The federal government arrested Ali Saleh Kalah al-Mari shortly after 9/11, accusing him of being an Al-Qaeda “sleeper agent” posing as a graduate student. In 2003, still detained, al-Mari was judged an “enemy combatant” by President Bush.

As the Washington Post’s Josh White reports, it’s now 2008 and al-Mari is still being held in a military brig in South Carolina—and still hasn’t been charged with a specific crime. He is the only enemy combatant detained on U.S. soil (the others are all at Guantanamo Bay).

The government says they can indefinitely hold Al-Mari until the “war on terror” is over. The Pentagon says Al-Mari’s living quarters have improved and now includes cable TV. Al-Mari’s lawyers say his detention has made him insane. Read White here. MB

Comment RSS - Trackback URI