by Ayfer Selamoğlu

Location: US Congress.

Senators grilled Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem on her understanding of Habeas corpus. 

During a budget hearing at the Senate Committee on Homeland Security, Democratic New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan asked Noem what Habeas corpus was.

“Secretary Noem, what is Habeas corpus?”

There’s a faint exclamation mark on her face.

“Well, Habeas corpus is a constitutional right that the president has to be able to remove people from this country.”

Kristi Noem showed she was clueless regarding how to define Habeas corpus correctly.

This response would be embarrassing if given by a student in a first-year law school class.

Senator Hassan interjected to correct Noem quickly.

“Excuse me, that’s incorrect.”

Habeas Corpus, which means “that you have the body” in Latin, dates back 800 years to the Magna Carta.

Habeas Corpus is one of the most foundational aspects of American law and the Constitution. “What it does is empower courts to protect individual liberty.”

Hassan was forced to correct Noem, too…

“Habeas Corpus is the legal principle that requires that the government provide a public reason for detaining and imprisoning people. If not for that protection, the government could simply arrest people, including American citizens, and hold them indefinitely for no reason. Habeas corpus is the foundational right that separates free societies like America from police states like North Korea. As a senator from the ‘Live Free or Die’ state, this matters greatly to me, my constituents, and all Americans.”

Can a government official be ignorant of such a sensitive subject?

Or is the Constitution a new order? We don’t know…

                                                            3C…

But one thing is now apparent.

We live in a world where all known rules and values ​​are violated.

We are surprised to see the reflection of power and interest strategies on relations between countries, policies and leaders.

We witness political-commercial-personal relations being legitimised before our eyes.

We watch with astonishment and fear the understanding of “What is morality, ethics, justice, kindness? I wanted it, and it happened”.

Qatar presents a 400 million dollar plane as a gift to US President Donald Trump.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama welcomed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on his knees at the “European Political Community” summit. Rama received 1 billion euros from Rome for holding the migration heading to Boots in Albania’s special immigration centres.

Even Meloni must have been embarrassed by Rama’s unexpected move. She explained: “I am short; that’s why he acted like that”.

As a result, under increasingly stronger authoritarian administrations shaped by power and interest relations, three headings describe societies.

Corruption, chaos, cruelty…

From an individual to the leaders representing the states…