THE US: The Bush administration is expected to appeal a strongly-worded California court ruling that it cannot imprison people indefinitely in Guantanamo and deny them access to lawyers.
In a stinging rebuke of the administration, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on Thursday that the federal government could not imprison "enemy combatants" captured in Afghanistan indefinitely in Guantanamo, Cuba and deny them access to lawyers.
In a strongly-worded 2-1 decision, the court said indefinite imprisonment at the naval base is inconsistent with US law. "The government's position is inconsistent with fundamental tenets of American jurisprudence and raises most serious concerns under international law," Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote in the decision.
"We simply cannot accept the government's position that the Executive Branch possesses the unchecked authority to imprison indefinitely any persons, foreign citizens included, on territory under the sole jurisdiction and control of the United States, without permitting such prisoners recourse of any kind to any judicial forum, or even access to counsel." The 9th Circuit Court of Appeal is known to be one of the most liberal in the US and its decisions are overturned regularly by higher courts. This week's judgement on Guantanamo found in favour of Falen Gherebi, a Libyan seized in Kabul and now a prisoner in Guantanamo, who brought an action for habeas corpus against President Bush and Secretary of Defense Mr Donald Rumsfeld, representing the US government.
The United States has kept more than 600 people captive for nearly two years at Guantanamo following the undeclared war against the Taliban government in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda.
"For almost two years, the United States has subjected over 600 of these captives to indefinite detention, yet has failed to afford them any means to challenge their confinement, to object to the failure to recognize them as prisoners of war, to consult with legal counsel, or even to advance claims of mistaken capture or identity," it said.
The decision came on the same day that another appeals court, the US 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals, ruled that the president cannot detain an American citizen seized on US soil as an enemy combatant, the latest sign of a legal backlash against the powers assumed by the administration after the September 11th, 2001 attacks. A group of clergy, lawyers and others sued in US district court in California last year, but the case was initially dismissed. The matter was revived after Belaid Gherebi, a brother of Falen, amended the complaint.
"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," wrote Reinhardt.
The Pentagon said they had provided a Yemeni man in Guantanamo with a military lawyer, the second at the base to receive defence counsel. But the Justice Department said US courts did not have jurisdiction in such cases. "Our position that US courts have no jurisdiction over non-US citizens being held in military control abroad is based on long-standing Supreme Court precedent," spokesman Mr Mark Corallo said.
Human rights groups welcomed the judgement. "Today's court decision should serve as a further reminder to the Bush administration that the practice of indefinite detention without charge or trial is wrong and should be repudiated at home as it is abroad," said Vienna Colucci, of Amnesty International USA. - (Reuters/Irish Times)