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Detainees at Guantanamo are able to challenge their detention in civilian courts
America's highest court has delivered a catastrophic blow to George Bush's policy of locking up terror suspects without charge in Guantanamo Bay.
The US Supreme Court dismissed the legal basis upon which the Bush administration has interned nearly 300 inmates at the American naval base in Cuba and granted the prisoners the right to challenge their detention on the US mainland.
Lawyers for the inmates, including the British resident Binyam Mohamed, are now expected to file fresh claims for release in the US federal courts.
Britain is among a growing number of US allies who supported George Bush's war on terror after the attacks on America in 2001 but now want to see the prison camp closed. Gordon Brown is expected to discuss the subject during the President's state visit to Britain next week.
Yesterday's majority 5-4 ruling was the Bush administration's third setback since 2004 at the highest US court over its treatment of prisoners who are being held indefinitely and without charge or fair trial.
The court has ruled twice previously that Guantanamo inmates could go into civilian courts to challenge their continued detention. But each time, the Bush administration and Congress, then controlled by Republicans, changed the law to keep the detainees out of civilian courts.
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