Lawyer denied access to detainee

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court refused yesterday to let a lawyer meet with his client at a US Navy prison in Cuba.

The lawyer, Stephen Yagman, had said he wanted to make sure that Falen Gherebi, a Libyan captured in Afghanistan, was not abused at Guantanamo Bay.

Justice Sandra Day O'Connor declined without comment to order a meeting.

Yagman had said in a filing last week that he was concerned that Gherebi ''may have been or may be subjected to improper treatment at the hands of his captors at Guantanamo Bay."

The filing did not make any specific allegations, but follows statements by former British detainees who say they were abused and videotaped at Guantanamo Bay.

The court is expected to decide soon whether the approximately 600 men, including Gherebi, being held essentially incommunicado at the prison can challenge their detention in US courts.

The Bush administration maintains that because the men were picked up overseas on suspicion of being terrorists, they can be detained indefinitely in military custody, without charges or trial.

The Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco used Gherebi's case to rule late last year that the prisoners should be allowed to see lawyers and have access to courts. The government has appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.