US top court declares Guantanamo tribunals illegal

UNITED STATES: In a sharp rebuke of President George W. Bush’s tactics in the war on terrorism, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday struck down as illegal the military tribunal system set up to try Guantanamo prisoners.

By a 5-3 vote, the nation’s highest court declared that the tribunals, which Bush created right after the Sept. 11 attacks, violated the Geneva Conventions and U.S. military rules.

The ruling, consisting of six separate opinions totaling more than 175 pages, restricted Bush’s wartime powers in one of the most significant cases since World War Two.

“We conclude that the military commission convened to try (Salim Ahmed) Hamdan lacks power to proceed because its structure and procedures violate” the international agreement that covers treatment of prisoners of war, as well as the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court majority.

The decision was a legal and political blow for the administration in a case brought by Hamdan, who was Osama bin Laden’s driver in Afghanistan. Hamdan, captured in November 2001, is one of about 450 foreign terrorism suspects at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The ruling, handed down on the last day of the court’s 2005-06 term, followed the suicides of three Guantanamo prisoners this month and increased calls for Bush to close the prison camp. U.S. treatment of inmates at Guantanamo and in Iraq and Afghanistan has drawn international criticism.

The ruling only addressed the military tribunals, not the broader issues of whether “enemy combatants” can be held indefinitely or whether the camp should be closed.

Stevens, at 86 the high court’s longest-serving justice and a leading liberal, said the tribunals failed to provide one of the most fundamental protections under U.S. military rules, the right for a defendant to be present at all proceedings.

In a 73-page opinion, he also said there was no reason why Hamdan could not be tried by court-martial, which offers greater protections for defendants than the tribunal.

At the White House, Bush said, “The American people need to know that this ruling, as I understand it, won’t cause killers to be put out on the street.”

Bush said he would consult with the U.S. Congress to attain authority for military tribunals. Senate Armed Services Committee members vowed to hold hearings promptly this summer on appropriate procedures.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter introduced legislation to require the government to periodically show to a court that it has sufficient grounds to detain the Guantanamo prisoners. The Pennsylvania Republican said he has scheduled a hearing for July 11.

A Pentagon spokesman reiterated the need for a U.S. facility to hold dangerous captives and Bush spokesman Tony Snow added, “This will not mean closing down Guantanamo.”

One of Hamdan’s lawyers, Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, praised the ruling. “All we wanted was a fair trial,” he said outside the Supreme Court.

Civil liberties and human rights groups were also jubilant. Amnesty International said it “sends a clear message to President Bush that he cannot act unilaterally to create a system of law from thin air.”

Nicholas Howen, secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva, said, “Now is the time for the Bush administration to move ahead swiftly to release all prisoners in Guantanamo.”

Stevens said the military tribunals were not authorized by the U.S. Congress.

He did not address whether the government can detain Hamdan indefinitely but said the government must “comply with the rule of law” in seeking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment. Stevens also wrote the Supreme Court decision two years ago ruling that the Guantanamo prisoners can sue in U.S. courts.

He was joined by justices David Souter, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Anthony Kennedy.

The court’s conservatives — Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, who was appointed by Bush — dissented.

The ninth member of the court, Chief Justice John Roberts, also appointed by Bush, removed himself because he was on the U.S. appeals court panel that ruled for the Bush administration in Hamdan’s case.

Washington, Friday, Reuters