US Drops "Charges" Against Hamdi, Clears His Return to Saudi Arabia

[BurtWorm]

Amazing, considering they never charged Hamdi with anything but held him for more than two years.


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-US-Terror-Suspect.html?hp


U.S. Agrees to Send Terror Detainee to Saudi Arabia
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: September 22, 2004


Filed at 3:49 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department has reached agreement with a U.S. citizen held as an enemy combatant for more than two years, clearing the way for him to return to Saudi Arabia, officials said Wednesday.

The agreement also means that despite his long incarceration, Yaser Esam Hamdi will not face any criminal charges in the United States.

Hamdi, born in Baton Rouge, La., and raised in Saudi Arabia, will be flown by the Defense Department to Saudi Arabia as soon as transportation can be arranged. He was being held in a Navy brig in Charleston, S.C. He holds citizenship in Saudi Arabia.

``I am gratified at the prospect that Mr. Hamdi's return to Saudi Arabia and his family is now only days away,'' Hamdi's lawyer, federal public defender Frank Dunham Jr., said in a statement.