Justices say US can send back 2 Guantanamo prisoners who say they fear torture in Algeria

Court OKs 2nd Gitmo prisoner’s move to Algeria

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has cleared the way for the U.S. to send two Guantanamo Bay prisoners back to Algeria even though they want to remain at the prison camp because of fear they might be tortured at home.

Justices on Saturday declined to hear the appeal of Aziz Abdul Naji, held at Guantanamo since 2002 after being captured in Pakistan. That ruling follows the high court’s decision late Friday that allowed the U.S. government to proceed in transferring another Algerian detainee back home.

Both detainees had argued they would be harmed by the Algerian government or unaffiliated armed Islamic militants if they were to be released.

They are among six Algerian detainees at Guantanamo who say they rather remain at the prison camp in Cuba than return to their home country where political turmoil has claimed thousands of lives in recent years.

A federal judge this year initially barred the U.S. government from repatriating one of the detainees to Algeria until there were more assurances that he would be treated humanely. An appeals court later overturned that order.

On Friday, the Supreme Court — with Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor dissenting — backed the decision of the appeals court in saying the detainee should be sent back.

The U.S. government says it has assurances that the Algerian detainees will not be abused.

A Pentagon spokeswoman, Maj. Tanya Bradsher, on Saturday said her department had no comment on when the detainees might be transferred.