British Court: Plea by US-held Pakistani rejected

Pakistani man remains in custody despite the US not considering him a threat anymore.

LONDON: Britain’s top court on Wednesday rejected a legal bid by a Pakistani man in US custody in Afghanistan to force the British government to do more to seek his release. Yunus Rahmatullah, 30, was captured in Iraq in 2004 by British forces, which then handed him over to US authorities. He was later transferred to Afghanistan’s Bagram jail where he has been held without charges ever since. Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled in December that Rahmatullah’s detention violated the ancient British law of habeas corpus — Latin for “you may have the body” — which forces authorities to bring a prisoner to court or explain their absence.

US authorities decided in June 2010 that Rahmatullah was not an enduring security threat. Rahmatullah’s lawyer said he was disappointed by the ruling on his detention. “Sadly, despite the fact that in international law Mr. Rahmatullah remains a British detainee and the US does not consider him a security threat, our client remains in detention at Bagram,” Jamie Beagent said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2012.