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Detenu transfer stalled

SAN JUAN (Puerto Rico): A U.S. judge in Washington blocked the Pentagon from transferring a Guantanamo Bay detenu to Tunisia, where he allegedly faces torture, according to a ruling unsealed on Tuesday that marked a milestone in treatment of detenus.

The order by U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler was unprecedented as a direct intervention in the case of a prisoner at Guantanamo Bay, where some 330 men accused of links to Al-Qaeda or the Taliban are held, said the detenu’s lawyers.

“It’s the first time the judiciary has given a detainee any substantive right — in this case it is the right not to be tortured by the Tunisian government,” said the lawyer.

He said Rahman, who has a heart condition, was convicted in absentia in Tunisia, sentenced to 20 years in prison and allegedly would face torture there. — AP

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