[JURIST] A federal judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Thursday rejected [opinion, PDF] a legal challenge from a Guantanamo Bay [JURIST backgrounder] detainee who claimed that his detention at the naval base was illegal. Muktar Yahya Najee al-Warafi from Yemen was captured in Afghanistan and has been held at Guantanamo since 2002. In his challenge, he claimed that his imprisonment was unlawful due to recent statement by President Barack Obama that conclude hostilities between the US and the Taliban have ended. Warafi brought the action under the Authorization for Use of Military Force [text, PDF], arguing that the stated end of hostilities made it unlawful to continue holding him. However, Judge Royce C. Lamberth [official profile] wrote that the government had presented “convincing evidence that U.S. involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan, against al-Qaida and Taliban forces alike, has not stopped… A court cannot look to political speeches alone to determine factual and legal realities merely because doing so would be easier than looking at all the relevant evidence.” Warafi has yet to decide if he will appeal.

Many prisoners are being released from Guantanamo Bay as attempts are continuing to shut it down, creating a great deal of controversy regarding past practices at the prison. In July the Obama Administration confirmed [JURIST report] in a press briefing that they are drafting a plan to close Guantanamo Bay before President Obama’s time in office runs out. Also in July US Secretary of State John Kerry appointed [JURIST report] Lee Wolowsky the new envoy to lead the Obama administration’s efforts to close Guantanamo. In June the US Periodic Review Board announced [JURIST report] that one of the longest-held detainees at Guantanamo, Abdul Rahman Shalabi, may be released to his home country of Saudi Arabia. In May the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit decided [JURIST report] not to get involved, for the time being, in a case regarding whether the public should have access to video footage showing a Guantanamo detainee being force-fed.