29/06/2006
WASHINGTON: The US Supreme Court is expected to rule today on a critical case which could sway the fate of hundreds of terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay and the military tribunals set up to try them. The case of Osama bin Laden’s former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan, from Yemen, is one of only two cases outstanding in the court’s current term. Chief Justice John Roberts said that the court’s final opinions of the term would come down today, before justices recess for their summer break. Legal experts said although there was a theoretical possibility the court could withhold its judgement until after the break, it was unlikely. The case concerns the legality of the military commissions set up by President George W Bush to judge inmates, most of whom were plucked off the battlefields of Afghanistan in the months after the September 11 attacks in 2001. It also centres on whether the US Congress has the constitutional right in legislation passed last year to prevent the top US court from ruling on the case until Hamdan has had his tribunal. Another question at issue is whether the trial breaches the 1949 Geneva Conventions laying down rules on the treatment of people captured in a time of war. Hamdan has been detained at Guantanamo since early 2002. He is accused of plotting with bin Laden and other Al Qaeda officials to attack civilians, commit murders and terrorist acts, and destroy property. Hamdan acknowledges he was a well-paid driver for bin Laden but denies being a member of Al Qaeda or taking part in terrorist activities. Specifically, the court is being asked to rule on an appeals court judgement against Hamdan, which reversed an earlier ruling by a lower court that the Pentagon’s procedure for the trials was not fair. – AFP
SOURCE: Gulf Times |
