US justices to decide Guantanamo detainees' appeal

7.30am

WASHINGTON - The US Supreme Court said on Monday it would hear appeals by Afghan war detainees challenging their incarceration at a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the first time the justices will decide a case on the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policy.

The justices agreed to review a ruling that US courts lack jurisdiction to consider claims by a group of detainees held without access to their families or to lawyers, and held without any charges brought against them.

The Supreme Court will hear arguments next year, with a decision due by the end of June.

The high court said it would decide appeals by two British, two Australian and 12 Kuwaiti nationals. They are among about 660 detainees from more than 40 nations at the US Navy base in Cuba following their capture during the war in Afghanistan.

The justices said in a written order they would decide whether US "courts lack jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba."

The United States considers the detainees enemy combatants, not prisoners of war entitled to specific protections under international law. The United States has identified a handful of detainees it considers eligible for military tribunals.

The detainees were seized during the US-led campaign against the Taleban government in Afghanistan and against Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network after the September 11, 2001, attacks. The first detainees arrived in January 2002 at Guantanamo.

Attorneys for the 16 foreign nationals argued the US Constitution and international law forbade indefinite detention without providing the prisoners certain protections.

- REUTERS