Judges to start hearings, rulings on Gitmo cases

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By Tom Ramstack

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia will hold its first hearing Tuesday on cases of detainees at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to comply with a Supreme Court ruling that granted the terrorism suspects access to federal courts.

During Tuesday's hearing, federal judges plan to rule on issues common to all of the Guantanamo detainee cases to be brought before the court and to set schedules for future hearings.

"The judges of this court are committed to deciding these cases as expeditiously as possible," District Court Chief Judge Royce C. Lamberth said in a statement Wednesday.

The Supreme Court ruled on June 12 that the detainees - some of whom have been held for more than six years - are entitled to challenge their imprisonment in federal court, reversing a Bush administration policy that allowed them to be tried only as enemy combatants before military tribunals.

Civil rights advocates said the Bush administration opposed the hearings to cover up aggressive interrogation techniques that the detainees described as torture.

They also said military tribunals allow the kind of hearsay evidence that would not be allowed in federal court. Hearsay refers to evidence of out-of-court statements used to prove the guilt or innocence of an accused person.

There are 249 cases pending before the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of 643 people who are or have been detained by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay.

More lawsuits are expected to be filed in coming weeks, according to a resolution from the court.

A first order of business for the court is to determine whether to issue an injunction to stop the military tribunals at Guantanamo from proceeding.

President Bush authorized the tribunals in an executive order on Nov. 13, 2001. Unlike civilian courts, tribunals grant the detainees no guarantees of a public trial or a presumption of innocence.

The Supreme Court struck down the Bush administration's authority for the military tribunals in a 2006 decision, saying that neither federal law nor military necessity would allow them. The tribunals also violated the Geneva Conventions on treatment of war prisoners, the court said.

The 2006 ruling involved a lawsuit filed by attorneys for Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former aide to Osama bin Laden.

His lawsuit, Hamdan v. Bush, is being used by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to decide whether to issue an injunction against the military.

District Judge James Robertson is assigned to rule on the issue.