US: Republican legislators have moved swiftly to schedule congressional hearings on how to bring to trial inmates at Guantánamo Bay following Thursday's supreme court ruling that military tribunals set up by the Bush administration are illegal.
President George W Bush wants Congress to devise a form of military tribunal that is consistent with the supreme court ruling but facilitates the prosecution of terrorist suspects by protecting classified information. The court said that the Guantánamo inmates could be tried in courts martial but military officials fear that prosecutions under the regular military system could prove difficult.
Courts martial prohibit evidence that was acquired unlawfully, such as through duress or forced confessions. Amnesty International's Curt Goering said that any new military tribunals should have similar safeguards.
"In light of the long years people have spent there, and the physical and mental abuses that have been perpetrated, and the legal limbo they've been subjected to for so long, they should really scrupulously respect international standards that have been developed for trials," he said.
The senate armed services and judiciary committees and the House armed services committee will hold hearings on Guantánamo following next week's Fourth of July recess.
Republican senator John McCain said yesterday the supreme court ruling meant that Congress could get to work on devising a system of justice suitable for Guantánamo's 450 inmates.
"I'm confident that we can come up with a framework that guarantees we comply with the court's order but at the same time none of the bad people are set free," he said.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham said he would work on legislation that would establish ground rules for military commissions that fall somewhere between the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which covers military trials, and the rules Mr Bush established on his own, which have now been struck down.
"The closer it is to the UCMJ, the better we'll be. Plus it's a known and if it's good enough for our troops it ought to be good enough for enemy combatants," he said.
Mr Bush has agreed to work with Congress on the new rules but Vermont's Senator Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said the president should have consulted legislators much earlier.
"The justices have given our system a constitutional tonic that is sorely needed if we are to counter terrorism effectively, efficiently and with American values. This decision is a triumph for our constitutional system of checks and balances," he said.
Lieut Cdr Charles Swift, the navy lawyer who represented Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the Yemeni inmate at the centre of the supreme court case, said he had told his client about the ruling in a telephone call to Guantánamo. "I think he was awestruck that the court would rule for him, and give a little man like him an equal chance. Where he's from, that is not true," he said.