Links
Appeals court ruling limits Guantanamo detainees' rights, gives president wide detention power
A federal appeals court ruling Tuesday could make it harder for Guantanamo detainees to challenge their confinement and endorsed the government's broad power to hold people seized in the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld the continued detention of a former cook for Taliban forces who said he never fired a shot in battle. Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani, a citizen of Yemen who was captured in Afghanistan, has been held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba since 2002.
The court was unanimous in rejecting Al Bihani's appeal, but two judges appointed by President George W. Bush took a broader view of the detention power than the Obama administration had argued for in the case.