(Afghanistan) Judges reject detention without a trial
Source: Associated Press via The Bend Bulletin
Published: September 18. 2012 4:00AM PST
KABUL, Afghanistan — An Afghan judicial panel ruled Monday that administrative detention violates Afghan law, potentially thwarting a U.S. plan to hand over Afghan detainees that American officials believe should continue to be held without a trial.
President Hamid Karzai’s office announced in a statement that a top-level judicial panel met earlier in the day and decided that the detention of Afghan citizens without a court trial “has not been foreseen in Afghan laws" and therefore could not be used.
The U.S. government has long held Afghans captured in operations inside the country without trial, arguing that they are enemy combatants and therefore can be detained for as long as their release might pose a danger to the international coalition.
Afghan laws have come into play only since the signing of a deal in March in which the U.S. agreed it would hand over all Afghan citizens to the Afghan government — acceding to a key Karzai demand to pave the way for a pact allowing for the long-term presence of U.S. forces in the country ...
Read more: http://www.bendbulletin.com/article/20120918/NEWS0107/209180344/
