US refuses Afghan detainees right to seek compensation
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
Kabul, Feb 21, IRNA -- The US justice department ruled that some 600 detainees at Bagram have no rights to seek compensation from the US government for keeping them in custody without substantive charges.
The move has disappointed human rights lawyers who had hoped the Obama administration would take a different line to that of George W Bush.
Human rights lawyers challenging the illegal arrests said that the justice department's decision not to reform the rules was both surprising and disappointing.
They say that the new White House was endorsing the view of the old one, that prisons could be created and run outside the law.
Last year, the US Supreme Court gave suspects held at the US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the right to challenge their detention.
Following that ruling, petitions were filed at a Washington district court on behalf of four detainees at Bagram.
The judge then gave the new administration an opportunity to refine the rules on appeals.
In a two-sentence filing, justice department lawyers said the new administration had decided not to change the government's position.
"Having considered the matter, the government adheres to its previously articulated position," said acting assistant Attorney General Michael Hertz in papers filed at the court.
"The situation in Bagram is so far from anything like meeting the laws of war or the human rights treaties that we're bound to," said a human rights activist.
"There are no military hearings where the detainees can present evidence. Torture has led to homicides there that have been admitted by the US."
End News / IRNA / News Code 364558
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