GUANTAMANO BAY PRISONERS

3 released to Bosnia

Men held since 2002 being transferred after court ruling

AP

GUANTAMANO BAY. THE U . S. is preparing to send three Guantanamo prisoners to Bosnia in the first detainee transfer ordered by a federal judge, attorneys for the men said Tuesday

A judge in Washington ruled last month that the government's case was not strong enough to continue holding the men. The order came in the first hearing on the Bush administration's evidence for keeping prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in eastern Cuba as "enemy combatants.

"These will be the first three men who will be sent home by an order from a federal judge, and that is a vindication for our legal system," said Rob Kirsch, an attorney for the men.

He said U.S. and Bosnian officials have told the prisoners' lawyers about the upcoming transfer

Military officials declined to comment. The Pentagon typically does not discuss detainee transfers until they are completed, citing security concerns

The three prisoners are Algerians who immigrated to Bosnia before they were detained in 2001 on suspicion of plotting to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo. They have been held at Guantanamo since January 2002

In his order last month, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon said the government's evidence linking five Algerians to al-Qaida was not credible as it came from a single, unidentified source. He urged the Justice Department not to appeal because it could delay the men's release

Attorneys for the men said they suspected two of the five are not being released with the others because they do not have Bosnian citizenship

One of the detainees who appears to be staying is Lakhdar Boumediene, whose landmark Supreme Court case earlier this year gave the Guantanamo detainees the right to challenge their imprisonment

The cases of more than 200 additional Guantanamo detainees are still pending, many in front of other judges in Washington's federal courts

Boumediene has been on a hunger strike to protest his detention, according to another attorney for the men, Stephen Oleskey

Once the others are released, Kirsch said he expects they will be released to their families in Bosnia. Oleskey said officials have indicated the men would be flown out of Guantanamo by today.

Publicidad