THE Bush administration has suffered a serious setback with the 5-3 ruling of the US Supreme Court that the military tribunals used to try inmates at Guantanamo Bay violate American law and the Geneva Conventions.

The court ruled that the tribunals were set up without Congressional approval and deny the basic right of the defendant to hear the evidence against him and to be present at his trial.

It is not clear what will happen now. The court ruling did not order the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre where 450 people are held and President Bush on Thursday said that people must “understand we’re in a war on terror; that these people were picked up off of a battlefield; and I will protect the people”.

However, mounting international pressure recently prompted President Bush to say that he would like to close down the Guantanamo detention centre and send back most prisoners to their countries of origin.

Now is the time to end the scandal of Guantanamo once and for all. It is not true, as President Bush claims, that the prisoners are all captured combatants. Most just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Many have been tortured and suffered lasting psychological damage.

Guantanamo is one of the greatest blots on the record of a country that came into existence proclaiming freedom and justice for all. If the United States has evidence, let it try those prisoners in civilian courts, or properly constituted military courts.

If it does not have evidence, it should release those prisoners on the presumption ‘innocent until proved guilty’.