A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to give the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) access to an American suspected of fighting for Islamic State and held in secret US military detention in Iraq for more than three months. In a ruling issued late on Saturday, US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan denied a government request to dismiss an ACLU challenge to the unidentified man's detention, rejecting the claim that the organization has no standing in the matter.
Chutkan ruled that the Defence Department should provide the ACLU with "temporary, immediate and unmonitored access" to the man to determine if he wants the organization to pursue a habeas corpus petition on his behalf and provide him with legal advice.
Using such a petition, a person can ask a court to review the legality of their detention. The man surrendered in mid-September to US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters pursuing an offensive against Islamic State's former stronghold of Raqqa, in northeaster Syria. He was turned over to the U.S. military, which classified him as an "enemy combatant," and transferred him to a secret location in Iraq, according to Chutkan's ruling. Aside from two visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the detainee has had contact only with U.S. government officials, according to the ruling.
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