Chief weighs fate of citizen in Iraq
on Nov 8, 2006 at 6:49 pm
UPDATE: Thursday, Nov. 9: The Justice Department urged the Chief Justice to deny the request to bar the transfer of Mohammad Munaf to Iraqi custody to face a death sentence. “It is established that the U.S. courts should not interfere with the judgments of foreign tribunals, including when it comes to American citizens who travel abroad and commit offenses in foreing lands.” Moreover, the Department argued, a court order is not necessary to protect the jurisdiction of courts to hear this habeas challenge, because, it said, the U.S. courts have no jurisdiction over a man being held under the authority of a multi-national military force abroad. The multi-national force in Iraq, it said, is holding him “at the behest of the Iraqi government,” pending the outcome of an appeal Munaf has filed in Iraqi courts.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., is considering a request to keep a U.S. citizen now in a military prison in Iraq from being turned over to Iraqi officials, to face execution after being convicted in an alleged plot to kidnap three Romanian journalists. The case of Mohammad Munaf, now pending in the D.C. Circuit Court, raises basic issues about the right of a U.S. military detainee to challenge in U.S. courts his detention by the U.S. and allied coalition force in Iraq and his impending transfer overseas to another government. (NOTE: The D.C. Circuit is also considering a request for en banc consideration of its panel’s decision that would allow the transfer.)
The application, filed on behalf of Mohammad Munaf by his sister, Maisoon Mohammed of Melvindale, Mich., was filed on Monday. It is Mohammed v. Harvey (06A471). The Chief Justice has asked for a response from the federal government, due by noon Thursday. The application can be found here.
Munaf, a U.S. citizen since 2000, has been living in Bucharest, Romania. In March 2005, three Romanian journalists hired him as their guide and translater on a trip to Iraq. The group was captured, allegedly by Iraqi insurgents, in Baghdad. The journalists were held for two months, but they and Munaf were freed by U.S. or allied military troops in a raid. Munaf was suspected of a role in the kidnapping, so he was transferred to U.S. military custody, and is now in a military prison at Baghdad International Airport where he has been for 16 months.
He sought his release in a habeas challenge in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., this past summer. He was tried by an Iraqi court in September, and convicted of an alleged role in the journalists’ kidnapping. He was told that, if convicted, he would be handed over to Iraqi custody. Last month, he was sentenced to die by an Iraqi court. He filed new papers in his habeas case, but the petition was dismissed when U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth found the District Court had no jurisdiction over someone being held overseas by a multi-nation military group of which the U.S. is a part. The judge ruled that U.S. courts may not hear a challenge to the activities of the multi-national force in Iraq. A person held by such an entity, the judge concluded, is not in U.S. custody for purposes of habeas courts’ authority — even if American military personnel have a role in the detention being challenged.
The D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 vote on Oct. 27, refused to bar his transfer to Iraqi custody, but delayed its order to allow him to seek relief from the Supreme Court. His sister told the Chief Justice in her application that he is seeking a delay in his transfer, in order to continue his appeal on the jurisdiction issue.
Until the government’s response has been filed with the Chief Justice Thursday, it will not be known whether Roberts will act alone, or refer the matter to the full Court.
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