Yaser Hamdi, a U.S. citizen seized on the battlefield in Afganistan two years ago and imprisoned ever since in a military brig in South Carolina, will have his case heard by the Supreme Court. The Court is being asked to determine if Hamdi's detention is illegal.

Yaser Esam Hamdi is being held in a naval brig in South Carolina, without access to attorneys and without charges being filed against him. "The man's been locked up for two years," said Frank W. Dunham Jr., a federal public defender who filed the appeal on his behalf. "He wants an opportunity to be heard in court. It goes right to the heart of our liberties."

Dunham told justices in a filing that the appeals court not only "embraced an unchecked executive power to indefinitely detain American citizens suspected of being affiliated with enemies, but it also abandoned procedural safeguards designed to promote truth and fairness."

We're told the brief in support of his Petition is outstanding. You can read it here.

The case is growing quickly. A doctor who worked as a translator at Guantanamo was arrested yesterday in Boston as he made his way back from Cairo.

Defense Department officials described [Ahmed] Mehalba as a civilian contractor who provided translation services, but it was unclear if he had fulfilled his contract or was still working at the camp.

Agents with Customs and Border Protection noticed documents that appeared to have come from the prison camp and that they suspected of being classified. The FBI was called in to interview Mehalba, who denied the documents were his, the official said. (Emphasis our's)

After the interview, the FBI arrested Mehalba on charges of making false statements. He was being held in Boston and further charges are possible, said the official, who declined to describe the nature of the documents in Mehalba's possession.

Making false statements? Sounds to us like needed something to justify the doctor's continued detention as they continue to investigate more serious charges. Making false statements to a federal offical is a catch-all type crime carrying a maximum of five years in prison.

Andrew Lam, writing for Pacific News Service, asks whether detained Army Chaplain Capt. James Yee will become Wen Ho Lee II. It sure seems like a possibility right now.

Yee's arrest is as troubling as Dr. Lee's, says Ling Chi Wang, a professor of East Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley. Though not prepared to pass judgment on the case, Wang says that "based on what has been leaked to the media, I smell a rat." The public knows next to nothing about the Yee case other than what the FBI and the military have revealed to the press, he says, much of which "we can safely regard as propaganda and half-truths."

Hesiod of Counterspin reports scary news in the case of Senior Airman Ahmad I. al-Halabi, being held on 32 charges:

....Brig. Gen. Bradley S. Baker, the commander of al-Halabi's unit, has not decided whether al-Halabi will be tried by court-martial or, if he is convicted, face a possible death sentence.

While at Guantanamo Bay, al-Halabi "made statements criticizing United States policy with regard to the detainees and U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East," Wega wrote. The agent wrote that al-Halabi also "expressed sympathy for and has had unauthorized contact with the detainees."

Hesiod also reports that one of the charges against al-Halabi has already been proven false. Go read.

Captain James Yee, the only Muslim chaplain for the 660 detainees being held at Guantanamo, was arrested September 10 on suspicion of treason and espionage. He joins Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla at the military brig in South Carolina. No charges have been filed yet against Yee, who allegedly was found with classified documents in his possession, consisting of diagrams of the cells and facilities at Guantanamo.

Yee is a West Point graduate who has denounced terrorism and the 9/11 attacks in the past. There must be a lot more to this story.

Don't miss the new Nat Hentoff column on the Jose Padilla case and the strong opposition to Bush's handling of the enemy combatant issue by numerous lawyers' groups on both sides of the bar. Here's the beginning:

Ignored by most media, an array of prominent federal judges, government officials, and other members of the legal establishment has joined in a historic rebellion against George W. Bush's unprecedented and unconstitutional arrogance of power that threatens the fundamental right of American citizens to have access to their lawyers before disappearing indefinitely into military custody without charges, without seeing an attorney or anyone except their guards.

