Before September 11, 2001, the United States criticized governments
that violated human rights in the name of fighting terrorism. We
condemned torture, protested trials by secret tribunals, decried
disappearances, and challenged secret and arbitrary detentions.
As one of the world’s oldest human rights organizations, PEN routinely
defends writers and journalists who are the victims of torture,
arbitrary detention, sham trials, and other violations of
internationally-guaranteed due process rights. Our most powerful tool
in challenging these abuses is the absolute clarity of the laws
prohibiting them.
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment…
No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.
Everyone
is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an
independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights
and obligations and of any criminal charge against him.
—Universal Declaration of Human Rights
PEN American Center condemns the violations of these fundamental rights
by the United States since 9/11, and we are campaigning for the
restoration of the right of habeas corpus and an end to torture,
arbitrary detentions, extraordinary renditions, substandard trials, and
secret prisons. |
