The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Tuesday denied [opinion, PDF] a Guantanamo detainee’s habeas petition for release.

Moath Hamza Ahmed al-Alwi [JTF-GTMO custody report] has been detained at Guantanamo since 2002, following Congress giving the President power to detain those who are a threat to national security.

He had ties to al Qaeda and other known terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden. Al-Alwi has had a series of legal battles to be released from custody. He made several arguments in this petition.

First, Al-Alwi argues that the United States’ authority to detain him has “unraveled” because the conflict in which he participated is a new species of conflict uninformed by the previous law of war. Second, and alternatively, Al-Alwi argues that the conflict [in Afghanistan] has ended. On a separate and final note, Al-Alwi asserts on appeal due process violations and a need for further discovery in district court.

The appeals court found all of his arguments to be null, due to the fact that these facts were not asserted in District Court. The court denied Al-Alwi’s petition.

He will remain in custody at Guantanamo.