New twist in tug of war over terrorism detainees: Judge rules Guantanamo Bay detainees can challenge in courts with rights

New twist in tug of war over terrorism detainees: "January 31, 2005 at 9:49 PM | Esther Schrader, Los Angeles Times | February 1, 2005 GUAN0201

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Foreign terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay may go to U.S. courts to challenge their confinement because tribunals set up by the Pentagon to handle their cases don't protect their rights, a federal judge ruled Monday.

U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green said the tribunals created to determine whether the detainees are 'enemy combatants' violate the Constitution and in some cases the Geneva Convention governing treatment of prisoners of war. She rejected the Bush administration's request to throw out lawsuits filed by 54 detainees protesting their imprisonment at the U.S. naval base in Cuba.
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Her decision conflicts with a ruling two weeks ago by another judge in the same court who heard arguments by a different group of detainees.

Supreme Court cited

Green said that the Supreme Court made clear in a ruling in June that the prisoners have constitutional rights and that lower courts must enforce them. The high court found that the prisoners could seek judicial review of their imprisonment.

The tribunals have been criticized by civil rights groups because detainees are not represented by lawyers and are not told of some of the evidence against them, including some information that Green said might have been obtained by torture or coercion.