The Forgotten Detainee

JOANNE MARINER has en excellent story on findlaw.com on Ali Saleh al-Marri, a citizen of Qatar held since mid-2003 as an “enemy combatant” in the United States.  Al-Marri has largely been treated as an afterthought. Even as editorial boards waxed indignant over the indefinite detention of American citizens Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, few seemed to notice the like situation of al-Marri. But now that the two others have been released from military custody – Hamdi to return to Saudi Arabia, and Padilla to face criminal prosecution on terrorism charges – al-Marri’s circumstances warrant greater scrutiny. As his habeas corpus claim works its way up through the courts, some very basic constitutional rights questions are being decided. Click here for the full commentary.

KJ