Topic: Detainees' Lawyers Urge Court Access

Washington Post
May 2, 2007
Pg. 4


Seventy-five lawyers for nearly 400 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, urged Congress yesterday to give the prisoners access to U.S. courts.
The attorneys were on Capitol Hill for private meetings with senators and House members. They are seeking legislation to overturn a section of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that stripped the detainees of court access.
Under last year's law, the detainees are entitled to a procedural review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia into whether they were properly designated unlawful enemy combatants.
"We're not talking about a get-out-of-jail-free card; we're simply talking about having a right to be heard in court," said Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.