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US President signs new law on Guantanamo

08 January 2011 08:31 (UTC +04:00)

"The prosecution of terrorists in federal court is a powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation and must be among the options available to us," the president said. "Any attempt to deprive the executive branch of that tool undermines our nation’s counterterrorism efforts and has the potential to harm our national security.

Obama made the comments even while signing the legislation, which also allows funding for a wide range of military and national security programs that the president said were too important to dispense with.

The law bans the use of Defense Department dollars to transfer suspected terrorists held at the U.S. Navy prison in Cuba to the United States, where they could be tried in civilian court. That effectively prevents any such transfer from happening during the period covered by the legislation â€” the 2011 fiscal year that runs through September.