.Judge Blocks Handover of Citizen to Iraq
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Monday ordered the U.S. military not to hand over to the Iraqi government a U.S. citizen suspected of being a senior associate of insurgent leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The case of Shawqi Omar is the latest legal fight that tests the limits on the Bush administration's power to keep Americans it has identified as terrorists out of U.S. courts.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina of Washington granted a request from Omar's family to keep him in military custody in Iraq while Urbina decides whether the 44-year-old Kuwaiti native should have his case heard in a U.S. court. A temporary order preventing Omar's transfer had been set to expire Monday.
The Justice Department was reviewing the ruling, said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
Omar has not been charged with a crime nor given access to a lawyer since being arrested at his home in Baghdad in October 2004.
The U.S. government said Omar, who also holds Jordanian citizenship, was harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters at the time of his arrest and also had bomb-making materials. He is described in court papers as a relative of Zarqawi who was plotting to kidnap foreigners from Baghdad hotels.
Iraqi courts are considering charges against him, the government said. Omar would be the first American tried in the new Iraqi legal system. Three other U.S. citizens suspected of ties to the insurgency are in military custody in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
He also has been indicted in Jordan, along with Zarqawi, in connection with an aborted chemical attack on the Jordanian intelligence agency.
Omar's family said he is a businessman who was seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
The government argued that Omar, held at a succession of U.S. military-run prisons in Iraq, was not in American custody, but rather under the control of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq. Urbina said U.S. forces have effective control of Omar.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration has detained at least three other Americans without charges for extended periods. The most notable is Jose Padilla, originally suspected of plotting to unleash a radiological device in the United States.
Padilla was indicted late last year on unrelated charges after three and a half years' confinement as an enemy combatant. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear his challenge to his detention.
One difference, however, is that Padilla was arrested and held on American soil.
Chron.com
The case of Shawqi Omar is the latest legal fight that tests the limits on the Bush administration's power to keep Americans it has identified as terrorists out of U.S. courts.
U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina of Washington granted a request from Omar's family to keep him in military custody in Iraq while Urbina decides whether the 44-year-old Kuwaiti native should have his case heard in a U.S. court. A temporary order preventing Omar's transfer had been set to expire Monday.
The Justice Department was reviewing the ruling, said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
Omar has not been charged with a crime nor given access to a lawyer since being arrested at his home in Baghdad in October 2004.
The U.S. government said Omar, who also holds Jordanian citizenship, was harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian fighters at the time of his arrest and also had bomb-making materials. He is described in court papers as a relative of Zarqawi who was plotting to kidnap foreigners from Baghdad hotels.
Iraqi courts are considering charges against him, the government said. Omar would be the first American tried in the new Iraqi legal system. Three other U.S. citizens suspected of ties to the insurgency are in military custody in Iraq, the Pentagon said.
He also has been indicted in Jordan, along with Zarqawi, in connection with an aborted chemical attack on the Jordanian intelligence agency.
Omar's family said he is a businessman who was seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
The government argued that Omar, held at a succession of U.S. military-run prisons in Iraq, was not in American custody, but rather under the control of the U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq. Urbina said U.S. forces have effective control of Omar.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the administration has detained at least three other Americans without charges for extended periods. The most notable is Jose Padilla, originally suspected of plotting to unleash a radiological device in the United States.
Padilla was indicted late last year on unrelated charges after three and a half years' confinement as an enemy combatant. The Supreme Court has not yet decided whether to hear his challenge to his detention.
One difference, however, is that Padilla was arrested and held on American soil.
Chron.com
posted by madtom at 11:42 PM
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