US court backs legal rights for terror suspects

British anti-terror laws also came in for attack yesterday, with senior parliamentarians recommending that the government stop imprisoning foreigners without charge, as a matter of urgency.

The American ruling came in the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

The decision, approved by two judges but opposed by the third, said that indefinite imprisonment of "enemy combatants" was inconsistent with US law and raised serious concerns under international law.

"Even in times of national emergency - indeed, particularly in such times - it is the obligation of the judicial branch to ensure the preservation of our constitutional values and to prevent the executive branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike," the panel said.

The decision, which could be overturned, came as an appeal court in New York said George Bush, the president, was wrong to detain a US citizen seized on US soil as an enemy combatant.

In a 2-1 ruling, the court said only Congress can authorise such detentions and ordered the release of Jose Padilla - arrested 18 months ago over an alleged al-Qaeda plot to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" in the US - from military custody within 30 days.

The US government maintains that because the 660 men held in Guantnamo Bay, Cuba, were picked up overseas on suspicion of terrorism and are being held on foreign land, they may be detained indefinitely without charges or trial.

The US Supreme Court last month agreed to decide whether the detainees should have access to the courts.

In Britain, a committee of Privy Councillors said the government should stop imprisoning foreigners without charge and ordered Labour to reopen debate on its entire package of post-11 September anti-terror laws, or emergency powers would be revoked.

Britain has imprisoned at least 14 foreign "suspected international terrorists" without charge, under measures imposed after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.