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Detainee changes part of defense bill

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- The Senate version of a bill funding the U.S. military includes changes to the rules governing suspected terrorist detainees, a congressional aide says.

The Armed Services Committee approved the proposals 25-1 in a secret vote last week, The New York Times reported. The detainee rule changes were put together by a bipartisan group that included Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the committee chairman, and Republicans John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

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A legislative aide told the Times the provisions include one setting up a hearing procedure for detainees at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan and similar facilities. A military judge would be able to free those determined not to be enemy combatants. But the package authorizes military detention for "high-value" foreign prisoners, even those arrested in the United States, the Times said.

The use of government funds for a prison inside the United States for Guantanamo detainees would be permanently barred. The measure also expands a provision authorizing the detention of members of al-Qaida, the Taliban and other groups under legislation allowing the government to act against the perpetrators of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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Andrea Prasow, senior counsel in Human Rights Watch's Terrorism and Counterterrorism Program, said the military detention provision is "outrageous."

"Mandatory military detention is what martial-law states do, not democracies," she said.

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