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Gitmo detainees sue US
A team of lawyers sued the U.S. government Thursday on behalf of 15 detainees from Yemen held on suspicion of terrorism at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a spokesman said. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, bringing to about 50 the number of detainees for whom suits are pending, said Clive Stafford-Smith, a human rights lawyer who leads the New Orleans-based group Justice in Exile. The actions all demand court hearings and argue the men should be freed. The U.S. Supreme Court opened the door to such suits in a June 28 ruling that said detainees may appeal to civilian courts. All of the 15 Yemenis were detained in Pakistan, said Pamela Chepiga, a lawyer with New York-based Allen & Overy, the leading law firm on the case. Stafford-Smith, who also helped prepare the case, said he visited families of many of the Yemenis in their homeland and most told similar stories: the men left to work in Pakistan and didn't return. Relatives authorized the lawyers to prepare cases. "All we're asking for is a fair hearing," Stafford-Smith said by phone from New Orleans. "These are not terrorists."
"Dat's right! We wuz just standin' around, mindin' our own bidnid, see? So dese guyz comes up wid a paddy wagon, an' it ain't full yet, so dey tells us to get in! An' we wudn't doin' nuttin'!"
The U.S. military says the nearly 600 men at Guantanamo are "enemy combatants" from the war in Afghanistan, held on suspicion of links to the fallen Taliban regime or al-Qaida. Four of the detainees have been formally charged and are to be tried by military tribunals.
Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-07-16
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=38235