Court backs military trials for terrorist suspects: Associated Press

[norml]

July 15, 2005, 10:21AM

Court backs military trials for terrorist suspects
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A federal appeals court put the Bush administration's military commissions for terrorist suspects back on track today, saying a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison who once was Osama bin-Laden's driver can stand trial.

A three-judge panel ruled 3-0 against Salim Ahmed Hamdan, whose case was halted by a federal judge on grounds that commission procedures were unlawful.

"Congress authorized the military commission that will try Hamdan," said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

The protections of the 1949 Geneva Convention do not apply to al-Qaida and its members, so Hamdan does not have a right to enforce its provisions in court, the appeals judges said.


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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3267635

[norml]

1. Guantanamo Detainees Can Be Tried by Military Panels (Bloomberg)

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