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High court to rule on terror cases

Two men ask federal courts to bar the U.S. military from turning them over to Iraqis.

By Times Wires
Published December 8, 2007

WASHINGTON -The Supreme Court extended its review Friday of the federal courts' jurisdiction over those captured as terrorism suspects, agreeing to hear the cases of two U.S. citizens held in Iraq for crimes allegedly committed there.

The two men - one a Jordanian American suspected of conspiring with al-Qaida and the other an Iraqi who became a U.S. citizen in 2000 and has been convicted in Iraq of kidnapping - have asked federal courts in Washington to bar the U.S. military from turning them over to the Iraqis.

One of the men, Mohammad Munaf, faces a death sentence after a judge in the Central Criminal Court of Iraq found him guilty of kidnapping Romanian citizens. Munaf, who was born in Baghdad, spent 10 years in the United States and moved to Romania in 2001. He was working as a translator and guide for three Romanian journalists abducted in 2005 in Iraq and held for 55 days.

After freeing the captives, multinational troops detained Munaf because they suspected he was involved in the kidnapping.

In the other case, Shawqi Omar was alleged to be harboring an Iraqi insurgent and four Jordanian jihadist fighters when his Baghdad home was raided in 2004. His lawyers say he traveled to Iraq with his 10-year-old son after the fall of Baghdad in 2003 seeking contract work in reconstruction.

In the two cases, different U.S. courts gave conflicting interpretations of a 1948 ruling by the Supreme Court. The lower U.S. courts ruled against Munaf, but in favor of Omar.

The review raises the possibility that by the end of its term next summer, the court could clearly articulate the constitutional role that federal judges should play in the war on terrorism. Justices heard arguments this week about the constitutional rights of suspects being detained as enemy combatants at the Guantanamo Bay naval base in Cuba.

The court also agreed to hear:

-Indiana's appeal of a ruling that a defendant judged mentally competent to stand trial also must be allowed to represent himself.

-The government's appeal of a ruling involving would-be Los Angeles airport bomber Ahmed Ressam that the government says would make terrorism prosecutions harder.

[Last modified December 8, 2007, 01:16:53]