WASHINGTON, Nov 10: The US supreme court said on Monday it would decide appeals by Afghan war detainees challenging their incarceration at a US military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the first time the justices will rule on the Bush administration’s anti-terrorism policy.

The justices agreed to decide whether US courts have jurisdiction to consider the challenges by a group of detainees of their continued confinement without access to families or lawyers, and with no charges brought against them.

The supreme court will hear an hour of arguments next year, setting the stage for a decision by the end of June.

The justices said in a written order they would decide whether US “courts lack jurisdiction to consider challenges to the legality of the detention of foreign nationals captured abroad in connection with hostilities and incarcerated at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba”.

The high court agreed to hear appeals by two British, two Australian and 12 Kuwaiti nationals. They are among about 660 detainees from more than 40 nations at the US navy base in Cuba following their capture during the invasion of Afghanistan.

Washington considers the detainees enemy combatants, not prisoners of war entitled to specific protections under international law. The United States has so far identified only a handful of detainees it considers eligible for military tribunals.

Attorneys for the 16 foreign nationals argued that the US constitution and international law forbade indefinite detention without providing the prisoners certain protections.—Reuters