Human rights campaigners accused the British government of possible war crimes yesterday for failing to secure the release of a man held without trial for eight years by the Americans.
Yunus Rahmatullah, 30, was captured by UK special forces following the invasion of Iraq and handed over to the Americans, who eventually transferred him to Bagram air base. Despite US assertions that he is no longer considered a “security threat” he remains incarcerated in Afghanistan.
Yesterday the legal charity Reprieve failed to persuade the Supreme Court to come to Mr Rahmatullah's aid as it rejected the Pakistani's case by a majority of 5-2 that the British had not done enough to persuade the Americans to hand him over.
But the UK's highest court also rejected an appeal by the Foreign Secretary that the Court of Appeal had been wrong to issue a writ of habeas corpus – an ancient tenet of English law giving the legal right to be charged or released from arbitrary detention.
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