WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the U.S. government to give 72 hours advance notice before transferring an American citizen accused of fighting with the Islamic State to another country. The unidentified detainee, who was born in the United States but raised in the Middle East, surrendered on the Syrian battlefield in mid-September. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan’s ruling doesn’t prevent the government from ever transferring the detainee to another country, but says it has to provide advance notice of any transfer so it can be contested in court. The American Civil Liberties Union filed court papers arguing that the government had held the detainee for months without providing him access to a lawyer. Earlier this month, the detainee told the rights group during a video conference arranged by the Pentagon that he wanted to contest his detention.

Source: National Post January 24, 2018 02:38 UTC