Justice Breyer: Supreme Court should decide if 'perpetual detention' permitted at Gitmo
Source: NBC News
The case involved Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, a man from Yemen captured by Pakistani forces and accused of being one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards.
June 10, 2019, 10:24 AM EDT / Updated June 10, 2019, 10:44 AM EDT
By Pete Williams
WASHINGTON — Stephen Breyer said on Monday that the Supreme Court should take another look at whether the court's earlier rulings regarding enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay allow "perpetual detention."
Breyer dissented when the court denied an appeal from a Gitmo detainee, Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi, a man from Yemen captured by Pakistani forces and accused of being one of Osama bin Laden's bodyguards and fighting against US forces. He has challenged his open-ended detention, which has continued at Gitmo for 17 years.
The U.S. has never filed charges against him. The U.S. military said he admitted fighting with the Taliban and staying at al Qaeda safehouses. His lawyers said al-Alwi fled for safety to Pakistan and was seized by bounty hunters.
In 2004, the Supreme Court ruled that Congress gave the president authority to detain enemy combatants for the duration of the relevant conflict. But, Breyer noted, the court's majority said its understanding of what Congress allowed might change if circumstances changed and detention had no prospect of ending.
Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/justice-breyer-supreme-court-should-decide-if-perpetual-detention-permitted-n1015741?cid=public-rss_20190610
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