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Judge Seeks Government Details on Hamdi Capture
Thursday, August 1, 2002
By Sonja Barisic
Associated Press Writer

Dunham has argued in court papers that Hamdi is not a terrorist and that he is being denied his constitutional right as an American citizen to due process of law. Government lawyers said in court papers that Hamdi laid down an assault rifle when he surrendered during a battle and that he told U.S. military interrogators he went to Afghanistan last summer to train with and fight for the Taliban militia.

NORFOLK, Va. -- AP
A judge Wednesday ordered the federal government to tell him what interrogators have learned from an American-born prisoner captured in Afghanistan before he decides whether the man should be released.

U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar said he wants copies of all of Yaser Esam Hamdi's statements to interrogators -- and the notes taken from any interviews with Hamdi -- that relate to his reasons for going to Afghanistan, his activities while there or his participation in the military forces of the former Taliban regime or any other organization in Afghanistan.

Doumar also wants to know who within the U.S. government decided that Hamdi is an enemy combatant, which the government has argued means he can be held indefinitely without charges and without seeing a lawyer.

“In other words, with whom does the buck stop in this case for each of the matters listed” in this order, Doumar wrote.
(More: The Northern Virginia Journal Online News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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