Litigation

Indefinite Detention Seen for Dozens at Gitmo

By Peter Hardin

President Barack Obama’s administration, still reckoning with about 200 terror suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay prison it intends to close, has signaled its intention to continue holding nearly 50 of the detainees without trial.

That is because a task force found the detainees too dangerous to free and too difficult to prosecute, according to an article in the New York Times. U.S. officials are concerned that prosecuting these individuals could compromise intelligence gathering methods, and the suspects could bring challenges to evidence collected by coercion, the Washington Post explained.

Indefinite detention has drawn fire from human rights advocates. “There is no statutory regime in America that allows us to hold people without charge or trial indefinitely,”  Anthony D. Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said.

The task force recommended prosecution of 30 Guantanamo Bay detainees in military or federal courts, and the release of at least 110 of the detainees.

You can read more about detainee issues from Gavel Grab, or Justice at Stake?s publication ?Courting Danger? outlining the difficulty in preserving constitutional liberties while increasing preparedness for future acts of terror. The JAS site also has a Web page on Civil Liberties and National Security.

Full post as published by The Gavel on January 22, 2010 (boomark / email).