In the first civilian judicial review of the government’s evidence for holding any of the Guantánamo Bay detainees, a federal appeals court has ordered that one of them be released or given a new military hearing.The ruling, made known on Monday in a notice from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, overturned a Pentagon tribunal’s decision in the case of one of 17 Guantánamo detainees who are ethnic Uighurs, a Muslim minority from western China.The imprisonment of the 17 Uighurs (pronounced WEE-goors) has drawn wide attention because of their claim that although they were in Afghanistan when the United States invaded in 2001, they were never enemies of this country and were mistakenly swept into Guantánamo.The court’s decision was a new setback for the Bush administration, which has suffered a string of judicial defeats on Guantánamo policy, most recently in a Supreme Court ruling on June 12 that dealt with a separate issue of detainee rights. The Uighur case was argued long before that ruling by the justices.The one-paragraph notice from the appeals court said a three-judge panel had found in favour of Huzaifa Parhat, a former fruit peddler who made his way from western China to a Uighur camp in Afghanistan.“The court directed the government to release or to transfer Parhat, or to expeditiously hold a new tribunal,” the notice said. It said the court had found “invalid” the military’s decision that he was an enemy combatant.The Justice Department said it was reviewing the decision. The ruling, given to both sides on Friday, has otherwise been sealed for national security reasons but is expected to be released soon, with deletions. The panel was made up of Judges David B Sentelle, Merrick B Garland and Thomas B Griffith. Their decision could have broad application, lawyers said. “This raises enormous questions about just who they are holding at Guantánamo,” said P Sabin Willett, Parhat’s lead lawyer.
