Supreme Court blocks Bush's military trials for terrorists
Thursday, 29 Jun 2006 19:25
Supreme Court blocks Bush's military trials for terrorists
President Bush has suffered a serious blow after the Supreme Court ruled that his administration cannot try Guantanamo Bay inmates before military tribunals.
In 2001 the president ordered that military courts were to be responsible for trying foreign terrorist suspects for alleged war crimes and that they could sentence them to punishments including death.
However, the court's majority ruling of five votes to three stated that the trials are illegal under both US law and the Geneva Convention.
Although terror suspects still remain in a legal limbo, the decision has dealt a huge blow to the Bush administration and its wartime powers.
The case which led to the ruling was brought by Salim Ahmed Hamdan, a former driver for Osama bin Laden.
Lawyers for Hamdan, who was arrested shortly after September 11th on charges of conspiracy, have argued that the charge is not internationally approved.
Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the majority verdict for the court, said: "In undertaking to try Hamdan and subject him to criminal punishment, the executive (Bush) is bound to comply with the rule of law that prevails in this jurisdiction."
Upon hearing the news President Bush said that the decision "won't cause our killers to be put on the street" but he would now seek to find a "way forward" in dealing with the Guantanamo Bay detainees.
He added: "I would like to find a way to get people to their home countries, but some of those people need to be trialled in our country."
At present there are about 400 people who are still detained at Guantanamo Bay, mostly without trial.