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US can keep 9/11 arrests secret<br><br>
Monday 12 January 2004 4:01 PM GMT <br><br>
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<b>The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Bush administration can keep
secret the names of hundreds of people questioned, detained or arrested
since September 11.<br><br>
</b></font><font size=2>The ruling on Monday, which is certain to dismay
human rights activists worldwide, also allows the administration to keep
away from public domain other basic details of the detainees and those
questioned.<br><br>
Without comment, the top court refused to hear an appeal by civil
liberties and other groups challenging the secret arrests and detentions
for violating the Freedom of Information Act and constitutional
free-speech rights under the First Amendment.<br><br>
The justices let stand a US appeals court ruling that disclosing the
names could harm national security and help "al-Qaida in plotting
future terrorist attacks or intimidating witnesses in the present
investigation."<br><br>
Although the high court stayed out of the dispute involving the names of
those detained, it has agreed to hear other cases arising from the Bush
administration's war on terror.<br><br>
Those cases involve the president's power to detain American citizens
captured abroad and declared "enemy combatants" and whether
foreign nationals can use American courts to challenge their
incarceration at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay in
Cuba.<br><br>
<b>Growing outrage<br><br>
</b>US highhandedness in dealing with "terror-suspects" has
been a subject of global consternation in recent times.<br><br>
It has been holding without charge 660 suspects, mostly foreign
nationals, in Guantanamo Bay since the Afghanistan war. Most are faced
with bleak prospects of an early trial even two years after their
detention. <br><br>
Human rights groups have condemned the continuing detentions and alleged
the detainees have been sucked into a "legal black
hole."<br><br>
<br>
</font><font size=3>You can find this article at:<br>
<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2E3632A3-FF89-4813-A2C6-9A66C1ED2243.htm" eudora="autourl">http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/2E3632A3-FF89-4813-A2C6-9A66C1ED2243.htm</a>
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