Guantanamo/Detainees
Appeals Court Overturns Order Releasing Gitmo Uighurs into the US
Posted Feb 18, 2009, 01:11 pm CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
A federal appeals court has overturned a ruling that would have released 17 Chinese Muslims being held at Guantanamo into the United States.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said decisions about the release of detainees into the United States must be made by the president and Congress, rather than the courts, according to SCOTUSblog.
The ruling could affect the fate of other Guantanamo detainees who challenge their confinement in federal courts under a Supreme Court ruling authorizing habeas actions, according to the Associated Press. But SCOTUSblog says the ruling appeared narrow, addressing only the issue of whether a federal judge could order prisoners released into the United States who were being held outside the country.
The appeals court decision (PDF posted by SCOTUSblog) overturns a ruling last October by U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina. He ordered the release of the men, known as Uighurs, because the government no longer considers them enemy combatants. The detainees cannot be released to China because the U.S. government fears they will be tortured there.
Hat tip to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
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