The FIDH and the LDH remain vigilant about the treatment granted to these four men at their arrival on the French territory. Apparently, they will not be allowed to communicate with their lawyers for another seventy-two hours pursuant to the French law on the repression of terrorism.
The FIDH and the LDH recall their reservations about the French antiterrorist laws. As from 1999, they denounced these texts1, which keep being reinforced since then. The former detainees of Guantanamo must not be subjected to new restrictions of their fundamental rights.
Concerning the prisoners still detained in Guantanamo
The FIDH and the LDH remain chocked by the unlimited and arbitrary detention of hundreds of persons on the Guantanamo American base. Even if a recent decision of the American Supreme Court recognized that federal courts have jurisdiction to decide on the legality of the detention of foreigners in Guantanamo2, a lot remains to be done to restore the rule of law and the most elementary standards of international law in this fundamental rights’ no man’s land.
In this respect, the Pentagon’s decision to entrust military courts with the Guantanamo detainees’ recourses will probably not address the issues raised by the Supreme Court.
The FIDH and the LDH call upon United States’ authorities to grant Guantanamo detainees with all the fundamental rights, without waiting for the end of the proceedings initiated before the American courts. Notably, these prisoners must have access to an independent civil court with full jurisdiction to decide on the principle as well as on the conditions of their detention.