The US has continued to hold a number of prisoners without charges in secret prisons and Guantanamo Bay even though the UN Committee on Human Rights has called for all secret detention facilities to be closed and for all prisoners to be allowed the protection of the law.
The Bush administration recently decided that all prisoners had to be treated according to Geneva Conventions minimums, after a Supreme Court ruling that said that all prisoners were protected under them. Many remain, without charges, held against their will. The US has maintained that the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights did not extend to matters relating to terrorism. The war on terror gives the US the right to declare anyone a "terrorist" and treat them however they want, in order to better keep us free.
The Merriam-Webster definition of "kidnap" is "to seize and detain or carry away by unlawful force or fraud and often with a demand for ransom." The US has certainly seized and detained these prisoners. If the US constitution provides for fair trial (like it does), and they have been denied this right, then it is unlawful. The media has (justifiably) expressed outrage over the kidnapping of Westerners as horrible acts that cannot be allowed, but what of the detentions and abuse of people not given the chance to defend themselves in court? We cannot be a symbol of freedom and equality if everyone is not treated equally and fairly.
Tags: Politics, Current Events, Current Affairs, Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Geneva Conventions, Fair Trial, Bush
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