Latest in Detention
With the departure of U.S. and coalition forces from Afghanistan earlier this year, the United States ended the central front of its longest war. However, one relic from that war remains: The indefinite detention of presumed combatants at Guantanamo Bay.
The U.S. government has begun invoking quarantine authority, so now is probably a good time for a review of the legal architectures that both authorize and constrain the quarantine power.
The French foreign minister has made a trip to Iraq to attempt to make a deal to try foreign fighters in the country. The plan faces diplomatic obstacles abroad and opposition at home.
Chelsea Manning, held in civil detention since her refusal in March to comply with a grand jury subpoena in Virgina federal court, has filed a motion for release pending appeal of her civil contempt charge in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The motion is available here and below.
The New York Times reports that Adham Amin Hassoun has filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging his current detention in an immigration facility in Buffalo, New York. Hassoun, a Palestinian who later moved to Florida, was detained in 2002 for overstaying his visa and convicted on material support charges in 2007. After serving his criminal sentence, he was then held in immigration detention.
On Jan. 9, the People’s Defense Units (YPG) announced the capture of eight individuals, ostensibly foreign fighters for the Islamic State, in a series of operations conducted by the group near the town of Deir-ez-Zor in eastern Syria. Reportedly among the captured are fighters from seven different countries.
On Dec. 5, counsel for Guantanamo detainee Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the United States Supreme Court. Al-Alwi is a Yemeni citizen who was captured in Pakistan in 2001 and has been detained at Guantanamo Bay since 2002.
His name, it turns out, is Abdulrahman Ahmad Alsheikh.
More than 600 Islamic State fighters from a variety of countries are being held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria, but no one thinks this situation can last. Frantic diplomatic negotiations have borne little fruit so far, and it appears a two-pronged stopgap solution may be in the works. Buckle up.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit denied a motion for an initial en banc hearing in Qassim v. Trump. Judge David Tatel issued an extended concurrence, questioning the Circuit Court’s adherence to habeas precedent. The full order, with the concurrence, is below.