Federal Judiciary

Three detainees sent to Bosnia

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

Three of the Guantanamo Bay detainees ordered released by a federal judge this month have been sent to Bosnia, where they had been living before being captured and put in indefinite detention by the U.S. military.  They are part of a group of five who won their release in a decision last month by U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon. 

This group was among the detainees who were at the center of the Supreme Court’s ruling last June 12 in Boumediene v. Bush, granting a constitutional right to challenge detention.  Lakhdar Boumediene, whose name is on the case, however, remains at Guantanamo Bay, as does the fifth individual in the group, Saber Lahmar.  Their attorneys said they would be seeking the release of those two, and will be appealing to the D.C. Circuit Court to challenge a ruling by Judge Leon that Belkacem Bensayah must remain in detention.

A statement by attorneys regarding the release can be found here.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on December 16, 2008 (boomark / email).