LIGHT AT THE END OF A LONG, LONG STYGIAN TUNNEL
After more than 7½ years’ incarceration by the U.S.:
Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak al-Janko was tortured by al-Qaeda and imprisoned by the Taliban for 18 months because the groups’ leaders thought he was an American spy.Abandoned by his captors in late 2001, he was picked up by U.S. authorities, who shipped him to the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, on suspicion that he was a member of the two groups.
[On Monday], a federal judge ordered Janko’s release, saying the government’s legal rationale for continuing to detain him “defies common sense.”
In a 13-page opinion that he read from the bench, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the government to engage in diplomatic efforts to find a country that would host the 30-year-old detainee.…
[snip]
…al-Qaeda leaders suspected him of spying for the United States and tortured him for three months until he confessed falsely to the charges, Leon said. Janko then spent 18 months in a Taliban prison in Kandahar, the judge said.
The Taliban fled the prison in late 2001, leaving Janko behind, Leon said. U.S. authorities then picked up Janko.…
[snip]
Leon ruled that the government’s case was too weak and illogical to justify the continued detention. He said the government failed to prove that Janko had been a member of the two groups.
[snip]
The ruling came in a lawsuit brought by Janko under the centuries-old legal doctrine of habeas corpus, which allows prisoners to challenge their confinement before independent judges.… Source
Each and every such case serves to further taint the credibility and basis of the prosecution in all cases.
Update June 25 12:30 p.m.: Relevant and disturbing signing of law today, directly impacting the rights of the accused who have been cleared of charges and the boundaries of the courts system.
