Court revives case of former Gitmo detainees

[unhappycamper]

Court revives case of former Gitmo detainees
The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Dec 15, 2008 12:58:49 EST

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court breathed new life Monday into a lawsuit filed by former detainees at Guantanamo Bay over alleged torture and abuse of their religious rights.

The justices threw out an appeals court ruling that dismissed claims by four British men that, during their time at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, they were beaten, shackled in painful stress positions, threatened by dogs and subjected to extreme medical care.

They also allege they were harassed while practicing their religion, including forced shaving of their beards, banning or interrupting their prayers, denying them copies of the Koran and prayer mats and throwing a copy of the Koran in a toilet bucket.

They contend in their lawsuit that the treatment violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which provides that the "government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion."

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled against them. "Because the plaintiffs are aliens and were located outside sovereign United States territory at the time their alleged RFRA claim arose, they do not fall with the definition of 'person,'" the court said.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/12/ap_gitmo_lawsuit_detainees_121508w/%2e