A federal appeals court panel on January 5th strongly backed the power of the government to hold Guantánamo detainees and other noncitizens suspected of committing terrorist acts. The three-judge panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit found that the powers of the president to detain noncitizens suspected of terrorism is not limited by international law.
In its ruling, the court denied Ghaleb Nassar al-Bihani’s request to be released from the detention center at Guantánamo. Mr. Bihani, who is from Yemen and was a cook for a Taliban brigade, was captured in 2002 when his brigade surrendered. It is the first case to directly apply the 2008 Boumediene v. Bush decision permitting detainees to challenge their detention.
Read more at the NYT.