Federal Judge Grants Habeas Writ Due to Torture Issues

[sabra]

Source: The BLT: Blog of Legal Times

A federal trial judge in Washington today granted a petition for a writ of habeas corpus from a detainee who has been held at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention facility since 2002. The judge found the government had failed to demonstrate that the detainee was a member of al-Qaida.

The Obama administration contends that Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman, a Yemeni citizen, traveled to Afghanistan to join al-Qaida and became a fighter and bodyguard for Osama bin Laden. Uthman, who contends he is not an al-Qaida member, argues that he went to Afghanistan to teach the Quran to children.

The administration’s argument was based in significant part on the evidence provided by captured al-Qaida members Sharqwi Abdu Ali Al-Hajj and Sanad Yislam Ali Al Kazimi.

In a 20-page opinion, Judge Henry Kennedy Jr. of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia concluded that evidence was not credible because both men had been recently tortured when they made their statements.

“In light of the abusive circumstances of the detention of these men and serious questions about the accuracy of their identifications of Uthman, the Court finds these statements to be unreliable,” Kennedy wrote.

Read more: http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2010/04/federal-judge-grants-habeas-writ-due-to-torture-issues-.html