Appeals court rules for Guantanamo prisoner

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday overturned a U.S. military tribunal's enemy combatant designation for a Chinese Muslim at the Guantanamo Bay prison, its first ruling that gives a detainee a chance for release.

It ordered the U.S government to release or transfer Huzaifa Parhat, a member of the Uighur ethnic group, or to "expeditiously" hold a new military tribunal for him.

Parhat, who was captured in Afghanistan and who has been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba for six years, is one of several Uighurs still at the prison. The United States has struggled to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs.

In 2006, the United States allowed five Chinese Muslims released from Guantanamo to seek asylum in Albania. The U.S. government has said it cannot return the Uighurs to China because they would face persecution there.

Many Muslim Uighurs, who are from Xinjiang in far western China, seek greater autonomy for the region and some want independence. Beijing has waged a relentless campaign against what it calls the violent separatist activities of the Uighurs.

The ruling by the three-judge panel was under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 that gave the prisoners a limited review before the appeals court of their designation as an enemy combatant.

The court also said Parhat can seek his immediate release before a U.S. District judge under the Supreme Court's landmark ruling this month that the detainees have the legal right to challenge their years-long confinement.

A key issue in the Parhat case was whether he had been involved in any activity that would justify designating him as an enemy combatant.

The government argued that Parhat was trained by a group called the East Turkestan Islamic Movement and that it has links to al Qaeda. That was enough to hold him, it said.

Parhat's lawyers said he considered China, not the United States, the enemy, and that there was no evidence that he ever joined the group.

There are about 270 detainees at the U.S. military base at Guantanamo, which was set up in January of 2002 to hold terrorism suspects captured after the September 11 attacks. Most of the prisoners have been held for years without being charged and many have complained of abuse.

More than 190 of the prisoners have filed challenges with the U.S. appeals court in Washington to the decisions by the military tribunals that they have been properly held as enemy combatants.

In April, Parhat's case was the first to be heard by a civilian appeals court.

In a one-paragraph notice summarizing its ruling, the three-judge appeals court panel said it issued its opinion on June 20 to both sides in the Parhat case.

Because the ruling contained classified information and information the government initially submitted in secret, a redacted public version will be made available later, it said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...8062300844.html

[pedroh 21]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

[mendeleev 68]

I'm pretty sure that "people", broadly defined, agree with you, Pedroh, and I'm sure that some persons here will disagree. But maybe they won't show up.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Yep, thet are all innocent lets pay them reparations. That way i will feel better.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Mr. Big Dog

[pedroh 21]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

:yes:

[mawilson 2,133]

Oh dear. They wouldn't release the Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay because they would face persecution in China???

That's probably the most fukced up reasoning I've heard in a long time.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

Maybe you should give to theyre legal defense fund! maybe a good dose of waterboarding might do the trick.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

Maybe you should give to theyre legal defense fund! maybe a good dose of waterboarding might do the trick.

Well, the government has nothing on most of these guys. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I find it unacceptable to hold people for years without having any case against them. It's very un-American. You'd expect this sort of thing from a Stalin, Hitler or Saddam. Well, and apparently from a Bush.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

Maybe you should give to theyre legal defense fund! maybe a good dose of waterboarding might do the trick.

Well, the government has nothing on most of these guys. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I find it unacceptable to hold people for years without having any case against them. It's very un-American. You'd expect this sort of thing from a Stalin, Hitler or Saddam. Well, and apparently from a Bush.

Of course you have all the inside info correct? Or maybe you just read alot!

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

Maybe you should give to theyre legal defense fund! maybe a good dose of waterboarding might do the trick.

Well, the government has nothing on most of these guys. Nada. Zip. Zilch. I find it unacceptable to hold people for years without having any case against them. It's very un-American. You'd expect this sort of thing from a Stalin, Hitler or Saddam. Well, and apparently from a Bush.

Of course you have all the inside info correct? Or maybe you just read alot!

What inside info? There were 775 detainees. Now that number is down to 335. 420 have been released w/o ever having been charged with anything at all. All but 80 or less of the remaining detainees are going to be released as well without ever being charged with anything at all. The question then is what justified their detention all these years. If they were, as we were told, the worst of the worst, the real dangerous terrorist scum, then the government should not cut them lose. But they did and will. So either, these people were detained for years in error and we were told an untrue story about them or the government is playing games with the safety of this country by letting the most dangerous terrorist scum, the worst of the worst go free. Take your pick and the government looks bad either way.

Edited June 24, 2008 by Mr. Big Dog

[almaty 19]

Oh dear. They wouldn't release the Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay because they would face persecution in China???

That's probably the most fukced up reasoning I've heard in a long time.

the Uighurs are china's version of the kurds

[HAL 9000 96]

do people really think all the detainees at guantamo are rightfully there? like all of them are guilty of something? hahahaha

Well, the President and the Pentagon sure don't think so. Which is why they plan on bringing charges against a whopping 10% of those detained while letting the other 90% go after years of detention for - by their own admission - no reason. Not a good ratio by any measure. It's about time this nonsense stops once and for all.

:yes:

For those that were detained without real foundation... I wonder if that opens our government up to litigation????? Imagine that... a REAL threat to the US.

[Ban Hammer 13,334]

Oh dear. They wouldn't release the Uighurs from Guantanamo Bay because they would face persecution in China???

That's probably the most fukced up reasoning I've heard in a long time.

actually, no one wants them. not even china.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

It will be interesting to see the version of the ruling that's released to the public.

There was a bit about it on NPR last night.