'Detainees have no rights'
2004-12-03 14:02
Washington - Evidence gained by torture can be used by the United States military in deciding whether to imprison a foreigner indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as an enemy combatant, the government concedes.
Statements produced under torture have been inadmissible in US courts for about 70 years.
But the US military panels reviewing the detention of 550 foreigners as enemy combatants at the US naval base in Cuba are allowed to use such evidence, Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General Brian Boyle acknowledged at a US District Court hearing on Thursday.
Some of the prisoners have filed lawsuits challenging their detention without charges for up to three years so far. At the hearing, Boyle urged District Judge Richard J Leon to throw their cases out.
No constitutional rights
Attorneys for the prisoners argued that some were held solely on evidence gained by torture, which they said violated fundamental fairness and US due process standards. But Boyle argued in a similar hearing on Wednesday that the detainees "have no constitutional rights enforceable in this court."
Leon asked whether a detention based solely on evidence gathered by torture would be illegal, because "torture is illegal. We all know that."
Boyle replied that if the military's combatant status review tribunals "determine that evidence of questionable provenance were reliable, nothing in the due process clause (of the Constitution) prohibits them from relying on it."
Leon asked whether there were any restrictions on using torture-induced evidence.
Boyle replied that the United States never would adopt a policy that would have barred it from acting on evidence that could have prevented the September 11 2001, terrorist attacks even if the data came from questionable practices like torture by a foreign power.
Several arguments underlie the US court ban on products of torture.
Leon asked whether US courts could review detentions based on evidence from torture conducted by US personnel.
Boyle said torture was against US policy and any allegations of it would be "forwarded through command channels for military discipline." He added, "I don't think anything remotely like torture has occurred at Guantanamo" but noted that some US soldiers there had been disciplined for misconduct, including a female interrogator who removed her blouse during questioning.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Tuesday it has given the Bush administration a confidential report critical of US treatment of Guantanamo detainees. The New York Times reported the Red Cross described the psychological and physical coercion used at Guantanamo as "tantamount to torture."
- AP