US may release some Guantanamo Bay detainees The United States has indicated it might head off legal challenges by detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba by releasing those who no longer need to be imprisoned.
This follows the decision by the US Supreme Court that the prisoners identified as enemy combatants can challenge their detention in American courts.
About 600 people arrested mostly in Afghanistan have been held for more than two years.
The Pentagon spokesman Lawrence di Rita says an annual review process has been set up to take a look at each case.
"It is conceivable that people can de determined 'no longer needing to be held', need not necessarily be part of a judicial process if we can make that determination short of a judicial process, that's all I'm saying," he said.
--CNN/Reuters/AFP
In other developments: Lawyers for Guantanamo Bay detainees, including Mamdouh Habib, have written to United States Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld demanding access to the men. (Full Story) Prime Minister John Howard says he has not been advised that the United States wants Australian detainees David Hicks or Mamdouh Habib to be released or repatriated. (Full Story)
