Obama relents to judge's order on releasing Guantanamo detainee

After initially balking, the administration agrees to free Mohammed Jawad, now 23, for lack of admissible evidence. He'll be returned to his native Afghanistan after Congress is briefed on his case.

By David G. Savage
LA Times
July 30, 2009

Reporting from Washington — Avoiding a showdown with a federal judge, the Obama administration agreed Wednesday to release from Guantanamo Bay an Afghan prisoner who was captured as a teenager and held nearly seven years for allegedly throwing a grenade at U.S. soldiers.

The government said it would "promptly release" Mohammed Jawad, now 23, and send him to Afghanistan -- but only after it sent a required notification to Congress explaining whether his release would pose a risk to national security. That will take 22 days, the administration said.

The tentative end to the case is the latest step in the administration's effort to close the prison. Of the more than 200 detainees who remain at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, some are being released and sent home while others are being held for trial. A third group has proved far more troublesome. They are believed to be too dangerous to release but cannot be tried because the evidence against them is tainted.

Lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union had fought for Jawad's release, and last year a military judge at Guantanamo agreed that the only evidence against him came from a confession "obtained by the use of torture" by Afghan interrogators.

(More here.)