Federal judge calls Guantanamo inmate's detention 'unlawful'

[kpete]

Source: McClatchy

Federal judge calls Guantanamo inmate's detention 'unlawful'

By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — A federal judge has forcefully put Yemeni citizen Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini on the path to freedom after eight years of incarceration at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In a 36-page opinion formally released Thursday, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. called Odaini's continued detention "unlawful" and said he'd "emphatically" grant Odaini's petition for a writ of habeas corpus.

The ruling issued secretly last month but published Thursday sets the 26-year-old Odaini up for potential release, though when and where he'll go remains unclear. The ruling also represents the latest defeat for U.S. officials in their efforts to keep Guantanamo detainees behind bars.

"(U.S.) officials kept a young man from Yemen in detention in Cuba from age eighteen to age twenty-six," Kennedy wrote. "They have prevented him from seeing his family and denied him the opportunity to complete hi




Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/06/10/95693/federal-judge-calls-guantanamo.html

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[aquart]

2. Did we make them sign promises they wouldn't sue for unlawful detention?

Just wondering.

It seems to me that a wiggly case could be made to sue Bush and Cheney for acting unlawfully and therefore not upholding the constitution and therefore fair game. Very wiggly.

[EFerrari]

4. What I remember hearing from one freed detainee

is that when he was about to be released, he was sent into a room with someone who tried to force him to sign releases and he was threatened (of course) with never being released at all if he didn't sign them.

[chill_wind]

6. Yes. Binyam Mohamed. :-(

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3796241

U.S. government lawyers tried to get a British resident held at Guantanamo Bay to sign a deal saying he had never been tortured and that he would not speak to the media as a condition of his release, according to documents presented in Britain's High Court.

U.S. lawyers also wanted Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian citizen held at Guantanamo for more than 4 years, to plead guilty to secure his freedom, even though he was never charged with a crime, according to documents released by two judges who ruled in the High Court case.

[EFerrari]

8. I was remembering Murat Kurnaz.

He testified before Congress via video in May 2008. :(

[chill_wind]

9. And who knows how many others, then. Ugggg-

when I was searching DU for Mohamed's case, it was so sad and grotesque- and startling- to see all over again so many of the details of his and other prisoners' treatment-- sliced genitalia, forced feedings, CIA torture rendition flights. Barbaric and calculated, and every single man or woman that oversaw or participated and did this to so many, still walking totally free from accounting..

[Stumbler]

3. This is great news

Unfortunately it reminds me of how badly our leaders are damaging our nation's reputation in the eyes of the friends and families of those detained... Thanks Bush & Obama & both of your administrations.

[Iowa]

7. Yep, and not just in the eyes of their friends and families...

... but also in the eyes of every American citizen and the entire world. Those bastards wouldn't think twice about doing the same thing to any of us. The Bush/Obama administration has presided over one of the darkest times in our history.

[Jefferson23]

5. "unlawful".....damn right, thank you Judge! n/t

[No Elephants]

10. Good judges may be the best thing about government.

Hell,, even the Con SCOTUS invalidated parts of the "PATRIOT" Act after two branches of government rammed it through.

Wonder how long it will be before Congress starts taking away jurisdiction from federal courts.