US citizen held in Iraq wants to challenge his detention, ACLU says
WASHINGTON _ A U.S. citizen being held without charges in Iraq, suspected of fighting for the Islamic State, says he wants the American Civil Liberties Union to challenge his jailing in court.
The man, who has not been named, has been detained without charges for four months, following his capture in Syria by a pro-American militia. The U.S. military calls him an "enemy combatant" but the government apparently doesn't have enough evidence to charge him with a crime.
In a court filing Friday, the ACLU says the man said he wants to pursue the case filed in federal court in Washington.
Three attorneys from the ACLU went to the Pentagon on Wednesday and spoke to the man through a video link. That was the first time he learned that someone in the U.S. had filed a court action on his behalf, according to Jonathan Hafetz, an attorney for the ACLU.
"He's been locked up in a black hole for four months and had no idea that someone was seeking to challenge his detention and protect his rights," Hafetz said.
The man was grateful, lucid and spoke English, Hafetz said, adding that he asked that his name not be made public.
Over objections by the Justice Department, U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan of Washington ordered the government to allow the man to have access to a lawyer, and not to transfer him to another country until he had a chance to do so.
_Tribune Washington Bureau
