A US military review panel has ruled that 10 prisoners accused of links to Afghanistan's Taliban regime or the al-Qaeda network were properly classified as "enemy combatants" and should not be freed, an official said Saturday.
The panels have decided 29 of the 53 cases reviewed so far should continue to be held, said Navy Commander Beci Brenton, a Pentagon spokeswoman. There are about 585 men who are under review at the US outpost. The military has declined to provide details on the 29 cases. Brenton said the government is waiting for permission from the men's embassies.
The administrative hearings are separate from the military commissions, which began last week and have been set up to try prisoners charged with war crimes.
None of the men who have gone before the review tribunals have been charged -- a point of contention with the four prisoners' defense attorneys who say trials should not proceed before the men are able to challenge whether they should be classified as enemy combatants.
A 21-year-old and a 27-year-old who were accused al-Qaeda members refused to participate Saturday, becoming the 16th and 17th detainees to boycott the proceedings, Brenton said.
The younger detainee allegedly received weapons training at al-Qaeda's al-Farouq camp in Afghanistan and spent six months fighting against US coalition forces before surrendering. The older prisoner allegedly stayed at an al-Qaeda safe house after traveling to Afghanistan in October 2001. He allegedly helped fight the Northern Alliance, constructing circuit boards for explosives intended for use against US military forces.
Two other prisoners appeared before the tribunal but called no witnesses. The first was a 25-year-old accused of fighting for the Taliban in Konduz, Afghanistan. The second was a 46-year-old who allegedly trained at al-Farouq and met Osama bin Laden, the head of al-Qaeda, though the military declined to say when or where.
In the review hearings, the US military prohibits the release of the prisoners' names. It recently stopped providing nationalities of the men as well.
The review tribunals began on July 30 and are expected to last four months, but they may be hampered by a recent Supreme Court ruling that allows prisoners to challenge their detentions in civilian courts. The men have not been allowed to have attorneys present at the hearings.
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