March 16, 2007

WASHINGTON – Seven major religious organizations today filed an Amicus Curiae brief with the U.S. Court of Appeal for the DC Circuit defending the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in a case involving four British detainees who allege they were tortured before being released in 2004. The four have filed a law suit seeking damages from Donald Rumsfeld and various other military and Department of Defense officials in their individual capacity. The case is known at Shafiq Rasul et al. v. Donald Rumsfeld et al.

The Washington law firm of Baach Robinson & Lewis filed the original complaint on behalf of Shafiq Rasul and three other British citizens asserting claims under international law, the US Constitution, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Federal District Court Judge Urbina dismissed the plaintiffs' international law and constitutional claims on the basis of various immunity doctrines. He ordered further briefing on the RFRA claim.

Upon receiving that briefing, he found that RFRA applied to defendants conduct at Guantanamo and that defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity on the RFRA claim. He also found that the particular actions alleged in the complaint – which included forced shaving, deliberate disruption of prayer, desecration of the Koran, and similar intrusions on religious observance – fell squarely within RFRA's ambit.

At trial, the defendants did not argue that their conduct was justified by a compelling interest which would be the only defense under RFRA. Instead, on appeal, the defendants claim that RFRA applies only to citizens located in the 48 continental states.

The Amicus brief urges the Court to recognize that RFRA does apply to all persons, not just citizens, and applies to U.S. Government conduct at Guantanamo. The statue, adopted by Congress in 1993, specifically states that it applies in all U.S. territories and possessions to "all persons," with no limitation as to citizenship.

The organizations signing the brief, representing a broad cross section of the religious community, are:

   Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty
American Jewish Committee
National Association of Evangelicals
National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA
General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Presbyterian Church (USA)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

Queens Federation of Churches