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| Supreme Court sidesteps Guantánamo Bay detainee issue |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 01/24/2005 |
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The Supreme Court prolonged the legal limbo of hundreds of terror suspects in a U.S. military prison in Cuba, refusing to consider whether the government's plan for military trials denies them basic legal rights. So far only a handful of the 550 detainees from about 40 countries have been charged with war crimes. More charges are expected once courts sort out how the detainees may be tried. The legal uncertainty surrounding the men, many of whom were captured during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan in 2001, has prompted international criticism and spawned multiple court fights. The Supreme Court had been asked to use an appeal by Osama bin Laden's former driver to decide whether the Bush administration is trying to shortcut defendants' rights by holding a type of military trial last used during World War II. Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a Yemeni, is charged with conspiracy to commit war crimes, murder and terrorism. He says he is innocent. A federal judge ruled last fall that Hamdan and others put on trial at the Guantánamo Bay Naval Base should be allowed to confront witnesses and see evidence against them, which is standard under military-justice rules but is not guaranteed to detainees. The Supreme Court rejected the case Tuesday, which was not surprising because an appeals court also is considering the issue and has scheduled arguments March 8. It was a minor victory for the government, which was ordered by the Supreme Court last year to give detainees in the United States and Cuba more legal rights. Since those landmark decisions, lawsuits have been filed in Washington, D.C., on behalf of dozens of detainees claiming they are being wrongly held. Some of those cases eventually will make it to the Supreme Court. The government has also been sued for millions of dollars in damages by inmates claiming mistreatment. Three years have passed since some of the Guantánamo Bay detainees were arrested, and legal wrangling is expected to continue for another year or more. |
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