- US courts dealt a double blow to US President George
W. Bush's prosecution of the war on terror, with rulings that his administration
was abusing the rights of detainees.
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- One court said inmates at the US detention camp in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, should be allowed access to lawyers and the court system. A
second ruled that an American, Jose Padilla, suspected of involvement in
an al-Qaeda plot, could not be held as an enemy combatant.
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- In San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
made a 2-1 decision harshly critical of the detention of the 660 prisoners
at Guantanamo without charge or the protection of the Geneva Convention.
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- Most were captured in Afghanistan when the United States
toppled the Taliban regime and routed the al-Qaeda network responsible
for the September 11 attacks in 2001.
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- "Even in times of national emergency ... 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 court said.
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- The ruling was issued in a case filed by Belaid Gherebi
on behalf of his brother, Faren, a Libyan who is being held at Guantanamo.
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- The court said it could not accept that the US administration
possessed the "unchecked authority" to detain anyone under US
jurisdiction and control "without permitting such prisoners recourse
of any kind to any judicial forum, or even access to counsel."
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- Such a position was "so extreme" that it raised
the "gravest concerns" under both US and international law.
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- The court's findings are unlikely to have any short-term
impact, as the US Supreme Court is expected to rule on the whole issue
of the Guantanamo detainees next year.
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- Prior to Thursday's decision, US authorities had taken
a small step by naming a military defense counsel for one of six detainees
at Guantanamo who has been singled out by Bush for possible trial by a
military commission.
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- The other bad news for the government came when a federal
appeals court in New York ruled that Bush did not have the right to detain
an American citizen seized on US soil, as an "enemy combatant"
and ordered his release within 30 days.
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- Jose Padilla -- suspected of plotting with al-Qaeda a
radioactive bomb attack on US soil -- has been held without charge at a
Naval brig in South Carolina since June last year.
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- "Presidential authority does not exist in a vacuum,"
the court said in another 2-1 majority decision that stressed Bush would
require specific Congressional authorisation to detain Padilla in such
a fashion.
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- "The president's inherent constitutional powers
do not extend to the detention as an enemy combatant of an American citizen
seized within the country away from a zone of combat," it said.
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- Noting that Padilla was alleged to have committed "heinous
crimes," the court said he should be transferred to the appropriate
civil authorities who can bring criminal charges against him.
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- The White House described the ruling as "troubling
and flawed," while the Justice Department said it would seek a stay
and appeal the decision.
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- "In times of war, the president must have the authority
to act when an individual associated with our nation's enemies enters our
country to endanger American lives," said department spokesman Mark
Corallo.
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- American University professor Robert Dinerstein told
AFP the two decisions, and other legal challenges to the administration's
counter-terrorist policies, showed the executive had "gone too far"
in denying individuals their basic rights.
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- "It would be wonderful to get as much information
as you need to reduce the threat of terrorism, but a civilized society
that believes in the rule of law has to balance that against the rights
that we cherish," the civil liberties expert said.
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- Steven Shapiro, legal director with the American Civil
Liberties Union, said the common thread binding both rulings was an affirmation
of a commitment to checks and balances on executive power.
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- "The Bush administration is mistaken if it believes
the proper way to fight the war on terrorism is to ignore the courts and
the Congress," Shapiro said.
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