Andrea J. Prasow

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Andrea J. Prasow
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission Briefing Bahrain Seven Years Later (39406683505).jpg
NationalityAmerican, Canadian
Education Juris Doctor, Bachelor of Arts
Alma mater Georgetown University Law Center, University of Toronto
Occupation(s)human rights advocate, attorney
Website andreaprasow.com

Andrea J. Prasow is an American attorney and global human rights advocate. She leads The Freedom Initiative, a U.S.-based organization whose mission is "to bring international attention to the plight of political prisoners in the Middle East and advocate for their release." [1] Prasow was appointed as The Freedom Initiative's executive director in November 2021. [2]

Contents

She previously worked for 12 years with Human Rights Watch and before that served as an attorney with a focus on the rights of individuals detained in the "War on Terror". [3]

When she was with the firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, Prasow represented Saudi detainees in their petition for habeas corpus. [4] Later as a defense attorney with the Office of Military Commissions, Prasow worked on behalf of Salim Ahmed Hamdan, one of the first Guantanamo captives to face formal charges before the Guantanamo military commissions. Subsequently, Prasow became a senior counsel with the Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program at Human Rights Watch. [5] In that capacity Prasow investigates and analyzes U.S. counterterrorism policies and practices, and leads advocacy efforts urging the U.S. to implement policies that respect international standards of human rights. Prasow has written several pieces about the current military commission proceedings and her travels to Afghanistan to observe the newly public Detainee Review Boards held at the Detention Facility in Parwan.

Education

Prasow was raised in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and received her B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1999. From 1999 to 2000, Prasow worked for the University Health Network in Toronto, where she investigated workplace harassment claims and provided training on sexual harassment issues at the University of Toronto. Prasow then received her J.D. at the Georgetown University Law Center in 2003. [6]

Prasow was a litigation associate of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP until 2005. [6] There she worked in civil litigation and took on a variety of pro bono cases. It was in this capacity that Prasow took on the representation of ten Saudi detainees at Guantanamo Bay in their habeas corpus proceedings in federal court.

Prasow then moved to the Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, Office of Military Commissions, United States Department of Defense. Here she served as Assistant Defense Counsel for Salim Ahmed Hamdan's case before a Guantanamo military commission. [6] During this case, she requested permission for a member of the Hamdan defense team to travel to secretive Camp 7. [7] Hamdan's defense team sought the testimony of fourteen high value detainees held there, although several of the detainees declined because they believed the request was some kind of trick.

Prasow later joined Human Rights Watch as senior counsel in their Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program. In that capacity Prasow traveled to Guantanamo to observe the December 3, 2009 hearing of Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi. She was later invited to write a guest column in The Jurist with her critique of the proceedings. [8] In her column Prasow was critical of Lieutenant Colonel Nancy Paul, al Qosi's Presiding Officer, for going forward with al Qosi's commission despite the fact that the rules of procedure for the new commission had not yet been drafted.

Prasow was also one of the lawyers profiled in Mark Denbeaux and Jonathan Hafetz's book, The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law . [9] In the book, Prasow is quoted about the steps she took so as not to offend potentially conservative Muslim clients. She also references the disparity in treatment of lawyers in these cases, particularly between lawyers working on the detainees' habeas petitions and lawyers defending the detainees before the Guantanamo military commissions.

Speaking engagements

In February 2007, the Washington College of Law invited Prasow to attend a panel discussion on military commissions with Chief Prosecutor Morris Davis and Eugene Fidell, the President of the National Institute of Military Justice. [10]

In June 2009, Prasow was an invited speaker at an event organized by the American Society of International Law. The event, entitled "Women in International Law Networking Breakfast". [6] was also attended by Kristine Huskey, Laura Black and Andrea Menaker.

In May 2010, Prasow addressed the Canadian Parliament's Special Committee on the Canadian Mission in Afghanistan on the use of torture by the Afghan government. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unlawful combatant</span> Person who engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war

An unlawful combatant, illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a person who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and therefore is claimed not to be protected by the Geneva Conventions. The International Committee of the Red Cross points out that the terms "unlawful combatant", "illegal combatant" or "unprivileged combatant/belligerent" are not defined in any international agreements. While the concept of an unlawful combatant is included in the Third Geneva Convention, the phrase itself does not appear in the document. Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention does describe categories under which a person may be entitled to prisoner of war status. There are other international treaties that deny lawful combatant status for mercenaries and children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ibrahim al Qosi</span> Sudanese al-Qaeda member

Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi is a Sudanese militant and paymaster for al-Qaeda. Qosi was held from January 2002 in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number is 54.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mustafa al-Hawsawi</span> Saudi Arabian terrorist

Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi is a Saudi Arabian citizen. He is alleged to have acted as a key financial facilitator for the September 11 attacks in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Salim Hamdan</span> Guantanamo detainee

Salim Ahmed Salim Hamdan is a Yemeni man, captured during the invasion of Afghanistan, declared by the United States government to be an illegal enemy combatant and held as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to November 2008. He admits to being Osama bin Laden's personal driver and said he needed the money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Djamel Ameziane</span> Algerian citizen, and resident of Canada (born 1967)

Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane is an Algerian citizen, and former resident of Canada, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guantanamo Bay detention camp</span> United States military prison in southeastern Cuba

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), also called GTMO on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in January 2002 by U.S. President George W. Bush to hold terrorism suspects and "illegal enemy combatants" during the Global War on Terrorism following the attacks of September 11, 2001. As of August 2024, at least 780 persons from 48 countries have been detained at the camp since its creation, of whom 740 had been transferred elsewhere, 9 died in custody, and 30 remain; only 16 detainees have ever been charged by the U.S. with criminal offenses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Swift</span> American attorney and Navy officer

