NEW US military rules mean executions of condemned "war on terror" detainees could be carried out at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, the US army said.
The new rules authorize the army to set the location for executions "imposed by military courts-martial or military tribunals and authorised by the president of the United States".
"Enemy combatants could be affected by this regulation," said Sheldon Smith, a spokesman for the US Army.
Only 10 war-on-terror detainees have so far been charged and referred to special military commissions for trial, including Australian David Hicks. None are on capital charges.
Currently, seven military inmates are on death row at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. No date has been set for their execution.
The army said the changes in the regulations allow executions to be conducted at locations other than Fort Leavenworth, previously the only authorised site for executions.
The order signed January 17 by General Peter Schoomaker, the army chief of staff, said the changes were a "major revision" of the regulations.
Death penalty opponents said the measure appeared to be a "technical adjustment".
"I don't think there is anything imminent but eventually there might be," said Richard Deiter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Centre in Washington.
"I suspect it is aimed at the military tribunals in Guantanamo. They don't want to bring people from Guantanamo and put them on US soil," he said.
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