Lawyers of Bremen Taliban Go to U.S. Supreme Court

The American lawyers of Murat Kurnaz, a Turkish national from Bremen who is being held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay as an alleged Taliban fighter, have appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. "The aim is to get a decision by the Supreme Court on whether U.S. courts are responsible for the examination of the detention of foreigners in the Cuban camp," Kurnaz's German lawyer Bernhard Docke explained. Docke, who has been representing Kurnaz for the past two years, said the step, though unusual was necessary. The court is set to take up the matter on April 20, a decision is expected by the end of June. Kurnaz traveled in October 2001 from Bremen to Pakistan, where he was seized by the Americans as an alleged Taliban fighter. The last that his family in Bremen heard from him was a postcard in March 2002. The indefinite detention of hundreds of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay by the U.S. and their ambiguous legal situation has attracted worldwide criticism.