Laurel Fletcher

Laurel Fletcher Says Congress Undercut President’s Effort to Close Guantanamo

The Christian Science Monitor, July 21, 2009 by Warren Richey
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/07/21/will-guantanamo-close-on-time/

Talks with allies in Europe suffered a setback when Congress barred the administration from bringing detainees to the US other than for prosecution. The move undercut US credibility in asking its allies to help close Guantánamo when the US itself is unwilling to accept detainees. “It is not just that Congress has acted. This is a policy statement from the legislature that is directly at odds with the president’s policy for [Guantánamo’s] closure,” says Laurel Fletcher.

Eric Stover and Laurel Fletcher Publish Guantanamo Book, a Resource for Scholars

The Chronicle of Higher Education, July 10, 2009 by Jennifer Howard
http://chronicle.com/cgi-bin/printable.cgi?article=http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i41/41a00103.htm

That book, The Guantánamo Effect: Exposing the Consequences of U.S. Detention and Interrogation Practices, by Laurel E. Fletcher and Eric Stover, draws on a two-year study of more than 60 former Guantánamo detainees, and includes some interviews with lawyers and other personnel involved in those cases. Ms. Fletcher, a professor of law at Berkeley, directs the International Human Rights Law Clinic there; Mr. Stover, an adjunct professor of law and public health, is faculty director of Berkeley’s Center for Human Rights.

Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover Call For Reintegration of Released Detainees

Los Angeles Times, June 11, 2009 by Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-fletcher11-2009jun11,0,3628694.story

As the U.S. prepares to close Guantanamo, it also needs to plan for post-release services to help detainees reintegrate into their communities. U.S.-supported programs should provide former detainees with job training and psychological support and help them secure stable employment. Such programs are very much in our interest. By helping to re-anchor released detainees in their communities, we will reduce the risk of terrorist attacks against the United States.

Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover Oppose Guantanamo Bay Tribunals

Los Angeles Times, January 12, 2009 by Carol J. Williams
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-closing-gitmo12-2009jan12,0,5144124,full.story

“We need to bring this to closure, and that needs to be done accountably and done swiftly,” said Fletcher, director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at Berkeley. “Guantanamo has been devastating for the United States’ image in the world and for the rule of law.”

Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover Demand Investigation of U.S. Detention Policies

International Herald Tribune, Nov. 21, 2008 by Laurel Fletcher and Eric Stover
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/21/opinion/edsobel.php

The commission should determine what went wrong and who should be held accountable, and recommend ways to help those falsely imprisoned clear their names and recover from the abuses they have suffered…. Commission members should be armed with subpoena power, given full access to classified material and be able to conduct their work unhindered by presidential pardons or amnesties designed to shield the culpable from accountability.

Eric Stover and Laurel Fletcher Reveal Impact of Guantanamo, Call for Investigation

-Reuters, Nov. 12, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/us/13guantanamo.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

“We cannot sweep this dark chapter in our nation’s history under the rug by simply closing the Guantánamo prison camp,” said one of the study’s authors, Eric Stover.

-KGO-AM, Nov. 12, 2008 by R.J. Peruman
http://www.kgoam810.com/Article.asp?id=981457&spid=15884#

“We interviewed 62 former detainees in 9 countries. On average those detainees had spent 3 years in Guantanamo,” said Eric Stover.

“We feel that the findings here warrant a full and complete investigation and are therefore calling for an independent, nonpartisan commission,” said Laurel Fletcher.

-National Journal, Nov. 12, 2008 by Amy Harder
http://lostintransition.nationaljournal.com/2008/11/human-rights.php

Establishing the commission right away would “create a very strong symbolic message to the American public and to our international community that the Obama administration is going to turn the page on this dark chapter and is willing to take a critical look at the last eight years about what went wrong and what went right,” Fletcher said.

Stover said the commission would include a wide range of experts on subjects such as constitutional and military law, public health and medicine. Who those experts should be, and how many of them should be selected, is for the Obama administration to decide, Stover said.

-Mother Jones, Nov. 12, 2008 by Bruce Falconer
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/11/barack-obama-guantanamo-bay-plans.html

“This is not a witch hunt,” said Laurel Fletcher…. “But it is a recommendation that will lead to a serious examination of both what’s gone right and what’s gone wrong, and how to make it better. We believe that Guantanamo cannot be swept under the rug.”

Laurel Fletcher Critiques U.S. Attempt to Link Serbian Refugees to Srebrenica Massacre

U.S. News & World Report, March 17, by Emma Schwartz
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/world/2008/03/17/the-challenge-of-prosecuting-bosnian-war-criminals_print.htm

The limited enforcement “raises this perception of legitimacy and fairness,” says Laurel Fletcher, a human rights law specialist. “[These cases] are essentially associational crimes, and people are feeling that in the context of a war, when they weren’t given a choice and political dissent was not permitted, that they shouldn’t be judged for their actual association.”