(09-11) 08:35 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --
Government attorneys said Monday that U.S. courts have no authority to stop the military from transferring an American citizen to an Iraqi court to face charges he supported terrorists and insurgents.
It is the latest legal challenge to the Bush administration's authority to keep terrorism cases out of U.S. courts.
Shawqi Omar, a citizen of both Jordan and the United States who once served in the Minnesota National Guard, has been held since late 2004 in U.S.-run military prisons in Iraq. He is currently held at Camp Bucca, a prison in southern Iraq, attorneys said.
His family is demanding that Omar be brought before a U.S. court, where he could consult with an attorney and prosecutors would have to show probable cause for detaining him.
The military, which says Omar was harboring insurgents and had bomb-making materials at the time of his arrest, wants to transfer him to an Iraqi court. A judge blocked that transfer in February.
On appeal Monday before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, government attorneys said American courts don't have jurisdiction because Omar is being held by a multinational force, not the U.S. military.
Defense attorneys say that's a legal gimmick. A three-judge panel also expressed skepticism and said the government's theory would allow the military to detain people within the United States if they operated under the guise of a multinational force.
Omar is described in court papers as a relative of former Iraq al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Authorities say Omar also plotted to kidnap foreigners from Baghdad hotels.
Attorneys for Omar's family say he is innocent and likely to be tortured if handed over to the Iraqi government. They say he is a businessman who was seeking reconstruction contracts in Iraq.
Separately, Omar was indicted in Jordan with Zarqawi and 11 others on charges they plotted a chemical attack against Jordan's intelligence agency.
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/n/a/2006/09/11/national/w083507D90.DTL