LOS ANGELES - Australia's David Hicks and other Guantanamo Bay inmates suffered a significant setback today in an American court.
The US federal appeals panel in Washington DC ruled inmates held at the American military base in Cuba do not have the right to challenge their detention in
lower federal courts.
The three judge panel ruled 2-1.
However, instead of paving the way for Hicks to be prosecuted at a military commission trial after five years in US custody, today's court decision will likely cause more delays.
It is expected the decision will be challenged in America's highest court, the US Supreme Court.
Today's court ruling came after US President George W Bush and Congress introduced new legislation last year that stripped detainees' rights to challenge their detention. Bush and Congress drew up the legislation following the landmark victory by Guantanamo detainees in the Supreme Court last year.
The new legislation survived today's ruling.
"Federal courts have no jurisdiction in these cases," Judge A Raymond Randolph and Judge David B Sentelle announced today.
Judge Judith W Rogers, who was the dissenting judge, offered hope to Hicks and other inmates if, as expected, their lawyers take the issue to the Supreme Court.
Rogers said the Pentagon had not come up with an adequate option outside the federal courts that Guantanamo inmates could challenge their detention.
"District courts are well able to adjust these proceedings in light of the government's significant interests in guarding national security," Rogers wrote.
The US military has announced Adelaide-born Hicks, 31, Omar Khadr of Canada and Salim Hamdan of Yemen would be the first three Guantanamo inmates to be prosecuted via the revamped military commission trial system.
Hicks was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and is accused of having ties with terrorist group al Qaida and the Taleban.
- AAP