The case, Padilla v. Rumsfeld, is now before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. In a compelling friend-of-the-court brief on Padilla's behalf by an extraordinary gathering of the aforementioned former federal court judges, district court judges, and other legal luminaries of the establishment bar, they charge:

ABC News was invited to Guantanamo to report on conditions. It's important to note that they were not given unrestricted access. Nor were they allowed to film everything they saw. It sounds like a Government-censored visit -- one that was conducted for the purpose of attempting to boost the public's image and opinion of the prison camp. Several months ago we spoke with a cameraman right after he returned from a trip there to film a segment of Jim Lehrer's News Hour. He told us everything he saw looked fine, but they were kept at a distance from the where the prisoners were held. It was a very controlled tour. It sounded like the equivalent of being shown a "model unit" of a new housing development

The Administration is planning on keeping the detainees for many years--most of them will continue to be held without charges, trials or lawyers. Conservative legal columnist Stuart Taylor says, ""I think it's maybe the most lawless set of actions the United States government has taken in my lifetime."

Then there is this chilling disclosure:

In fact, even as the military at Guantanamo Bay tried to show ABCNEWS that life behind the prison's fences is more than humane, some top Bush administration officials are said to like the idea that Guantanamo frightens its inmates. They are said to be investigating whether it would be possible to send some Iraqi prisoners there.

A top administration official estimated it could take the better part of 10 years before many of those held at Guantanamo get out. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said most probably will be held until the war against terrorism ends.

A recent report we read said there are about 650 detainees in Guantanamo. The ABC News report says they come from 42 different countries, three are teenagers and 31 have attempted suicide. None, as far as we know, have been charged with a crime.

The number of suicide attempts at Guantanamo now stands at 32-- another attempt was reported today.

[original news link replaced-Ed.]

The number of suicide attempts at Guantanamo now stands at 32-- another attempt was reported today.

[original news link replaced-Ed.]

The U.S. military has announced it is building a fifth prison camp at Guantanamo. Seems they need more space to hold detainees, and greater interrogation facilities.

Camp V will make room for 100 more detainees, increasing the capacity at the remote naval base in eastern Cuba to 1,100, Lt.-Col. Pamela Hart said in a telephone interview.

At least the "open-air, chain-link cells that some likened to animal cages" are gone, having been replaced by "trailer-style quarters where detainees have a metal bed, a sink, and flush toilets."

Meanwhile, preparations continue for possible military tribunals, with a courthouse and permanent detention centre for any convicts. The tribunals also have power to impose the death sentence but officials said they have not built an execution chamber, though they have plans for every eventuality.

Construction is underway, but the new facilities won't be ready until next year. Talk about planning ahead....

Canada has arrested 19 people, mostly Pakistani students and refugees, in a terror probe.

It sounds like Canada is taking a cue from the U.S. While a few of the 19 are being held for immigration violations, most have been detained without any charges.

Under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, the federal government can detain without charges any landed immigrant or foreign national who is considered to be a threat to national security.

A defense lawyer for two of the men had this to say:

All 19 of them, not just my two clients, are being held on such flimsy evidence that if it was presented in a court of law it would be found as a joke," lawyer Mohammed Syed said last night. "

Damm Foreigner has a lot more of the case details, as well as these thoughts:

Amnesty International has released a new report, Threat of a Bad Example detailing claims of dozens of former Guantanamo prisoners that they were abused by the U.S. Military:

The report, "Threat of a Bad Example," concludes that conditions at the bases may be coercive in the context of repeated interrogations and calls for the Bush administration to treat detainees humanely, provide legal counsel and charge them promptly with recognizable criminal offenses -- or release them.

In the report, one Afghan detainee, Alif Khan, recalled being given two injections, producing "a kind of unconsciousness," for his transfer from Bagram. Another, Sayed Abassin, said that while at Bagram, he was awakened by guards, denied adequate food and forced to stand or kneel for hours. A third man, Muhammad Naim Farooq, said fellow detainees at Guantanamo had wept because of pain from handcuffs. He also said that two men who had attempted suicide were punished with solitary confinement.

"These interviews with former prisoners are damning and add to the poor record of the Bush administration with regard to human rights over the past 23 months," said Alexandra Arriaga, director of government relations for Amnesty International USA.

Amnesty's press release is here.