Charles D. Swift is an American attorney and former career Navy officer, who retired in 2007 as a Lieutenant Commander in the Judge Advocate General's Corps. He is most noted for having served as defense counsel for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a detainee from Yemen who was the first to be charged at Guantanamo Bay; Swift took his case to the US Supreme Court. In 2005 and June 2006, the National Law Journal recognized Swift as one of the top lawyers nationally because of his work on behalf of justice for the detainees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari</span> Kuwaiti citizen (born 1975)

Faiz Mohammed Ahmed Al Kandari is a Kuwaiti citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba, from 2002 to 2016. He has never been charged with war crimes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military Commissions Act of 2006</span> Former United States law

The Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of war, and for other purposes".

Mark P. Denbeaux is an American attorney, professor, and author. He is a law professor at Seton Hall University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey and the Director of its Center for Policy and Research.

Abdel Hamid Ibn Abdussalem Ibn Mifta Al Ghizzawi is a citizen of Libya who was held from June 2002 until March 2010 in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba because the United States classified him as an enemy combatant. His internment number was 654.

No-Hearing Hearings (2006) is the title of a study published by Professor Mark P. Denbeaux of the Center for Policy and Research at Seton Hall University School of Law, his son Joshua Denbeaux, and prepared under his supervision by research fellows at the center. It was released on October 17, 2006. It is one of a series of studies on the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the detainees, and government operations that the Center for Policy and Research has prepared based on Department of Defense data.

Al Odah v. United States is a court case filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights and co-counsels challenging the legality of the continued detention as enemy combatants of Guantanamo detainees. It was consolidated with Boumediene v. Bush (2008), which is the lead name of the decision.

In United States law, habeas corpus is a recourse challenging the reasons or conditions of a person's detention under color of law. The Guantanamo Bay detention camp is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. A persistent standard of indefinite detention without trial and incidents of torture led the operations of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to be challenged internationally as an affront to international human rights, and challenged domestically as a violation of the Due Process Clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution, including the right of petition for habeas corpus. On 19 February 2002, Guantanamo detainees petitioned in federal court for a writ of habeas corpus to review the legality of their detention.

Kristine Huskey is an American lawyer. Huskey is notable because she volunteered to help defend Guantanamo detainees. Huskey is the author of "Standards and Procedures for Classifying "Enemy Combatants": Congress, What Have You Done?"

Nancy J. Paul is an officer in the United States Air Force.

There have been mixed reports of the limits on Guantanamo detainees' mail privileges.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. R. Frakt</span>

David Frakt is an American lawyer, law professor, and officer in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Al Joudi v. Bush (Civil Action No. 05-cv-301) is a United States District Court for the District of Columbia case. On February 9, 2005, a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus was filed on behalf of four Guantanamo detainees: Majid Abdulla Al Joudi, Yousif Mohammad Mubarak Al-Shehri, Abdulla Mohammad Al Ghanmi and Abdul-Hakim Abdul-Rahman Al-Moosa, before US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler. It was one of over 200 habeas corpus petitions filed in the US District Court on behalf of detainees held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, seeking release. On March 26, 2008, Judge Gladys Kessler dismissed the petition as moot.

The Military Commissions Act of 2009, which amended the Military Commissions Act of 2006, was passed to address concerns by the United States Supreme Court. In Boumediene v. Bush (2008) the court had ruled that section 7 of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was unconstitutional in suspending the right of detainees to habeas corpus. The court ruled that detainees had the right to access US federal courts to challenge their detentions.

References

  1. ↑ "The Freedom Initiative mission". The Freedom Initiative.
  2. ↑ "The Freedom Initiative appoints Andrea Prasow as executive director". The Freedom Initiative.
  3. ↑ "Andrea Prasow – Guest Author". Just Security.
  4. ↑ Thomas Adcock (2005-08-26). "Paul Weiss Group Aids Detainee". New York Lawyer. Archived from the original on 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2009-01-31.
  5. ↑ "Andrea Prasow: Senior Counsel, Terrorism and Counterterrorism". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 24 November 2010. Retrieved 2010-10-25.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Women in International Law Networking Breakfast". American Society of International Law. 2009-07-09. Archived from the original on 2010-03-10. Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  7. ↑ Andrea J. Prasow (2008-04-23). "U.S. v. Hamdan - Special Request for Relief - Supplement" (PDF). Office of Military Commissions. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-09. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
  8. ↑ Andrea Prasow (2009-12-08). "Falling Short: Justice in the New Military Commissions". The Jurist. Archived from the original on 2009-12-14.
  9. ↑ Mark Denbeaux, Jonathan Hafetz (2009-11-09). The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law. NYU Press. ISBN   978-0-8147-3736-1 . Retrieved 2009-12-09.
  10. ↑ Matt Getty (2007). "WCL debates Guantanamo Bay military commissions". Washington College of Law. Archived from the original on 2007-12-09.
  11. ↑ Andrea J. Prasow (2010-05-04). "Andrea Prasow: Afghan torture is no secret". National Post. Archived from the original on 2010-08-29. Retrieved 2010-08-29. This week, I will appear before the House of Commons' special committee on the Canadian mission in Afghanistan on behalf of Human Rights Watch. I will tell the committee about Abdul Basir's case, and how his family reported that NDS officials warned them against seeking an autopsy, especially if they wanted Basir's father and brother, also in NDS detention, to be released.
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