US government loses out in dramatic Guantanamo rulings
CUBA: The legal front of the US government’s “war on terror”
suffered a stunning reversal Monday as military judges threw out charges
against a Canadian-born Al-Qaeda fighter and Osama bin Laden’s
ex-driver.
The surprise rulings on Toronto native Omar Ahmed Khadr, 20, and
Salim Ahmed Hamdan threatened to torpedo the government’s pursuit of
Guantanamo Bay terror suspects through new-look military tribunals.
In both cases, the judges found that they had no jurisdiction to
proceed with military commission trials, as neither Khadr nor Hamdan had
been classified as an “unlawful enemy combatant” as required by a recent
US law.
Khadr was just 15 when he was captured in Afghanistan, accused of
killing a US army medic in a hand-grenade attack.
Sporting a straggly beard and dressed in olive-green prison garb and
flip-flops, he stared on impassively as Colonel Peter Brownback issued
his potentially far-reaching ruling.
“It was very surprising,” the defendant’s sister, Zaynab Khadr, told
AFP in Canada. “But we were very happy to hear the news. I hope he will
be released soon.”
However, lawyers said that both Khadr and Hamdan will remain in legal
limbo at this base in southeast Cuba along with nearly 400 other
detainees rounded up or handed over to US forces since the September 11
attacks of 2001.
It was the second major victory for Hamdan, an admitted driver and
bodyguard for the Al-Qaeda mastermind who was born in Yemen in 1970,
after he defeated the government’s old tribunal process in a Supreme
Court case a year ago. Major Beth Kubala, spokeswoman for Guantanamo
Bay’s Office of Military Commissions (OMC), said it would be
“speculative” to comment on the rulings’ implications for the
government.
But she told reporters: “OMC will continue to operate in a manner
that’s fair, transparent, open and legitimate.
“If nothing else, today’s rulings highlight that the judges operate
independently,” Kubala added.
Government prosecutors were granted a 72-hour delay to the Khadr and
Hamdan rulings while they consider their options for appeal.
However, the appeals court envisioned in the Military Commissions Act
(MCA), which was hurriedly passed by Congress last September following
the Supreme Court ruling on Hamdan, has yet to be created.
“If the administration has any sense at all, this will be the death
knell for the commissions,” Jennifer Daskal of Human Rights Watch said,
calling for terror suspects to be tried in US civilian courts.
Murder and other charges levied against Khadr were dismissed by
Brownback. Late in the evening, Navy Captain Keith Allred threw out
charges of conspiracy and material support for terrorism against Hamdan.
“Mr Hamdan is both relieved (and) still hopes he’ll get a fair
trial,” said Hamdan’s defense lawyer, Lieutenant Commander Charles
Swift.
Swift said the military judges had “reaffirmed that the president is
not a tribunal in and of himself.”
“It was a victory for the rule of law and the law of war,” he said,
adding: “It shows what happens when you try to throw legislation
together... in a rush.”
So-called combatant status review tribunals (CSRTs) have conferred
the description of “enemy combatant” on hundreds of suspects held
without charge at Guantanamo.
But in a pivotal point for the judges at Monday’s tribunals, none of
the suspects still at the camp has been labeled “unlawful” by a CSRT, so
legally they could be viewed as fighting for a legitimate state.
One time-consuming option for the government would be to convene a
new round of CSRT tribunals for the Guantanamo detainees, to officially
label them “unlawful” and so press ahead with prosecutions.
The only Guantanamo trial held so far has been that of 31-year-old
“Australian Taliban” David Hicks, who was jailed for nine months in
March after reaching a plea bargain the chief of the US commissions. He
is now imprisoned in Adelaide.
Colonel Dwight Sullivan, head of US military defense attorneys at
Guantanamo, said Monday’s rulings could have a “huge impact” for Hicks
and other terror suspects.
Guantanamo Bay, Tuesday, AFP |