Federal Judiciary

Afghan detainee goes home

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

The Justice Department formally notified a federal judge on Monday that it has carried out the court order to return a young Afghan detainee, Mohammed Jawad, to his homeland, ending nearly a seven-year stay in U.S. military custody, most recently at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.  Jawad, who may have been as young as 12 when he was captured in Afghanistan in 2002, has rejoined his family, his lawyers at the American Civil Liberties Union said they had confirmed.

The Justice Department’s brief status report is here.  A Justice Department news release about the transfer is here.  The ACLU statement is here.

Jawad had previously faced war crimes charges before a U.S. military commission.  But the Obama Administration ultimately decided that it had no reason to continue to detain him, and, while Monday’s announcement of his transfer did not say so, it also had decided not to try further to prosecute him either in civilian or military legal systems.  Under federal law, it was required by Congress to make a “risk assessment” before it arranged Jawad’s transfer

The Department statement said only that it wold “continue to consult with the Afghan government regading Jawad.”  It did not elaborate, so there is no way of knowing whether the U.S. government insisted on some restrictions on Jawad’s activity as a condition for releasing him.

Jawad’s release was the first Guatnanamo Bay detainee case in which a federal judge had ordered the release of a captive who had once faced terrorism charges.   He was accused of throwing a hand grenade that injured a U.S. solidier in Afghanistan — a charge that apparently will never be tried.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on August 24, 2009 (boomark / email).