World News
Catholic Workers urge bishops to demand new military law be rescinded
Published: October 25, 2006
PANORA, Iowa (CNS) -- At the first national Catholic Worker gathering to be held in 10 years, participants issued a statement urging the U.S. bishops "to demand the eradication of the Military Commissions Act," a new law governing how the United States detains and treats "alien unlawful combatants." "We Catholic Workers are outraged at the recent passage of the Military Commissions Act, which subjects noncitizens, including legal residents of the U.S. and foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal," said the statement drafted by representatives of more than 50 Catholic Worker houses and more than 300 Catholic Workers and friends meeting in Panora Oct. 19-22. "The act allows abusive interrogation methods which clearly violate the Geneva Conventions, strips prisoners of habeas corpus rights and provides immunity to the torturers," it said. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 was signed into law by President George W. Bush Oct. 17.
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