WASHINGTON, Nov. 6, 2006
Supreme Court Asked To Save American
Man Facing Death Sentence In Iraq Asks High Court To Block His Transfer By The U.S. Military
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The justices of the Supreme Court, March 3, 2006: front row, left to right, Associate Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice John Paul Stevens, Chief Justice of the United States John G. Roberts, Associate Justice Antonin Scalia, and Associate Justice David Souter. Back row: Associate Justice Stephen Breyer, Associate Justice Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, and Associate Justice Samuel Alito Jr. (AP)
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Papers filed with Chief Justice John Roberts asked the court to allow Mohammad Munaf to remain in military custody until U.S. courts resolve whether U.S. forces can turn over Americans who are suspected terrorists to the Iraqi government.
Munaf was convicted and sentenced to death by an Iraqi judge last month on charges he helped in the 2005 kidnapping of three Romanian journalists in Baghdad. He claimed his trial was flawed and his confession was coerced.
Munaf sought a federal court order to prevent his transfer.
U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said last month that he had no authority to intervene because the Iraqi-born Munaf, who became a U.S. citizen in 2000, was being held by coalition military forces, not by the U.S. military alone.
The U.S. Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit also declined to step in, but ordered the military to hold off on handing Munaf over to the Iraqis until the Supreme Court rules in his case.
Whether the U.S. military or coalition forces have custody of Munaf is at the heart of a legal fight over the fate of American citizens being held in Iraq. Critics say it is disingenuous because the prisons Munaf and others are being held in are operated by the U.S. military.
The appeals court in Washington is considering the similar case of Shawqi Omar, an American citizen accused of being a top al Qaeda lieutenant in Iraq. A different federal judge blocked Omar's transfer and the appeals court, which heard arguments in September, has yet to rule.
The Supreme Court also deliberated the following cases Monday:
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