US court dismisses cases by Guantanamo prisoners

WASHINGTON, Feb 21 (Reuters) Guantanamo prisoners cannot challenge their detention before U.S. federal judges, an appeals court has ruled in upholding a key part of a tough anti-terrorism law sought by President George W. Bush.

By a 2-1 vote in a major victory for the Bush administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled the law that Congress passed last year took away the rights of the prisoners at the U.S. military base in Cuba to bring such cases and that hundreds of their lawsuits must be dismissed.

''Federal courts have no jurisdiction in these cases,'' Judge A. Raymond Randolph concluded for the court majority in his 25-page opinion issued by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit yesterday.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs said they planned to appeal the ruling to the US Supreme Court, which has previously handed setbacks to the Bush administration over handling of its war on terrorism.

There currently are about 395 detainees at the U.S.

military base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, including Osama bin Laden's driver in Afghanistan, who has challenged the law.

The first prisoners arrived more than five years ago following the September 11 attacks, and the base has been a central and controversial part of Bush's war on terrorism.

The indefinite and incontestable nature of the Guantanamo prisoners' detention and allegations of prisoner mistreatment, which the U.S. military denies, have tarnished the United States' image abroad, and a growing chorus of allies have urged the United States to shut down the camp.

Lawyers for two groups of prisoners -- including about 40 detainees still at Guantanamo such as Australian David Hicks and six Algerians captured in Bosnia -- argued before the court the new law did not apply to their clients.

They said it violated the U.S. Constitution's clause that prevents the suspension of habeas corpus rights except in times of rebellion or invasion. Those longstanding rights allow someone being being held to challenge their detention.

The appeals court, however, rejected both positions and said the law explicitly said it applied to all cases without exception.

''It is almost as if the proponents of these words were slamming their firsts on the table shouting 'When we say 'all', we mean all -- without exception!'' the court majority said.

FOCUS ON HABEAS CORPUS It also said there was no legal precedent suggesting habeas corpus applies to aliens held outside the United States.

Judge Judith Rogers, an appointee of President Bill Clinton, disagreed and said habeas corpus rights can be suspended only in rare cases. ''However, Congress has not invoked this power,'' she said.

After the US Supreme Court struck down the military tribunal system that Bush initially created to try Guantanamo prisoners, he went to the Republican-controlled Congress and got authority under the law signed in October that allows tough interrogation and prosecution of terrorism suspects.

Now that Democrats are in control in Congress, some lawmakers are seeking to adopt legislation that would restore the rights of the prisoners to bring lawsuits in U.S. court.

Lawyers for the prisoners said the ruling was not the final word. They urged Congress to restore the rights of the prisoners and vowed to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In Boston, lawyer Stephen Oleskey, who represents six Algerians held at Guantanamo, said his clients would appeal to the Supreme Court.

''I don't believe this is the final word on these matters. I think the final word will be spoken by the Supreme Court and by Congress,'' he said.

Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents hundreds of prisoners, said the decision ''empowers the president to do whatever he wishes to prisoners without any legal limitation as long as he does it off shore.'' Reuters PDS VP0500