The Human Rights and Civil Liberties Committee is open to all members of the Gray Panthers. Meetings are held at the Gray Panther office on the second Friday of the month at 1 PM.

The Human Rights and Civil Liberties Committee is committed to tracking, publicizing, and opposing all attempts

·to restrict free expression and assembly,
·to undermine due process, and
·to remove protections from unreasonable search and seizure.

Our current focus is on the Patriot Act and other attacks on the Bill of Rights.

We affirm the right of all immigrants to live free of fear and harrassment. The Gray Panthers, Blue Triangle Network and other groups have sponsored demonstrations against the forced registration of noncitizens from Arab, Muslim, and South Asian countries and the resulting deportation proceedings initiated against 13,000 people from these countries.

We support the rights of all -- citizens, legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and prisoners of war--to a speedy and public trial, legal representation without interference from the government, and protection under the Geneva Convention.

· We have publicized the status of over 600 prisoners held without charges or legal representation for over two years at the U.S. army base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

· We have sponsored several events in support of attorney Lynne Stewart, a criminal defense attorney being prosecuted under the personal supervision of Attorney General John Ashcroft after the government spied on confidential interviews between her and a high profile Muslim client.

We believe that supporting and defending the most vulnerable in our society is the surest way to halt the repression infecting it.

For more detailed information, please click on the following links: