Little redress in US courts for detainees
The Supreme Court avoided a test of Bush's terror-fighting powers Monday, letting stand a ruling denying Guantánamo detainees access.
from the April 3, 2007 edition
Page 4 of 4
Recent highly publicized statements by alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were made during his CSRT hearing on March 10.
Although Mr. Mohammed admitted many of the charges against him, he nonetheless told the panel that many other detainees at Guantánamo had no connection to Al Qaeda, terrorism, or hostilities against the US. He said they had been wrongly arrested and were being wrongly detained.
Lawyers for the detainees have been making a similar argument for more than four years.
"The government claims an immense power unprecedented in our history: to imprison foreign nationals, without bringing criminal charges or providing fair process, for an indefinite period," writes former US Solicitor General and Washington lawyer Seth Waxman in his brief filed on behalf of detainee Lakhdar Boumediene and others. "It is difficult to imagine a public controversy more in need of this court's guidance."
Mr. Boumediene is one of six Algerian immigrants to Bosnia arrested as terror suspects in 2001 by Bosnian authorities. The arrests came at the urging of the US. After an investigation, Bosnia's supreme court ordered the six released because of a lack of evidence of involvement in terrorism.
The six were released, but were then turned over to the US and flown to Guantánamo Bay where they have been held since January 2002.
Mr. Wilner represents Fawzi Al Odah, a Kuwaiti, and 38 other prisoners at Guantánamo, all of whom say they never engaged in combat against the US and are innocent of wrongdoing.
All 45 of the detainees in the two appeals were asking for the same remedy. They want a hearing before a neutral judge to decide the legality of their detention.
RSS feed
