US Court Rejects Detention Policy ; World News IN BRIEF

Jun 12, 02:06 AM

Current Headlines: RICHMOND, VIRGINIA The Bush administration cannot use new antiterrorism laws to keep US residents locked up indefinitely without charging them, the federal appeals court ruled yesterday. "To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians ... would have disastrous consequences for the constitution," the court panel said. The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals panel found the law did not strip Ali al- Marri, a US resident and native of Qatar, of his rights to challenge his accusers in court. It ruled he must be released from military detention. Mr Marri, who was arrested in December 2001, was detained at his home in Illinois until June 2003. Since then he has been held in solitary confinement in a Navy brig in South Carolina. He moved to Illinois with his wife and five children a day before the 9/11 attacks.

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