JURIST - Paper Chase: Travel snafu delays return home for Guantanamo detainee

[JURIST] A week after the United States agreed to release [JURIST report] accused terrorist Mamdouh Habib [Cageprisoners.com profile] to his native Australia, the Guantanamo Bay detainee's return home is now being delayed by logistical problems centered on the US government's refusal to allow Habib to travel unshackled over US airspace. While they have agreed to avoid US airspace during the return flight, Australian authorities argue that they cannot shackle Habib during the trip because no charges have been filed against him. Some legal scholars have called the US demands unreasonable, especially since the US has stated that it does not have evidence to charge Habib with terrorism. Habib's release coincides with the de-classification and release of his claims that he was taken to Egypt and tortured upon his 2001 capture in Pakistan, at which time he claims he was forced to sign a false confession. The Washington Post has more. Australia's The Age has posted a timeline of events since Habib's capture in October 2001.

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