US hints at releasing some Guantanamo detainees

The Pentagon hinted Thursday that it might release some Guantanamo Bay detainees that were not deemed to pose a security threat without granting them access to civilian courts.

Pentagon Spokesman Larry Di Rita told reporters that no final decisions have been made about how the government will respond to Supreme Court decisions earlier this week that challenges the US policy of indefinite detentions of "enemy combatants" captured in the war on terrorism.

"It is conceivable that people who can be 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," he said.

"If there are people that can be released, after some due process of review that we've established, it's worth considering whether that's the right next thing to do, and we can do that and remain consistent with the Supreme Court ruling," he said.

Di Rita was referring to the Pentagon's newly adopted system ofannual reviews of cases of the 595 detainees at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, under which a three-member military panel would assess each case and determine whether a prisoner no longer poses a threat to the United States and can be released.

The US Supreme Court ruled Monday that the US government can hold American and foreign nationals without charges or trial, but that detainees can appeal to US courts against their treatment.

Some 595 detainees from 42 countries are held indefinitely in Guantanamo as "enemy combatants," most of whom were captured during the US-led war in Afghanistan and have been held there for more than two years without charges and trial.