Le Shorter: Federal Judge Releases Detainee

Mohammed el Gharani, a Saudi aged 21, was released on orders of a federal district court judge yesterday.  Gharani has been detained since he was 14 years old.  Judge Richard Leon said in his ruling there was insufficient reliable evidence to justify his detention since the allegations against him were based primarily on testimony of other gulag prisoners.  The US persecutors alleged that el Gharani fought in Afghanistan before his arrest, and was member of a London al Qaeda cell in 1998. The judge found this tale unlikely since el Gharani was 11 years old at the time and the member of a poor family in  Saudi Arabia.  The government offered no corroborating evidence.