Judge Blocks Handover of Citizen to Iraq

[ECH1969]

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.

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.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/politics/3655837.html