NEW YORK, March 9 (UPI) -- A human rights group has urged the U.S. Congress to restore the ability of foreign terror suspects held by the U.S. military to challenge their detention in federal court.
Human Rights Watch issued the statement Thursday as the U.S. Senate opened its debate on a bipartisan amendment from Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to restore the right to habeas corpus petitions to those held at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The action was essential, the group said, "to protect the right of all people to challenge the legality of their detention before an independent court."
"Late last year, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which, as interpreted by the current administration, deprives all detainees held in U.S. military custody of this basic right," Human Rights Watch said.
"Human Rights Watch has long advocated restoring habeas corpus and has been working with congressional leaders to schedule a vote as a top priority for this session," the group said.
Human rights watchdog groups hope that the new Democrat-controlled House of Representatives and Senate will act to roll back some of the more sweeping provisions curtailing traditional civil liberties that previous Republican-controlled congresses passed in the years following the terror attacks of Sept.11, 2001.
