Guantanamo Detainees Can Be Tried by Military Panels (Bloomberg)

[norml]

Guantanamo Detainees Can Be Tried by Military Panels (Update3)


July 15 (Bloomberg) -- A federal appeals court upheld the use of military tribunals to try terrorism suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, ruling against a man accused of being Osama bin Laden's driver.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today overturned a federal judge's ruling last November that halted the military trial of Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen. The lower court said the military panels violate federal and international law.

The appeals court ruled that Congress allowed military tribunals when it gave authority to use force after the Sept. 11 attacks and through two laws it enacted. In upholding President George W. Bush's decision to use the panels, the appeals court also said the Geneva Convention, which governs treatment of prisoners in wars between nations, doesn't apply to members of bin Laden's al-Qaeda network.

``The president found that Hamdan was not a prisoner of war'' under the Geneva Convention, Judge A. Raymond Randolph wrote for the three-judge court in Washington. ``Nothing in the regulations, and nothing Hamdan argues, suggests that the president is not a `competent authority' for these purposes.''


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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=aciRrS7URjoc&refer=top_world_news

[jimshoes]

1. Funny, that....

competent and president in the same sentence. If only.