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ScotusblogDetainee informer wins release
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009 5:30 pm | Lyle Denniston |
Acting on the basis of secret documents and a closed-door hearing, a federal judge on Wednesday ruled that a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay — identified in news accounts as the government’s “star witness” against other detainees — is legally entitled to be released from captivity. In a one-page order, found here, U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle granted the habeas plea of Yasin Muhammed Basardh, 33.
Early in February, in the most complete news story so far about Basardh as an informer, the Washington Post quoted him as saying during an earlier military hearing: “I am cooperative to the point where my cooperation with everyone has led many people threatening my life…I have put my life in danger and therefore I cannot go back to my own country…They will not hesitate to kill me or anyone in my family.”
That story and its revelations stirred a storm of controversy among the judges in the D.C. District Court, who are handling some 200 detainees’ cases. The story indicated that some of Basardh’s military handlers had grown uncertain about the reliability of his information.
Judge Huvelle held a closed-door hearing Tuesday in Basardh’s case with lawyers for both sides, and afterward issued her release order. Basardh’s lawyers had filed a motion for a ruling on his plea for release, and the government had responded, but the judge noted that those documents remained classified. She also gave no public reasons for her action, saying only that she had done so during the “sealed” hearing.
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http://www.scotusblog.com/wp/detainee-informer-wins-release/