Activists: Ruling won't close Gitmo soon

By BRENNAN LINSLEY, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 29, 12:55 PM ET

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Defense lawyers and human rights activists praised Thursday's Supreme Court decision rejecting military war crimes trials for detainees at Guantanamo Bay, but most felt it likely won't force a quick shutdown of the prison.

The base's commander predicted earlier this week that an adverse ruling would not bring a closure of the jail, saying many of the prisoners could not be released.

Attorneys and advocates called the 5-3 decision a rebuke to the Bush administration's anti-terrorist policies and use of the Guantanamo facility, which has been strongly criticized by foreign leaders.

Some detainee lawyers expressed hope the ruling will increase political pressure to close the facility, where about 450 prisoners swept up since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States are being held on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.

"There certainly will be some fallout from this and it may very well lead to the closing of Guantanamo Bay in the near future," said Army Maj. Tom Fleener, who represents Ali Hamza Ahmad Sulayman al-Bahlul, a Yemeni among the 10 detainees who were facing military trials.

But others agreed with Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, commander of the Guantanamo base, that a shutdown wasn't likely — at least in the near future.

"If they rule against the government, I don't see how that's going to affect us," Harris said this week.

Jumana Musa, advocacy director for Amnesty International USA, said the Supreme Court's decision doesn't address the jail's future.

All it does, she said, is "stop dead in its tracks ... the sham trials that have been going on under the guise of war crimes trials, charging people with crimes that aren't even war crimes, and I think that's the fundamental effect of this."

Bridget Arimond, assistant director of the Center for International Human Rights at Northwestern University's School of Law, said that "the administration is clearly going to have to come up with a different approach to trying these cases if it wishes to try the detainees under the military justice system."

Barbara Olshansky, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which represents about 300 Guantanamo detainees, said the cases belong in civilian courts.

"We have lawful courts in this country that are perfectly capable of hearing these cases," she said. "Try them in law courts or release them. This notion of

President Bush

creating his own universe is not permissible.