Injustices in Guantanamo continue as a US military tribunal declares four detainees "enemy combatants" free to be held indefinitely, Anayat Durrani reports Following a military review of their cases, four suspects detained at the US Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have been declared enemy combatants and will continue to be held. The four cases were the first to be decided in the Guantanamo hearings that began 30 July. The Combatant Status Review Tribunals process was set up in response to a 28 June Supreme Court ruling that established that detainees have a right to challenge their imprisonment in federal court. The US government has been holding the prisoners under the classification of "enemy combatant" and denying them customary basic legal rights. The identities and nationalities of the inmates concerned have yet to be released, but officials say the US State Department is notifying their countries. Critics of the review process say it does not fulfill the Supreme Court's requirements and the military is not following due process of law. Elaine Cassel, host of the Civil Liberties Watch website, author of The War on Civil Liberties and a practicing attorney in Virginia and the District of Columbia, called the entire process a "kangaroo court consisting of military brass and Judge Advocate General (JAG) officers facing off against the prisoners". Cassel told Al-Ahram Weekly that the tribunals were put in place to try to side step the Supreme Court ruling. "The rules are a secret. The Pentagon designed them to get around the Supreme Court ruling. They do not exist for the benefit of the prisoners but for the benefit of the Pentagon and to justify the continued imprisonment of the men," she said. Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, author of Guantanamo: What the World Should Know and a principal counsel for the Guantanamo prisoners in the Supreme Court, called the review process a "sham, fraud, and an outrage". "The entire process is an attempt by the Bush administration to avoid the Supreme Court decision," Ratner told the Weekly. Lawyers for the detainees are doing their best to ensure their clients have their day in a court of justice. The Center for Constitutional Rights has taken the lead in organising attorneys to file habeas corpus petitions in the Washington, DC federal court on behalf of the detainees. The organisation represents over 50 of the Guantanamo detainees and has filed petitions to ensure their clients' right to counsel is upheld. "Detainees are entitled to attorneys, yet none of us have been to Guantanamo and it is six weeks after we won the Supreme Court decision," said Ratner. According to Ratner, the detainees are not represented by lawyers but personal representatives without legal training who are not sworn to confidentiality. He likened the process to that of an interrogation, because whatever information a detainee reveals to their assigned representative must then be disclosed to the panel. Ratner said the four men found to be "enemy combatants" this past week were not afforded anything even remotely resembling a fair trial. "They were put before three military officials for some kind of secret hearing where coerced evidence was used. They were not permitted the right to call any witnesses and were not represented by attorneys. This was an inquisitorial process similar to those carried out in medieval times. These so-called hearings are just a cover for more interrogation, more inhumane treatment and more injustice," he said. "The military has already determined that these are 'enemy combatants', so the panel is merely confirming what has already been established and it is unlikely it will overrule the prior findings," Ratner said. "All of the evidence used can be deemed to have been coerced. Anything the detainees say is the result of two and a half years of isolation, interrogation and coercion, including inhumane treatment and possibly torture," he said. To Ratner's mind the review process is "an affront to the civilised world". Ratner demands that, "interrogation through inhumane means must end and those involved in carrying out unlawful interrogations should be brought to justice. Enough is enough." Navy Secretary Gordon England, who is overseeing the reviews, said that all 585 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay would have their cases heard before the end of the year. Although the detainees are represented by military officers who act as "personal representatives" and not lawyers, the military has maintained that panel members are neutral and the men will receive a fair trial. Of the 25 cases heard so far, 11 chose not to appear before the three-person panel of military officers. While many critics have blasted the military for the swiftness of the hearings, England described the process as much slower than anticipated. England said he expected the tribunals to take several months to complete the remaining cases. About 150 cases are currently pending. Since the first detainees, captured in Afghanistan and elsewhere, arrived in Guantanamo nearly three years ago, the Pentagon designated them "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war, in order to hold them indefinitely without charge or access to lawyers. Nearly 600 individuals from more than 40 countries are being held at Guantanamo on suspicion of ties to the ousted Taliban regime in Afghanistan or the Al-Qaeda network. The hearings are designed to examine the legality of classifying prisoners as "enemy combatants". England defined an "enemy combatant" as "anyone who takes part in supporting the Taliban or Al-Qaeda forces or is associated with forces engaging in hostilities against the United States or our coalition partners". Human rights organisations have consistently and unanimously denounced the Pentagon for designating detainees "enemy combatants" rather than prisoners of war with protected rights.
