WASHINGTON, Jan 12: The US Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Bush administration to keep secret the names of hundreds of people detained or held after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

Without comment, the top court refused to hear an appeal by civil liberties and other groups challenging the secret arrests and detentions for violating the Freedom of Information Act and constitutional free-speech rights under the First Amendment. -Reuters

US court allows govt to keep names secret: 9/11 detainees

WASHINGTON, Jan 12: The US Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Bush administration to keep secret the names and other basic details about hundreds of people questioned and detained or arrested after the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

Without comment, the top court refused to hear an appeal by civil liberties and other groups challenging the secret arrests and detentions for violating the Freedom of Information Act and constitutional free-speech rights under the First Amendment.

The justices let stand a US appeals court ruling that disclosing the names could harm national security and help "Al Qaeda in plotting future terrorist attacks or intimidating witnesses in the present investigation".

Although the high court stayed out of the dispute involving the names of those detained, it has agreed to hear other cases arising from the administration's "war on terror".

Those cases involve the president's power to detain American citizens captured abroad and declared "enemy combatants", and whether foreign nationals can use American courts to challenge their incarceration at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The appeals court said the government could keep secret the names of more than 700 individuals detained on immigration violations and those arrested as material witnesses in the investigation into the hijacked plane attacks.

The appeals court said the government could also keep secret the dates and locations of the arrest, detention and release of all detainees, including those charged with federal crimes, and the names of the lawyers representing them.

Attorneys for the groups challenging the government's policy said the appeals court erred in failing to recognize the First Amendment prohibits secret arrests, except in the most compelling circumstances.

They said the appeals court gave unprecedented deference to government explanations that were "unpersuasive on their face, overly broad and without any support in the record".

The attorneys said the Supreme Court should review the case. "Such review would serve to assure that the government is not merely avoiding scrutiny of a discriminatory overreaction to the Sept 11 attack and to deter future deprivations of civil liberties," they said.

A number of news media companies and groups supported the appeal. In their lawsuit, the civil liberties groups argued the Freedom of Information Act, a law that allows for disclosure of certain government records, required the Justice Department to release the information.-Reuters