December 20, 2011.  New York, NY.  Today the International Justice Network (IJN) filed a Notice of Supplemental Authority in Amanatullah v. Obama, pending federal litigation about the jurisdiction of a U.S. court to hear the challenge of a man illegally rendered to Afghanistan almost eight years ago by U.S. forces.

Mr. Amanatullah is a Pakistani national who was wrongfully seized by British forces in Iraq in 2004, transferred to the custody of U.S. forces, and then illegally rendered by the U.S.to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.  Although the U.S. military cleared Mr. Amanatullah for release many months ago, he continues to languish at Bagram. 

In these respects, Mr. Amanatullah is exactly like Yunus Rahmatullah, another Pakistani national in U.S. custody at Bagram.  Mr. Rahmatullah, however, pursued his challenge through the British courts, where he recently won a monumental victory: the British Court of Appeal issued the writ of habeas corpus, ordering the British government to produce Mr. Rahmatullah.

As part of its notice to the U.S. district court, IJN has filed the writ and judgment from Mr. Rahmatullah's case on Mr. Amantullah's behalf.  The U.S. government's motion to dismiss Mr. Amanatullah's case is currently pending.

Notice of Supplemental Authority

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

By Kevin Sieff, for Washington Post.

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — The United States will remain in control of Afghanistan’s highest-profile prison well beyond January 2012, missing a key milestone in the plan to transfer judicial and detention operations to Afghans, U.S. military officials say.

The transfer of the prison and its burgeoning population of detainees had been regarded as a critical marker of the war’s endgame — a sign that Afghan officials are ready to inherit institutions essential to the nation’s future.

But U.S. officials decided that the Afghan legal system is still too weak to permit the handover of the Parwan Detention Center, even after the United States spent millions attempting to improve the country’s judiciary. The United States will now be unable to relinquish authority at Parwan until at least 2014, just as the last foreign troops are scheduled to leave Afghanistan.