Law students defend POW in Guantanamo Bay
Salim Ahmed Hamdan is a detainee at Guantanamo Bay. He is considered a high-value target by the U.S. government. And he is being defended by two graduate students from the Emory University School of Law.
Lara Aryani and Carlissa Carson went to the U.S. military base in Guantanamo to assist in the defense of Hamdan.
Aryani said Hamdan’s lawyers maintained the status of a prisoner of war. The prosecution argued that the POW status didn’t apply to Hamdan.
The prosecution said he should be considered an illegal enemy combatant, a status that means the government can hold him indefinitely without trial. This status is not recognized under the Geneva Convention, which regulates the treatment of human beings during war time.
‘It’s a new category the Bush administration created,’ Aryani explained. ‘(They are) trying to circumvent precedents, international law and to some extent constitutional law as well.’
Despite the judge ruling against the defense, neither student expressed any regrets, even though ‘it kind of put us behind a bit,’ Carson said.
Aryani and Carson became involved in the defense of Hamdan after enrolling in a law course offered at Emory, taught by professor Johan D. Van der Vyver.
Van der Vyver said the college selected six students to work with attorneys appearing for Guanatamo captives.
He described Aryani and Carson as ‘some of our brightest students.’ Van de Vyver said the purpose of the clinic was designed to give ‘practical experience (to students by) working with attorneys dealing with humanitarian operations.’
Carson and Aryani went down to the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay during the first week of December 2007 and stayed for five nights and six days. They returned to the island for the second time in February, staying for seven nights and eight days.
The students were essentially legal interns, aiding the defense of the detainee. Attorneys from two Atlanta firms participated in the case, with JAG officer Charles Swift acting as lead counsel.
‘We (did) whatever the legal team (needed) us to do,’ Aryani said. ‘It wasn’t Spring Break.’
Van der Vyver spoke highly of Aryani, saying she was a particularly useful member of the team because of Yemini background and fluency in Arabic.
‘Things were difficult,’ Carson, the other law student, said. ‘We were up at 6:30 a.m., and sometimes we would work till 10, 10:30 p.m.’
She said she spent her time doing research projects, and looking at 302s – the documents FBI interrogators filled out after speaking to the prisoner.
Carson said she learned a lot during the experience. ‘It raised my awareness of international law,’ she said.
Aryani called it ‘the most interesting reading holiday,’ she had ever spent.
Both relished the experience of attending a military commission, a form of trial that had not been used since World War II. ‘It’s quite literally history in the making,’ Aryani said.
Published on April 9, 2008 at 12:00 pm
