WASHINGTON, Dec 4: Lawyers representing detainees held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, have demanded a court hearing for their clients who are being held without a trial.

The prisoners have not yet been formally charged and have also been denied access to their lawyers.

Officials in Washington confirmed on Wednesday that several lawyers have approached the US Justice Department asking for a trial.

They argue that since their clients have not yet been charged with a crime, it was illegal to keep them under detention.

The Bush administration, however, told a federal appeals court in Washington on Monday that most of these detainees are “unlawful combatants.”

They were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.