Civil rights lawyers challenge US on detainees

A group of leading civil rights lawyers and activists have filed a petition requiring the US government to bring the detainees at Guantanamo Bay before a civil court and define the charges against them. The petition is due to be heard in a Los Angeles court today.

The petition for habeas corpus on behalf of 110 al-Qaida suspects was filed by Stephen Yagman, a well-known Los Angeles-based civil rights lawyer, on behalf of a coalition of civil liberties groups. The group includes the former US attorney general, Ramsey Clark.

The petition claims that the detainees are being held in violation of the constitution and the Geneva convention, and the hearing would be a test case on whether they were removed from Afghanistan legally.

Crucially, Mr Yagman said, it would examine the terms and conditions under which the detainees are being held and require the government to explain those terms.