A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled that President George W. Bush has the power to keep a terrorist suspect jailed indefinitely, but that the detainee has the right to challenge his detention as an “enemy combatant.”<\/p>\n
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, took up the case of Ali Al-Marri, the only “war on terror” suspect arrested on US soil, and reversed a June 2007 decision by a lower court denying Bush the power to keep the suspect jailed indefinitely and ordering his release.<\/p>\n
By a 5-4 decision, the Richmond court, reputedly one of the most conservative in the country, said: “if the government’s allegations about Al-Marri are true, Congress has empowered the president to detain him as an enemy combatant.”<\/p>\n
At the same time, the court also decided by a 5-4 vote that “al-Marri has not been afforded sufficient process to challenge his designation as an enemy combatant.”<\/p>\n
The US Supreme Court ruled last month that war on terror detainees held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under habeas corpus, have a right to challenge their detention in a civilian court.<\/p>\n
The high court concluded that the Guantanamo naval base can be treated as US territory where rights enshrined in the US Constitution must be respected.<\/p>\n
The US Justice Department welcomed the Richmond court’s decision upholding Bush’s power to jail terrorist suspects indefinitely.<\/p>\n
“We are pleased with the court’s en banc decision today … that authority is backed by the support of Congress and is a vital tool in protecting the nation against further terrorist attacks,” it said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Al-Marri, a Qatari citizen imprisoned for five in a military jail in South Carolina, was arrested on suspicion of credit card fraud three months after he arrived in the United States on a student visa with his wife and children on September 10, 2001.<\/p>\n
In 2003, Bush declared him an “enemy combabant” and charged him with receiving training in Afghanistan after volunteering as an Al-Qaeda martyr in 2001.<\/p>\n