High court denies prisoner's efforts to stay at Guantanamo

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court refused to block the pending transfer of an accused terrorist held by the U.S. military, despite his fears of being tortured if he is sent back to his home country of Algeria.

Ahmed Belbacha has been incarcerated at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for five years. He has tried to keep himself detained because he said he fears being tortured by the Algerian government if he goes home.

The justices, in a one-sentence order, denied his emergency request for a stay to any pending release.

Six other Algerians also face release from the Guantanamo prison. The U.S. military has been under pressure to speed the process of evaluating the approximately 360 detainees and freeing those who are not considered dangerous.

The Pentagon has said about 80 Guantanamo men are eligible for freedom and has been negotiating with their home countries to accept them. Pentagon and State Department officials have said they would not repatriate any prisoner to countries where they would "likely" be tortured.

There was no immediate reaction from Belbacha's attorney, Zachary Katznelson. His lawyer said last week that despite the conditions of the prison, his client would prefer to stay if that were his only option.

"He said to me, 'My cell is like a grave.' He lives in an all-steel cell. It's about 6 feet by 10 feet; say, the size of someone's bathroom," Katznelson said.

Belbacha said he is not an international terrorist. He said he was an accountant for the Algerian government and said Islamic radicals threatened his life in 1999. He said he fled to Britain to escape the radicals and worked as a waiter.

He later traveled to Pakistan to attend a religious school, he said, and was turned over to U.S. forces in 2002 by men seeking bounty money for alleged terrorists.

Belbacha is afraid the stigma of being a U.S. military prisoner would make him a victim of Algerian government interrogation and abuse, his lawyer said.

"Now that he's been in Guantanamo, the Algerian government may come after him," Katznelson said.

The Algerian Embassy in Washington and the State Department refused earlier requests to discuss the appeal and Belbacha's claims.

A 2006 State Department report on human rights noted Algerian security forces have been accused of torturing suspects.

The ruling from the high court means the military may proceed with its repatriation efforts, but there is no word when a transfer would take place. Belbacha also has a pending appeal before a federal appeals court in Washington.

The Supreme Court case is Belbacha v. Bush (07A98). E-mail to a friend

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