Some Cleared Guantanamo Inmates Stay in Custody-Lawyers call US system of hearings a sham [View All]

Some Cleared Guantanamo Inmates Stay in Custody
Lawyers call US system of hearings a sham
by Farah Stockman

GUANTANAMO BAY - About a quarter of detainees who were cleared to leave Guantanamo Bay prison after hearings in 2005 and 2006 remain in custody, raising questions among inmates and their lawyers about the legitimacy of the system of hearings to review evidence against the prisoners.1119 03

The military’s failure to release all of those who were cleared to leave - combined with the fact that dozens of other inmates who were not cleared have nonetheless been released - has led many inmates and their lawyers to contend that the system is a sham, and that the real decisions are being made elsewhere.

The military says most of the cleared inmates remain in custody because of difficulties in negotiating terms of their release to their home countries. But officials also acknowledge that the hearings are not the final decision on an inmate’s fate, and that the Pentagon retains the power to hold even those who have been cleared by the three-officer panels who review the inmates’ cases.

The system of hearings was enacted after the Supreme Court insisted inmates be given a chance to present evidence and argue for their release. The court did not specify what procedures should be used, but required that in mates get a chance to argue for their freedom.

Next month, the high court will review the system, and the fairness of the hearings will be a major point of contention. In the government’s brief, it cites annual reviews as part of its argument that detainees “enjoy more procedural protections than any other captured enemy combatants in the history of warfare.”

But the detainees and their lawyers see it differently. According to Pentagon statistics, 10 percent of the prisoners chose to attend their hearings this year. In 2004, more than 60 percent had chosen to attend. The dramatic falloff, lawyers say, is because the inmates do not trust the system.

“It’s pretty clear the process is a sham,” said Ramzi Kassem, a member of the clinical faculty at Yale Law School who represents an Algerian detainee cleared more than two years ago. “There’s strong evidence that the hearings are meaningless.”

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http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/19/5329/