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The Stanford Daily ran a story about Professor Barbara Olshansky and the law school's International Human Rights Clinic defending an Afghani journalist detained in a U.S. military prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan:
“They stopped sending people to Guantanamo and are sending them to Bagram instead,” Olshansky said. “In some ways, we have a stronger case than Guantanamo.”
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“In the U.S., we believe that freedom of the press is an essential component of our democracy, but it appears that under military order, the U.S. government is detaining foreign journalists without basis and without due process,” Olshansky said. “That runs afoul of our beliefs and the law. It also interferes with our ability as citizens to get uncensored press reports from combat zones.”
The Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, with Olshansky at its head, is petitioning for Ahmad’s right to a fair trial. Olshansky, who has been litigating Guantanamo cases since their commencement, believes that the grounds for Ahmad’s arrest do not justify his imprisonment.
“It is not illegal under U.S. law to have contacts with an enemy,” she said. “Reporters need it to have a story — that’s how the news works.”
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“The U.S. claims to be sowing the seeds of democracy,” Olshansky said, “and at the same time [the country] is undermining those very nascent efforts by putting journalists in jail.”