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| Controversial Rules Set up for Guantanamo Trials |
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The Pentagon on Thursday issued rules for conducting trials of terrorist suspects before special military commissions at the US naval base of Guantanamo, Cuba. The rules, contained in the Manual for Military Commissions released by the Pentagon, allow the admission of hearsay evidence, as well as coerced detainee statements that were obtained before Dec. 30, 2005. The move is in accordance with the Military Commissions Act of 2006, a law signed by US President George W. Bush in October 2006, enabling prosecution of detainees at Guantanamo to go forward. The military commissions were created by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11 terror attacks specifically to conduct war crime trials of terror suspects, the first of their kind since World War II. The war crime proceedings were halted in November 2004 after a ruling by a US district judge labeled them as violating both domestic and international laws. However, Bush managed to revive the military commissions by signing Military Commissions Act of 2006 last year. Due to their highly controversial nature, the law and the newly-released rules are likely to be challenged in federal court. A leading Republican senator predicted last year that the military commission law would not pass the Supreme Court on constitutional grounds since it does not contain habeas corpus protections. Thomas L. Hemingway, legal adviser to the Pentagon's Office of Military Commissions, said 14 trials had been "in various preparatory stages" at Guantanamo. An estimated 60 to 80 of the detainees at Guantanamo are subject to war crimes charges, he said, out of a total of 400 are held at the US naval base on the southeastern tip of Cuba. (Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2007) |
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