For the first time, a federal judge today ordered the release of enemy combatants from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that the government had provided insufficient evidence to continue their detentions.The decision came in the case of six Algerians who were detained in Bosnia after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks and have been held at the military prison in Cuba for nearly seven years. U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon, a Bush appointee, ruled that five of the men must be released "forthwith" and ordered the government to engage in diplomatic efforts to find them new homes.
In an unusual move, Leon also urged the government not to appeal his ruling, saying "seven years of waiting for our legal system to give them an answer" was long enough.
In the case of the sixth Algerian, Belkacem Bensayah, Leon found that the government had met its evidentiary burden and could continue to hold him. Bensayah's lawyers said he would appeal.
The landmark ruling is the first by a federal judge who has weighed the government's evidence in lawsuits brought by scores of detainees who are challenging their detentions. In June, the Supreme Court ruled in a case brought by the Algerians, that Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their detentions in federal court under the legal doctrine of habeas corpus.
In October, a federal judge ordered the release into the United States of a small band of Chinese Muslims held at Guantanamo Bay, but in that case the government presented no evidence to justify their continued detention and no longer considers them enemy combatants. The government has been unable to find another country willing to take them in.
In the case of the Algerians, the government presented mostly classified evidence in closed hearings that its attorneys asserted proved the men planned to attack U.S. forces in Afghanistan. The government dropped earlier allegations, mentioned by President Bush in his 2002 State of the Union address, that they had plotted to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Sarajevo.
Leon said the government did not provide enough credible and reliable evidence during a series of closed hearings to justify the detentions of the five Algerians: Lakhdar Boumediene, Mohamed Nechla, Mustafa Ait Idir, Hadj Boudella and Saber Lahmar. He said the allegations were provided by a single source in an intelligence document. The government did not provide enough information about the source to determine whether he or she was credible or reliable, Leon ruled.
Leon made the ruling in the U.S. District Court's large ceremonial courtroom, which was filled with lawyers and law clerks hoping to witness a historic ruling. As he read his ruling, Leon had to wait for an Arabic interpreter to translate his words for the detainees, who listened via audio-link to the military prison.
The detainees' lawyers hugged each other. "I have the feeling of relief for the five" who were ordered released, said Robert Kirsch, one of the Algerians' lawyers.
The "judge did what he thought he had to do," Kirsch said. "I just hope the government listens."
Dean Boyd, a Justice Department spokesman who attended the hearing, said the department's attorneys were reviewing the ruling and would issue a statement later. It is not known whether the government will appeal.
President-elect Barack Obama has pledged to close Guantanamo Bay, but the Bush Administration has aggressively fought the release of detainees by the courts.
On Monday, an appeals court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case of the Chinese Muslims. The government was granted a stay to appeal the October ruling by U.S. District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina that the men, all Uighurs, should be freed into the United States. The government has argued the judge does not have the authority to order the release of detainees into the country.