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WASHINGTON - The military will review the individual cases of the 595 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to determine whether they are legally held, the government said Wednesday.
Officials described it is an attempt to prepare for expected challenges in civilian courts. The move comes in response to a Supreme Court's decision last week that said those prisoners can go before a federal judge to seek their freedom.
The Bush administration believes the military reviews will provide grounding when the prisoners head to court: The government can claim it was providing due process in determining whether they are legally held as an enemy combatant.
If the review determines a prisoner is not lawfully held, he will be released to his home country, according to officials with the Justice and Defense departments who announced the reviews.
Within 10 days, the prisoners will be informed of their new rights and the Supreme Court ruling in a note written in their own language, according to a memo signed by Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz that was provided to reporters.
A panel of three military officers with no previous connection to the prisoner will hear each prisoner's case. At least one officer will be a military lawyer.
The prisoner can choose to participate and present information in his defense, even calling witnesses; his case will be reviewed regardless of his participation.
He will be assigned a military officer, who is not a lawyer, to act as a personal representative, the officials said, and will have access to an interpreter.
The officer will have access to classified information about the prisoner. It was not determined if the officer will be required to turn over information the prisoner discloses that could work against him.
The panels will operate on the presumption the government is properly detaining the prisoners. Officials did not describe what would constitute proof of an illegal detention.
The military has yet to work out many of the details about how it will provide detainees access to civilian courts and lawyers. The new military reviews will take place before any civilian hearing.
Officials said they expected the review panels to begin meeting soon at the Cuban base. They will be overseen by Navy Secretary Gordon England.
Amnesty International and the Center for Constitutional Rights, which contend those at Guantanamo are being illegally held, said the new procedures did not provide the prisoners their full rights granted by the Supreme Court.
Some prisoners will face military tribunals for crimes the military alleges they committed. On Wednesday, the Pentagon said President Bush has designated nine more prisoners at Guantanamo as subject to those military tribunals.
The nine have not been charged and were not identified by military officials, nor have any tribunals been scheduled. They join six others at Guantanamo whom Bush had previously designated as eligible for military tribunal.
Of the 15 people now designated for military tribunals, only three have been identified and charged: David Hicks of Australia, Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al Bahlul of Yemen and Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al Qosi of Sudan.
Elsewhere . . ."COLE' TRIAL: A security court in Sana, Yemen, charged six alleged al-Qaida members with plotting the attack on the USS Cole, opening the first trial in the suicide bombing that killed 17 American sailors. Among the defendants is reputed mastermind Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. Five of the defendants were brought in to hear the judge read their indictment. Al-Nashiri, the sixth defendant who is believed to be a close associate of Osama bin Laden, is in U.S. custody.
The attack occurred in October 2000 when two suicide bombers brought a small boat alongside the destroyer as it refueled in Aden harbor. The bombers detonated explosives stashed on the boat.
TALIBAN ARRESTED: A top Taliban commander was arrested in southern Afghanistan and admitted distributing more than $1-million to supporters of the ousted militia. Intelligence agents captured Mullah Mujahid on Tuesday in a raid in Shah Wali Kot, a district of Kandahar province. A second suspected Taliban militant, Nisar Hamed, was also detained.
BRITISH COURT: Lawyers for 10 non-British prisoners held without trial under antiterrorism laws filed an appeal against the incarceration, arguing that evidence against the detainees may have been extracted under torture from terror suspects being held in U.S. prison camps. The lawyers went before the Court of Appeal in a preliminary case, seeking permission to bring evidence of "the commission of torture" in camps controlled by U.S. authorities in Afghanistan, Cuba and elsewhere.