Guantanamo prisoners given right to challenge detention

Published on Thursday 12 June 2008 22:04

FOREIGN terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay may challenge their detention in United States civilian courts, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday in a serious blow to President George Bush.

In its third rebuke of the administration's treatment of prisoners, the court ruled 5-4 that the government was violating the constitutional rights of prisoners being held indefinitely and without charge at the US naval base in Cuba. The court's liberal justices were in the majority.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, said on behalf of the court: "The laws and constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times."

He said federal judges could ultimately order some detainees to be released, but that such orders would depend on security concerns and other circumstances.

Mr Bush said during a news conference in Rome: "We'll abide by the court's decision. That doesn't mean I have to agree with it. It was a deeply divided court, and I strongly agree with those who dissented."

The president also said he might seek new laws in light of the ruling "so we can safely say to the American people, 'We're doing everything we can to protect you'."

It was not immediately clear whether this ruling, unlike the first two, would lead to prompt hearings for the detainees, some of whom have been held more than six years. Roughly 270 men remain at the island prison, classified as enemy combatants and held on suspicion of terrorism or links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

The ruling could resurrect many detainee lawsuits that federal judges put on hold pending the outcome of the high court case. It sent judges, clerks and administrators scrambling to read Judge Kennedy's 70-page opinion and work out how to proceed.

The decision also cast doubt on the future of the military war crimes trials that 19 detainees so far face. The Pentagon has said it plans to try as many as 80 men held at Guantanamo.

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