The pioneering human rights attorney Michael Ratner has died at the age of 72. For over four decades, he defended victims of human rights abuses across the world, from Haiti and Guatemala to Iraq and the Palestinian territories. Ratner served as the longtime president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. In 2002, the center brought the first case against the George W. Bush administration for the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo. The Supreme Court eventually sided with the center in a landmark 2008 decision when it struck down the law that stripped Guantánamo prisoners of their habeas corpus rights. In recent years he was the chief attorney for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and became a leading critic of the U.S. crackdown on whistleblowers, including Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden. We’ll spend the hour honoring the life and legacy of Michael Ratner.
Pioneering Human Rights Lawyer Michael Ratner Dies at 72
HeadlineMay 12, 2016
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