Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
June 25, 2008
One of Guantánamo’s many horrors is just how long people have been held there in a cruel legal limbo. Huzaifa Parhat has been detained for six long years, despite his insistence that he was an innocent swept up in the chaos in Afghanistan. It is welcome news that a federal appeals court has now ruled — in the first decision of its kind — that Mr. Parhat was improperly labeled an “enemy combatant.”
We hope this means Mr. Parhat and the roughly 270 other detainees being held in Guantánamo will be given quick and fair opportunities to challenge their never-ending detention.
Mr. Parhat is one of 17 Uighur Muslims, a Chinese ethnic minority, being held at the United States Navy base in Guantánamo. Their supporters maintain that they were captured by mistake and had no hostile intentions toward the United States. After a hearing before a combatant status review tribunal — a kangaroo court that rules without a real hearing or reliable evidence — Mr. Parhat was designated an enemy combatant.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the tribunal’s designation of Mr. Parhat invalid. Unfortunately, the court has not yet explained its reasoning. It said that its opinion has to be redacted first to remove any classified information. Clearly, though, it is a victory for the rights of detainees — and a rebuke to the lawless policies of the Bush administration.
The court ordered the government either to release Mr. Parhat, transfer him or expeditiously retry him before a new combatant status review tribunal. It also noted that after the Supreme Court’s ruling this month upholding the habeas corpus rights of Guantánamo detainees, Mr. Parhat can seek immediate release by filing a habeas motion with a federal district court.
The lag between the court’s order and the issuance of its opinion — which could come at any time — is troubling. Mr. Parhat and all of Guantánamo’s detainees have a right to know without delay what the state of the law is so they can make the best arguments for their freedom.
Mr. Parhat’s case is the latest in a long line of court rulings rejecting the Bush administration’s denial of the most basic human and constitutionally guaranteed rights to Guantánamo’s detainees. The administration must start obeying the law now, rather than waiting for yet another court to declare that it has trampled on far too many people’s rights.
June 25, 2008
One of Guantánamo’s many horrors is just how long people have been held there in a cruel legal limbo. Huzaifa Parhat has been detained for six long years, despite his insistence that he was an innocent swept up in the chaos in Afghanistan. It is welcome news that a federal appeals court has now ruled — in the first decision of its kind — that Mr. Parhat was improperly labeled an “enemy combatant.”
We hope this means Mr. Parhat and the roughly 270 other detainees being held in Guantánamo will be given quick and fair opportunities to challenge their never-ending detention.
Mr. Parhat is one of 17 Uighur Muslims, a Chinese ethnic minority, being held at the United States Navy base in Guantánamo. Their supporters maintain that they were captured by mistake and had no hostile intentions toward the United States. After a hearing before a combatant status review tribunal — a kangaroo court that rules without a real hearing or reliable evidence — Mr. Parhat was designated an enemy combatant.
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled the tribunal’s designation of Mr. Parhat invalid. Unfortunately, the court has not yet explained its reasoning. It said that its opinion has to be redacted first to remove any classified information. Clearly, though, it is a victory for the rights of detainees — and a rebuke to the lawless policies of the Bush administration.
The court ordered the government either to release Mr. Parhat, transfer him or expeditiously retry him before a new combatant status review tribunal. It also noted that after the Supreme Court’s ruling this month upholding the habeas corpus rights of Guantánamo detainees, Mr. Parhat can seek immediate release by filing a habeas motion with a federal district court.
The lag between the court’s order and the issuance of its opinion — which could come at any time — is troubling. Mr. Parhat and all of Guantánamo’s detainees have a right to know without delay what the state of the law is so they can make the best arguments for their freedom.
Mr. Parhat’s case is the latest in a long line of court rulings rejecting the Bush administration’s denial of the most basic human and constitutionally guaranteed rights to Guantánamo’s detainees. The administration must start obeying the law now, rather than waiting for yet another court to declare that it has trampled on far too many people’s rights.