Gitmo cases will be tried chronologically

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By Tom Ramstack

A federal judge said Tuesday that those Guantanamo detainees who have been held the longest likely will be the first to have their cases heard in U.S. District Court, depending on security concerns and their health.

"It's logical to me to go on a first in, first out basis," Chief Judge Thomas F. Hogan said during a hearing Tuesday.

Still unresolved is whether any of roughly 200 detainees will be brought in person to the District of Columbia for the hearings to determine whether the military can continue to imprison them at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Judge Hogan said he plans to decide by Thursday or Friday how quickly the Bush administration must submit evidence against the detainees to defense attorneys. The evidence would determine when their cases are heard.

Some of the detainees have been held since 2002 without trial. Their only legal proceedings have been military tribunals that, their attorneys say, might have included evidence coerced through aggressive interrogation techniques.

Justice Department attorneys said one in five detainees at Guantanamo already is cleared for release, and that they are looking for a country where 54 prisoners could be sent.

Tuesday's hearing was the first time attorneys for the detainees were allowed to represent habeas corpus rights of their clients in court. Habeas corpus refers to the legal right of prisoners to challenge their detention.

The Supreme Court ruled last month that the detainees must be given hearings, despite a Bush administration policy that denied them a right for their cases to be heard in U.S. civilian courts.

The hearing handled administrative issues required before court appearances of the detainees, such as schedules; orders for transferring prisoners; and whether some of the detainees's cases can be consolidated into a single procedure.

Judge Hogan ordered that 17 Uighur detainees associated with the East Turkistan Islamic Movement - which the military links to al Qaeda and the Taliban - should have their cases consolidated.