Senate deals legal blow to Guantanamo prisoners
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Senate Wednesday narrowly rejected an attempt to allow 'war on terror' prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detention in federal courts.
Senators voted 56-43 in favor of the bill, but the final tally was short of the 60 votes needed under Senate rules for it to move forward.
The bill would have restored the ancient writ of habeas corpus to inmates, giving them recourse to the US civil justice system.
Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy had earlier warned colleagues that depriving prisoners of such rights damaged US prestige around the world.
"Casting aside the time-honored protection of habeas corpus makes us more vulnerable as a nation because it leads us away from our core American values and calls into question our historic role as a defender of human rights around the world," he said.
"It also allows our enemies to accomplish something they could never achieve on a battlefield, whittling away the liberties that make us who we are."
But Republicans opposed to the bill warned it would strip a key legal weapon from the US 'war on terror' arsenal.
Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl argued that allowing enemy combatants into the US court system could eventually lead to them being freed and sent back out to fight to US soldiers on the battlefield.
He said the bill would also impose unreasonable requirements for US forces to provide legal resources to militants captured on the battlefields of Iraq.
"The bill before us literally requires us to provide attorneys to these captured detainees in Iraq -- tens of thousands of them," he said.
The US Supreme Court agreed in June to examine the demands of war on terror suspects held without charge at Guantanamo jail.
In May, more than 70 lawyers for terror suspects and academics urged lawmakers to restore the writ of habeas corpus to detainees.
Critics say that the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which rolled back habeas corpus provisions, is so broad that it might apply not only to terror suspects, but also to any legal resident of the United States, if the president declares them to be an "enemy combatant."
Human rights groups put a brave face on the defeat, noting that despite the bill being blocked, a majority of Senators had voted to support it.
"Today's vote was a victory for those seeking to restore both the rule of law and our nation's constitution," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office.
Jennifer Daskal, senior counterterrorism counsel for Human Rights Watch, said "Congress will ultimately reverse course and reject the administration's view that it can detain people simply on the president's say-so."
Veteran Democratic Senator Joseph Biden warned: "the terrorists win when we abandon our civil liberties."
