post, Friday, August 17, 2007; Page A22

Does the orderly disposition of Mr. Padilla's court case prove that every terrorism prosecution can and should be channeled through U.S. courts? No, although civil libertarians will make that case, there will be genuine enemy combatants who may not belong in civilian courts. But every person held by the government -- U.S. citizen or not -- must have due process to challenge that detention. The presumption must be that U.S. citizens can rely on the federal courts to oversee their prosecutions. And Mr. Padilla's abhorrent disappearance into limbo should come to be remembered as an aberration never to be repeated.
The New York Times - Editorial
The Padilla Conviction
Published: August 17, 2007
It would be a mistake to see the guilty verdict against Jose Padilla as a vindication for the Bush administration’s serial abuse of the American legal system. [...]
In hailing the verdict yesterday, a White House spokesman thanked the jury for “upholding a core American principle of impartial justice for all.” It is a remarkable statement, since the administration did everything it could to keep Mr. Padilla away from a jury and deny him impartial justice.
After all that, there was still some good news yesterday: a would-be terrorist will be going to jail. And the Bush administration was forced, grudgingly and only at the very end, to provide him with the rights guaranteed by the Constitution.
And, finally, the link to FindLaw's special coverage of the war on terrorism, including
  • Terrorism Cases Prior To Sept. 11th
  • Airplane / Airport Security Cases
  • Civil Cases
  • Criminal Cases (page 1)
  • Criminal Cases (page 2)
  • Hate Crimes Cases
  • Terrorist Hoax Cases

and court documents such as this: American Jose Padilla’s Terrorism Trial / U.S. v. Adham Amin Hassoun, Mohamed Hesham Youssef, Kifah Wael Jayyousi, Kassem Daher, and Jose Padilla: Jury Verdict Form convicting the three defendants on all terror-related charges (HTML) Aug. 16, 2007

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