WASHINGTON, 30 June 2006 — The US Supreme Court ruled yesterday that President George W. Bush overstepped his authority in creating military war crimes trials for Guantanamo Bay detainees.
Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the ruling, said the proposed tribunals were illegal under US law and the Geneva Convention. It was a direct rebuke to the administration and its aggressive anti-terror policies.
The court said the trials — known as military commissions — do not conform to any act of Congress. Justices also rejected the government’s argument that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. The Supreme Court ruling reverses a decision by a lower court that said the trials could go ahead. Military commissions were last used by the US military to try Japanese suspects after World War II.
The Bush Administration had argued that neither military courts martial nor US civilian courts were appropriate for trying the Guantanamo detainees because much of the evidence would involve sensitive issues of national security.
Ten detainees have been scheduled for trial, most of them captured in 2001 and 2002 in Afghanistan. The case was brought by lawyers representing one of the 10, Salem Ahmed Hamdan. He denies taking part in attacks against the United States.
Reacting to the ruling, Bush said he will work with Congress to get approval to try terrorism suspects before military tribunals. “To the extent that there is latitude to work with Congress to determine whether or not the military tribunals will be an avenue in which to give people their day in court, we will do so,” he said. “The American people need to know that the ruling, as I understand it, won’t cause killers to be put out on the street.” Bush said little more, saying he had received only a “drive-by briefing” on the ruling.
“It’s a very good and a fair ruling, said Wayne White, former deputy director of the State Department’s Middle East Intelligence shop. “The Bush administration had a choice: either to declare these people as terrorists who were not involved in a war situation and treat them differently, or declare this is a war and accord them all the rights that they are entitled to under the Geneva Convention.
“The Bush administration did neither, effectively branded them as prisoners of war, but denied them their rights. So I think this had to come under very severe judicial scrutiny — which has now happened. You cannot have it all your way.”
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 prisons in Guantanamo against whom there is insufficient evidence of criminal acts having been committed, abolish the military commissions, and if there is anyone who is suspected of a criminal offense, they must be tried under normal US criminal law in normal US criminal courts.”
In a statement the Amnesty International said: “Today’s Supreme Court ruling is a victory for the rule of law and human rights. The US administration should ensure that those held in Guantanamo should be either released or brought before civilian courts on the US mainland.”
