Guantanamo

US court backs Guantanamo detainee rights

Article published on the 2008-06-12 Latest update 2008-06-13 13:28 TU

Detainees at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba
(Photo : AFP)

The US Supreme Court has ruled that foreign suspects held in the high-security US military base at Guantanamo Bay have the right to challenge their detention in the US courts. The decision is the third major legal setback for the Bush administration since 2004, over its treatment of prisoners who are being held indefinitely and without charges at the base in Cuba.

The ruling, passed by a vote of five to four, said that detainees in the US jail in southern Cuba "have the constitutional privilege of habeas corpus."

The court ruled that even if the base is officially on Cuban territory, it is operating as if it were on American soil and detainees had the same constitutional rights as Americans.

"The laws and constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times," said Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for the court.

The ruling should now give the prisoners and their legal teams the right to demand to know on what basis they are being held.

Detainees and their legal teams could demand the government releases evidence against them to justify their detention, something the administration has so far refused to do, saying it is against national security.

About 270 men remain at the prison, classified as "enemy combatants". They are held without charge on what US officials say is suspicion of terror-related crimes or links to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

Australian David Hicks is the only detainee to have so far been sentenced at Guantanamo. He pleaded guilty in a deal with US authorities, which allowed him to serve out the remaining nine months of his sentence at home.

The most important trial of five alleged suspects in the 11 September attacks on New York and Washington in 2001, is not due to get fully underway until the summer, after charges were read against them at a hearing last week.