KU News Release

Symposium to examine human rights in shadow of terrorism, national security

LAWRENCE — A group of leading legal scholars and an attorney who has represented Guantanamo Bay detainees will offer perspectives on the U.S. military prison, terrorism and criminal prosecutions of terrorists at the University of Kansas School of Law’s second Human Rights Symposium.

“National Security and Individual Liberty: Whose Rights at What Cost?” will run from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at 203 Green Hall. The event, which is free and open to the public, is co-sponsored by the International Law Society, Muslim Law Students Association and Public Interest Law Society.

“In light of President Obama’s inauguration and the promise he has made to close Guantanamo down, this topic is timely and crucial,” said Jomana Qaddour, president of the Muslim Law Students Association. “We are confident that our group of speakers from all over the U.S. will bring to light, in part, what it means to be an attorney for an indicted criminal terrorist or a Guantanamo Bay detainee.”

Panelists will include:

— Douglass Cassel, professor of law at the University of Notre Dame Law School and director of its Center for Civil and Human Rights
— Richard Levy, the J.B. Smith Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law at the KU School of Law
— Brent Mickum, an attorney at Spriggs and Hollingsworth in Washington, D.C., who has represented Guantanamo Bay detainees
— Jordan Paust, the Mike and Teresa Baker Law Center Professor of International Law at the University of Houston Law Center
— Wadie Said, assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina School of Law who represented one of the defendants in U.S. v. Al-Arian, a complex terrorism conspiracy case
— Christina Wells, the Enoch H. Crowder Professor of Law at the University of Missouri School of Law

“We are very fortunate to have such a high-caliber and diverse group of speakers at this year's symposium,” said Dana Watts, president of the International Law Society. “They will provide a variety of perspectives on terrorism-related issues and human rights in America today.”

Registration will begin at 8 a.m. The first panel, “Guantanamo Bay,” will be from 8:30 to 10:10 a.m. The second panel, “Criminal Terrorism Prosecutions,” will run from 10:20 a.m. to noon; and the third panel, “Perspectives on Terrorism,” will be from 1 to 2:40 p.m. Each session includes time for questions. A reception will follow the final panel.

Practicing attorneys may receive six hours of continuing legal education credit for attending the symposium. Credit is approved in Kansas and pending in Missouri. For more information, contact Maria Kaminska at marysia444@yahoo.com.

-30-

The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.