Court rebuffs Gitmo prisoner review

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to take charge of the case of a Guantanamo prisoner still held after apparently being cleared for release.

Without comment, the justices refused a request by Abdul Hamid al-Ghizzawi that they issue an original habeas writ -- take original jurisdiction -- in his case and force a federal judge to rule on his ongoing confinement, despite his apparent status, SCOTUSBLOG.com reported.

Al-Ghizzawi is a prisoner at the detention facility at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The Public Record reported al-Ghizzawi, a Libyan, was married to an Afghan woman, had a new baby daughter and was running a small bakery in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, in late 2001.

When the Taliban government collapsed in the face of the U.S.-led invasion following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States, al-Ghizzawi and his family fled to the home of his wife's parents, fearing an anti-Arab backlash, The Public Record reported.

There he was seized by bounty hunters and sold to U.S. forces, the report said.

A military tribunal at Guantanamo ruled in 2004 there was not enough evidence to declare him an "enemy combatant," and he should be released, The Public Record reported. Some Guantanamo prisoners are awaiting release while the U.S. government looks for countries to accept them, but the report did not say if al-Ghizzawi is among those detainees.