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Supreme Court Holds Guantanamo Detainees Can Challenge Detention

On November 10, 2003, the U.S Su-preme Court agreed to consider whether 16 detainees who are suspected of al-Qaeda or Taliban connections can challenge their detention in U.S. courts. The court will not decide whether the detention of the two Britons, two Australians, and twelve Kuwaitis is legal. Instead, it will focus on whether the civilian courts or the military should decide the legality of foreign terrorism suspects who are arrested overseas and held outside the U.S. Lower courts ruled that U.S. civilian courts have no jurisdiction in such cases. On June 28, 2004, the court held that the prisoners can challenge the legality of their detention the American court system. See: Rasul v. Bush, Case No. 03-334. PLN will report the case in detail shortly.

Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated that the intent of detention in Camp Delta was not to try the detainees, but rather to "keep them off the street" for the remainder of the open-ended war on terrorism. The International Committee of the Red Cross has criticized the detention as open-ended and lacking in due process.

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Related legal case

Rasul v. Bush