U.S. judge upholds Guantánamo detention of Afghan shopkeeper

[sabra]

Source: miami herald

Man claimed he was being held at the U.S. base unlawfully because he was a shopkeeper, not a terrorist.

A federal judge has agreed with the government that it can indefinitely hold at Guantánamo an Afghan man whom military intelligence says belonged to an anti-American cell near Kandahar.

Judge John Bates' ruling, his first on a Guantánamo habeas corpus petition, left the so-called government win-loss scorecard at 16-38 in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

That means that judges have ruled more than twice as often for the release of detainees at Guantánamo, rather than holding them.

But in this case Bates rejected Shawali Khan's unlawful detention lawsuit in a one-page order released Friday afternoon. His opinion was not released but a court order said an unclassified version would be released ``at a later date.''

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``He was only a shopkeeper here, as all of us, selling fuel. So how could he fight the same time,'' said a May 2010 statement from Kandahar neighbor Raifullah, signed with a thumbprint.



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/09/07/1811326/us-judge-upholds-guantanamo-detention.html

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