Spain high court frees ex-Guantanamo detainee News
Spain high court frees ex-Guantanamo detainee

[JURIST] The first prisoner at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] to be turned over to a foreign government for prosecution was released Monday by the Spanish Supreme Court [official website, in Spanish], which found that the evidence against him was insufficient to support a conviction. Hamed Abderrahaman Ahmad, known as the "Spanish Taliban," was captured by Pakistani soldiers while leaving Afghanistan after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and handed over to the US, which extradited him to Spain in February 2004.

In its ruling [text, DOC] the Supreme Court found that a lower court had failed to consider Ahmad innocent until proven guilty and had incorrectly considered evidence gathered at Guantanamo. The court also said that Guantanamo prisoners' indefinite detentions without charge could not be justified legally or politically. Reuters has more. From Madrid, El Pais has local coverage, in Spanish.