April 4, 2011 - Human Rights Watch

(New York) - The Obama administration's decision to prosecute the five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States before a military commission is a serious setback for justice, Human Rights Watch said today. Reversing his November 2009 announcement that the men would be tried in federal court in New York, Attorney General Eric Holder announced on April 4, 2011 that the suspects will face trials before a military commission at Guantanamo Bay.

"The Obama administration has squandered a key opportunity to reject the unlawful counterterrorism policies of the past," said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. "It has sacrificed fundamental protections under the US constitution and international law in what may be the single most important case of President Obama's tenure." Continue reading...