Transfer of Guantanamo Detainees on Hold

[Rose Siding]

A federal judge expressed skepticism yesterday about the legality of possible Bush administration plans to transfer dozens of men from the U.S. military prison in Cuba to the custody of foreign countries, saying that would remove detainees from the reach of U.S. courts and eliminate their legal claims for freedom.

U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. extended for 10 days a temporary restraining order that bars the government from transferring detainees from the military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He said he needs that time to decide whether the court has power over such transfer decisions and can order the government to provide detainees' lawyers with advance notice of a proposed transfer to a foreign government.

Kennedy's decision would mark the first time that a judge has ruled on whether U.S. courts can oversee the Bush administration's decisions about where to move Guantanamo Bay detainees. About 540 detainees remain at the prison, accused by the government of having ties to terrorist groups or the Taliban.

The United States has transferred 65 detainees to the control of other nations. But such transfers have become increasingly controversial as a growing number of Guantanamo Bay detainees say that U.S. interrogators have threatened them with torture and transfer to a foreign prison if they did not cooperate.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58126-2005Mar22.html

[Massacure]

1. w00tage. Someone finally recognizes this.

Now let's hope they make the right decision.