[same post as before, but this time with link to the opinion here]
* United States v. Abdah (D.D.C.) (Granting habeas relief to a gtmo detainee)
Judge Kennedy has released an unclassfied version of an opinion granting habeas relief to a gtmo detainee from Yemen who was among a group of men seized by pakistani authorities in 2002. The opinion finds that the government’s evidence against Odaini consists primarily of the circumstance of his presence at the guesthouse where the arrest occurred (on the theory that the guesthouse was solely for use by Abu Zubaydah’s al Qaede-affiliated network), along with his involvement in a religious prosetelyzation organization alleged to have been used by Qaeda, at time, as cover. The court was decidedly unconvinced, however, that Odaini was anything more than the student he claimed to be.
Note that the opinion indicates that the GTMO review task force already had recommended his release, but that prospects for release were then disrupted by the decision to suspend all releases to Yemen that followed the surge in public concern about Yemen in the aftermath of the "underwear" bomb incident. It seems that there had been a stay of habeas proceedings before that decision, but the court lifted the stay afterward. The government tried to make the case for detention at that point rather than concede the writ.
By Robert M. Chesney
Robert M. Chesney is Charles I. Francis Professor in Law at UT-Austin School of Law. Chesney is a national security law specialist, with a particular interest in problems associated with terrorism. Professor Chesney recently served in the Justice Department in connection with the Detainee Policy Task Force created by Executive Order 13493. He is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security, a senior editor for the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, an associate member of the Intelligence Science Board, a non-resident senior fellow of the Brookings Institution, a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a member of the American Law Institute. Professor Chesney has published extensively on topics ranging from detention and prosecution in the counterterrorism context to the states secrets privilege. He served previously as chair of the Section on National Security Law of the Association of American Law Schools and as editor of the National Security Law Report (published by the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Law and National Security). His upcoming projects include two books under contract with Oxford University Press, one concerning the evolution of detention law and policy and the other examining the judicial role in national security affairs.
View all of Robert M. Chesney's posts.
