Appeals court dismisses Afghan habeas petition

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected a new attempt by detainees held by the United States in Afghanistan to be granted habeas corpus rights.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed the petition from five non-Afghan detainees held at the Parwan Detention Facility at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

{mosads}Three years ago, the appellate court also ruled against a similar habeas petition from detainees held in Afghanistan.

In both instances, the detainees argued they should be granted habeas rights given to detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

But the court argued the Afghan detainees could be held as enemy combatants because Bagram is located in a war theater, and the United States does not intend to control the detention facility indefinitely.

“Guantanamo does not lie in a theater of war; it is far removed from the conflicts which produced its inmates,” the court said in a 43-page opinion. “Our forces at Bagram, by contrast, are actively engaged in a war against a determined enemy. Like the Supreme Court, we think this is a critical distinction.”

In the new petition, the Yemeni, Pakistani and Tunisian detainees argue that the United States does intend to keep detainees in Bagram indefinitely, citing the transfer of Afghan detainees to the Afghan government but keeping foreign detainees in U.S. custody.

Like the U.S. district court, the appellate court rejected the detainees’ argument. It cited the transfer of the Bagram detention facility to Afghan control as evidence supporting the government’s case.

“We do not suggest that this evidence affirmatively establishes that the United States will transfer control of Bagram by the end of 2014 nor does our decision rest on the assumption that such a transfer will occur in 2014 or at any other specific future date,” the court wrote.

“We view this evidence merely as support for the conclusion we reached in Al Maqaleh II [the previous Bagram detainee case] that American control over Bagram and its detention facilities lacks the permanence of U.S. control over Guantánamo.”