Judge rules on ‘enemy combatants’

A federal judge on Monday issued a ruling that limits the number of terrorism suspects being detained at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, who can face trial as enemy combatants.

U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ruled that the term “enemy combatant” applies only to detainees who are accused of “supporting Taliban or al Qaeda forces” in battle against the U.S.

Defense attorneys said the ruling was a victory for their clients, some of whom have been held in confinement for more than six years at Guantanamo without trials.

“Now we have a definition that is narrower than what the government asked for,” said Robert Kirsch, defense attorney for six men accused of being al Qaeda operatives who were arrested in Bosnia in late 2001.

Government attorneys say the men made plans to travel to Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks.

One of the men allegedly spoke with an al Qaeda member on the telephone.

The suspects’ attorneys said the court’s new definition of an enemy combatant is likely to result in five of their clients being freed from detention.

“Any legal justification for detaining them any longer would be quite a stretch to meet [Judge Leon’s] definition,” said Stephen H. Oleskey, another attorney for the six detainees.

Judge Leon said he derived his definition from a 2004 Defense Department classification of enemy combatants, which was adopted by Congress in the 2006 Military Commissions Act.

The act established special tribunals for determining whether alleged terrorists could be detained without the strict standards of evidence required for regular trials in the United States.

A Supreme Court ruling last summer said the Guantanamo detainees could no longer be held in confinement without trials in U.S. federal courts.

Trials for the men are tentatively scheduled to begin in early November.

The defense attorneys had asked for a definition that says only people with direct participation in hostilities against the United States could be enemy combatants.

Government lawyers asked that anyone who planned to join combat be defined as an enemy combatant.

The only difference between an active fighter and the five men represented at the hearing Monday is that they were captured before they could join the battle against the United States, the government lawyers said.

After issuing his ruling, Judge Leon and the attorneys went into a closed-door session to determine what evidence can be used at the upcoming trials.

The Defense Department has said releasing some of the evidence publicly could imperil Americans if enemy soldiers use it to target their attacks.