[JURIST] British nationals and former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainees Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed and Jamal Al-Harith have petitioned [cert. petition, PDF] the US Supreme Court [official website] to hear a lawsuit [advocacy backgrounder] in which they seek religious rights and protection from torture for those still at the facility. In the petition, docketed [08-235 text] Monday, the men argue that a lower court's dismissal of their claims [JURIST report] should be reversed after Boumediene v. Bush [Duke Law backgrounder; JURIST report], in which the Court ruled that that detainees have the right to file habeas corpus petitions in federal court. The men argue that the Court should hear the case because of the gravity of the issues addressed and the claimed error of the lower court:

Guanta?namo continues to present numerous jurisprudential challenges to the judiciary. This case provides a critical opportunity for this Court to affirm strongly the guarantee to Guanta?namo detainees of an irreducible minimum of human rights. It is essential for this Court to reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision, which manifests indifference to religious abuse and torture and flouts the Guanta?namo jurisprudence carefully developed and expounded by this Court.