NATIONAL BRIEFING / WASHINGTON, D.C.
A federal judge ordered the United States to release a prisoner from the Guantanamo detention center who said he fears for his life after informing against senior Al Qaeda leaders.
U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle ordered the release of Yasin Muhammed Basardh, 33, a Yemeni. The judge said her reasoning was explained during a closed hearing earlier in the day.
Basardh has begged U.S. officials not to send him back to Yemen or any other Muslim country.
“I am cooperative to the point where my cooperation with everyone has led to many people threatening my life,” he said at a 2005 military hearing. At the time, he said he wanted to join the U.S. Army.
Basardh has requested asylum in the United States. But Huvelle’s order specifically instructs the government to “take all necessary and appropriate diplomatic steps” for Basardh’s release, suggesting that he may be heading to another country.
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