[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia [official website] on Thursday ordered the release of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Hussein Salem Mohammed [NYT profile]. The government had argued [Miami Herald report] that Mohammed was a supporter of al Qaeda [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] and narcotics dealer who had traveled from his native Yemen to Pakistan in September 2001, where he joined an Islamic group with ties to al Qaeda and stayed at facilities operated by the organization in Afghanistan before his arrest in Iran. Mohammed has maintained his innocence [NYT report] throughout his detention, claiming that he left Yemen with the intention of seeking asylum in Europe. The full judgment of Judge Paul Friedman has yet to be released. The US Department of Justice [official website] has not announced whether it will appeal the decision.

Thursday’s order brings the number of successful Guantanamo habeas petitions to 37, with 14 won by the government. On Wednesday, the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] released a partially redacted opinion [JURIST report] denying habeas relief to Guantanamo detainee Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad al Odah [JURIST news archive]. Last month, the circuit court denied a habeas petition [JURIST report] filed by Guantanamo detainee Adham Mohammed Ali Awad, unanimously upholding the district court’s decision [JURIST report] despite the petitioner’s “gossamer thin” connection to armed conflict. Most of the nearly 200 detainees remaining at Guantanamo are Yemeni, and many detainees have been transferred back to Yemen. In January, the US government suspended transfers [JURIST report] of Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen [JURIST news archive] after it was revealed that the so-called “Christmas Day Bomber” Umar Farouk Adbulmutallab [BBC profile; JURIST news archive], received al Qaeda training in Yemen.