WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is preparing to bring terrorism-related charges against an alleged al Qaeda follower imprisoned for more than five years in a step that would place the case in a civilian criminal court and eliminate the possibility of a trial before a military tribunal, government officials said Thursday.
The expected indictment against the prisoner, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, could signify an important shift in detainee policy because the Bush administration had long asserted that Mr. Al-Marri should be tried before a military tribunal and was not entitled to the protections afforded by federal courts.
The decision to move him to a civilian court allows the Obama administration to sidestep the issue for now; the Justice Department faced a March 23 deadline to file a brief with the Supreme Court saying whether it was continuing to hold to the Bush administration’s position that the government had the authority to detain a legal resident indefinitely without charge.
Mr. Al Marri, who is being held in a military brig in South Carolina, is the only person designated as an enemy combatant to be held in the continental United States. In a trial in a civilian court, Mr. al Marri would have many more legal options to challenge evidence against him than he would have before a military tribunal.
Justice Department officials declined to discuss the developments. But after taking office, President Obama ordered a review of the al-Marri case and the decision to charge him in federal court reflected the results of that review, officials said. The decision to try Mr. al-Marri in criminal court was first reported on the Web site of The New Yorker magazine on Thursday.
-more here-
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/washington/27detain.html?hp
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