Court rules against US detainee

31 October 2012

Last updated at 10:48 GMT

Yunus Rahmatullah was detained in Iraq by British forces in 2004.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled against a legal charity which argued a Pakistani national in US custody should be handed over to the UK.

Yunus Rahmatullah was captured by British forces in Iraq in 2004 and later taken to Bagram airbase in Afghanistan having been the subject of “extraordinary rendition”.

Mr Rahmatullah, a suspected insurgent, remains in US custody, without charge.

The Supreme Court upheld a Court of Appeal ruling challenged by Reprieve.

Last year the Court of Appeal ordered Mr Rahmatullah’s return to UK authorities under the law of habeas corpus, an ancient tenet of English law.

However, that release order was cancelled in February by Court of Appeal judges after they were told the US authorities were not going to “play ball”.

A panel of seven Supreme Court judges has decided, by a 5-2 majority, to dismiss legal charity Reprieve’s appeal against that decision.

Habeas corpus

Under habeas corpus – which means “show the body” in Latin – Reprieve had sought to force the UK authorities to produce Mr Rahmatullah.

Reprieve and Mr Rahmatullah’s solicitors, who took instructions from one of his relatives, said while he was being held by US forces at Bagram he remained under UK control as part of a “memorandum of understanding” with the US.

They argued the UK government had the power to ask the US authorities to free him.

But in February British ministers said their efforts to persuade the Americans had “reached the end of the road”.

Despite their appeal being rejected, Jamie Beagent, a lawyer representing Mr Rahmatullah, said: “Today’s judgment is a resounding affirmation of the principles of habeas corpus and its importance in defending the liberty of the individual from unbridled executive power.

“The government’s attempts to row back on centuries of constitutional development and restrict the reach of habeas corpus has been rejected by the highest court in the land.

“Sadly, despite the fact that in international law Mr Rahmatullah remains a British detainee and the United States does not consider him a security threat, our client remains in detention at Bagram.”

Mr Beagent said the US was breaching the Geneva Convention and they would be drawing this to the attention of the Metropolitan Police, who are investigating Mr Rahmatullah’s case.

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Court rules against US detainee