SCOTUS BLOG Says: Victory for detainee in first case

I couldn't wait to report what I think is some very good news, as reported by SCOTUSBlog now:

In the first civilian court ruling giving a Guantanamo Bay detainee a chance to win his release, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled on Friday that Huzaifa Parhat was wrongly designated an enemy combatant by a military panel.

The text of the order:

United States Court of Appeals
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT
__________
No. 06-1397 September Term 2007
Filed On: June 23, 2008
Huzaifa Parhat,
Petitioner
v.
Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Defense, et al.,
Respondents
BEFORE: Sentelle, Chief Judge, and Garland and Griffith, Circuit Judges

N O T I C E

On Friday, June 20, 2008, the court issued an opinion to the parties in the above-captioned case. Pursuant to the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, the court held invalid a decision of a Combatant Status Review Tribunal that petitioner Huzaifa Parhat is an enemy combatant. The court directed the government to release or to transfer Parhat, or to expeditiously hold a new Tribunal consistent with the court's opinion. The court also stated that its disposition was without prejudice to Parhat's right to seek release immediately through a writ of habeas corpus in the district court, pursuant to the Supreme Court's decision in Boumediene v. Bush, No. 06-1195, slip op. at 65-66 (U.S. June 12, 2008). Because the opinion contains classified information and information that the government had initially submitted for treatment under seal, a redacted version for public release is in preparation.

Per Curiam

FOR THE COURT:

Mark J. Langer, Clerk
BY: sNancy G. Dunn
Deputy Clerk

SCOTUSBlog also notes that:

The Supreme Court, also on Monday, followed up its Boumediene decision with these other orders in detainee cases:

** It refused, in two cases, to order direct legal relief, under the Justices’ own habeas authority, for detainees Abdul Hamid Salam Al-Ghizzawi, an Afghani (docket 06-6827), and Anvar Hassan, a member of the Uighur minority (docket 06-1194). The order in the two cases said that the plea was being denied "without prejudice," so the detainees’ counsel are free to pursue habeas in U.S. District Court in Washington.

** It told the Circuit Court to reconsider, in light of Boumediene, the cases of Saifullah Paracha, a native of Pakistan who has had permanent U.S. resident status before being captured abroad (docket 07-153), and Abu Abdul Rauf Zalita, a native of Libya (docket 07-416).