IRAQ/LEGAL/MILITARY: “A federal judge ruled the military must provide immediate access to legal counsel for a U.S. citizen being held as an enemy combatant at a secret location in Iraq.
The unnamed U.S. citizen was captured in September by Syrian opposition forces fighting Islamic State and transferred to U.S. custody in Iraq, court records show. He has yet to be granted access to a lawyer.
Following his arrest, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of the detainee.
In a 12-page ruling issued late Saturday, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan said the government should provide the ACLU with immediate and unmonitored access to the prisoner. The prisoner could then choose to be represented by the ACLU or court-appointed counsel…
The judge also ordered the Department of Defense to refrain from transferring the prisoner to Saudi Arabia after the ACLU filed copy of a New York Times report that said the man was born to Saudi parents and could be transferred.”
-Jessica Donati, “U.S. Military Ordered to Let American Held in Iraq See a Lawyer,” The Wall Street Journal online, Dec. 24, 2017 03:37am