Court Revives Ex-Gitmo Detainee Case

(CBS/AP)  The Supreme Court breathed new life Monday into a lawsuit filed by former detainees at Guantanamo Bay over alleged torture and abuse of their religious rights.

The justices threw out an appeals court ruling that dismissed claims by four British men that, during their time at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, they were beaten, shackled in painful stress positions, threatened by dogs and subjected to extreme medical care.

They also allege they were harassed while practicing their religion, including forced shaving of their beards, banning or interrupting their prayers, denying them copies of the Koran and prayer mats and throwing a copy of the Koran in a toilet bucket.

They contend in their lawsuit that the treatment violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides that the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously ruled against them. "Because the plaintiffs are aliens and were located outside sovereign United States territory at the time their alleged RFRA claim arose, they do not fall with the definition of 'person,'" the court said.

Since that opinion was issued in January, however, the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of detainees at Guantanamo.

The justices instructed the appeals court to reconsider the lawsuit in light of their holding in June that the detainees have some rights under the Constitution.

"The justices simply want the lower court to take a second look at some of the torture claims coming out of Guantanamo Bay in light of the Supreme Court's ruling in June that expanded the scope of detainee rights. Nothing is going to happen quickly here," writes CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen.

This could be the first opportunity for the new Obama administration to present its views on Guantanamo detainees and torture in court, reports CBS News correspondent Barry Bagnato.

The defendants in the case include retired Gen. Richard Myers, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The original suit was filed against former Secretary of State Donald Rumsfeld. The four who sued are Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith, all British citizens and residents. They were sent back to Great Britain in 2004.

Rasul, Iqbal and Ahmed allege they traveled to Afghanistan from Pakistan to provide humanitarian relief the month after the Sept. 11 attacks. Al-Harith says he traveled to Pakistan the same month to attend a religious retreat.

The case is Rasul v. Myers, 08-235.

[evian_ycnan]

(by the way only morons like you think that obama would actually will)

Posted by MrMeatSpin at 12:39 AM : Dec 16, 2008

?? Sense you not make, Yoda.

[mrmeatspin]

Well done Bush! you really thought this one through and served our country well. You reliled on a withdrwan DOJ opinion and and decision that even a kangaroo court could not uphold: they do not fall with the definition of ''''person,''''. When you, Cheney and the gang are out of a Gov job. You will be dodging lawsuits like iraqi shoes.

Posted by impeach___W at 07:01 PM : Dec 15, 2008
+ report abuse

*****

so if obama follows up with his promise..he would close gitmo pull the troops out and establish dialogue with these people..

LETS SEE HOW FAR THAT ONE GOES..

(by the way only morons like you think that obama would actually will)

[mrmeatspin]

Well done Bush! you really thought this one through and served our country well. You reliled on a withdrwan DOJ opinion and and decision that even a kangaroo court could not uphold: they do not fall with the definition of ''''person,''''. When you, Cheney and the gang are out of a Gov job. You will be dodging lawsuits like iraqi shoes.

Posted by impeach___W at 07:01 PM : Dec 15, 2008
+ report abuse

*****

so if obama follows up with his promise..he would close gitmo pull the troops out and establish dialogue with these people..

LETS SEE HOW FAR THAT ONE GOES..

(by the way only morons like you think that obama would actually will)

[hitoyou11]

They have no rights. Let they die.

[impeach___w]

Well done Bush! you really thought this one through and served our country well. You reliled on a withdrwan DOJ opinion and and decision that even a kangaroo court could not uphold: they do not fall with the definition of ''person,''. When you, Cheney and the gang are out of a Gov job. You will be dodging lawsuits like iraqi shoes.

[mrmeatspin]

this is the part where the liberal managed to turn this into a zoo..

we are at war..our enemy gets killed..they get captured and they get interogated..

question..

who oversights the rights of the americans killed??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[oldnugly1]

Where is it written in the Genevoa Conventions that is permissable to chop off the head of a person?
When has it become acceptable to kidnap none military persons and subject them to torcher?
Come on it is a war that is being fought over there and as our sons/daughters have done they signed on the dotted line and accepted the responsabilaty of their actions, but I guess when they say to a Talaban leader that they would like 40 virgins and it don''t happen, then they should sue Osama.