By kanwal tariq hameed
Published: 20 September 2006
BAHRAINI detainees at Guantanamo Bay could lose the right to a US court hearing if a law currently being debated in the US Congress is passed, their lawyers said yesterday.
More than two years ago, a US Supreme Court ruling made way for Bahrainis Salah Al Blooshi, Isa Al Murbati, and Juma Al Dossary to challenge the legality of their detention in a US court.
The three have been imprisoned without trial for almost five years after being captured fleeing Afghanistan as it came under bombing from US and coalition troops in 2001.
Now, legislation being debated by the US Congress could override that decision and leave them stranded at the maximum-security facility without the right to a trial in US courts if it is passed.
By kanwal tariq hameed
Published: 20 September 2006
BAHRAINI detainees at Guantanamo Bay could lose the right to a US court hearing if a law currently being debated in the US Congress is passed, their lawyers said yesterday.
More than two years ago, a US Supreme Court ruling made way for Bahrainis Salah Al Blooshi, Isa Al Murbati, and Juma Al Dossary to challenge the legality of their detention in a US court.
The three have been imprisoned without trial for almost five years after being captured fleeing Afghanistan as it came under bombing from US and coalition troops in 2001.
Now, legislation being debated by the US Congress could override that decision and leave them stranded at the maximum-security facility without the right to a trial in US courts if it is passed.
Warning of “disastrous consequences” if the proposal becomes a law, New York-based lawyers for the Bahraini detainees reiterated a call for the Bahrain government to take “all necessary action” to bring the three home.
“Currently, the US Congress is debating proposed legislation (a proposed law) that is designed to create procedures under which detainees at Guantanamo Bay could be tried with crimes,” said lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan.
“Shockingly, this draft legislation also contains a provision that would prevent courts from hearing the habeas claims that we have brought on behalf of our clients.
“This legislation would have disastrous consequences.
“Our clients, like hundreds of others at Guantanamo Bay, have been detained for nearly five years.
“They have not been afforded a trial or a fair hearing, they have not been charged with any crime.
“Indeed, for the most part, they have not even been accused of any involvement in violence.
“Nonetheless, if the proposed legislation becomes law, our clients would be denied a hearing in court.”
The law could end up granting alleged high-level Al Qaeda terrorists the right to a trial, while leaving hundreds of detainees who have not been charged with crimes (including Al Dossary, Al Blooshi and Al Murbati) with an extremely slim chance of a hearing.
“Not only would the proposed legislation deprive our clients of the right to challenge their detention, it would also achieve a cruel and ironic result,” said Mr Colangelo-Bryan.
“Specifically, it would create procedures under which Guantanamo Bay detainees could be tried for crimes.
“The Bush administration has argued that such procedures are necessary to try ‘high-value’ detainees who were recently transferred to Guantanamo, such as Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, who is alleged to be an architect of the heinous September 11 attacks.
“However, only 10 detainees have been charged with crimes and it is almost impossible to imagine that our clients will ever be charged.
“Thus, it appears quite likely that if the Act (law) is passed as written, alleged high-level Al Qaeda members will be afforded a full trial, while hundreds of others who are never charged with crimes will be denied the opportunity for even a fair hearing.
“There is simply no legal, ethical or national security justification for such a result,” he added.
“Because there is a danger that this proposed legislation will become law, we once again call on those in Bahrain to take all necessary action to bring our clients back to their families.”
Legal cases for Guantanamo detainees suffered a previous setback with the ratification of a law on December 30 last year, which denies them the right to a court hearing.
The US government has argued that the law is retroactive and should delete all cases already filed on behalf of Guantanamo detainees from US federal courts.
Lawyers are saying that because their cases were already filed in US Courts before the law was passed, it should not be applied to them retroactively.
US Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR) lawyers who visited Bahrain in January this year have said they would challenge the law as being “unconstitutional”.
The US constitution guarantees the right to “habeas corpus”, which means if the government takes a person into custody it has to say why and show what evidence supports the detention.
A US Supreme Court ruling on June 29, which banned the US administration from trying Guantanamo detainees charged with crimes using military commissions unless given specific permission from Congress, also lent support to the lawyers’ argument against the December 30 law being applied retroactively.
If the law currently being debated gets passed, it would guarantee that all cases filed in US federal courts on behalf of Guantanamo detainees are deleted.
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