3 Detained in Afghanistan Can Take Challenges to U.S. Court: Habeas Ruling Is a Blow to Administration
By Del Quentin Wilber and Karen DeYoung, Washington Post Staff Writers
Friday, April 3, 2009; Page A01

U.S. District Judge John D. Bates rejected the government's argument, first made by the Bush administration and later adopted by the Obama Justice Department, that it could detain prisoners indefinitely in a "war zone."

In a 53-page ruling, Bates said that the situation of the three detainees at Bagram air base -- who were captured elsewhere and transported to Afghanistan by U.S. forces -- is "virtually identical" to that of prisoners held by the military at Guantanamo Bay. A landmark Supreme Court ruling last year accorded habeas corpus rights to detainees at that facility in Cuba.

The ruling is likely to complicate the administration's ongoing review of detainee policies. President Obama criticized his predecessor's denial of rights to and treatment of alleged terrorists and during his first week in office ordered Guantanamo Bay to be closed this year. A high-level administration task force is studying what to do with detainees deemed too dangerous to release.

For the moment, the ruling lays to rest some of the concerns voiced by human rights groups that Bagram, a secretive prison that has generally escaped public scrutiny, could become a replacement destination for suspected terrorists. A Justice Department spokesman said no decision has been made on whether to appeal the decision.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040201796.html?hpid=topnews