WASHINGTON — A Chinese Muslim at Guantanamo Bay got a small measure of vindication Monday when a federal appeals court announced it had thrown out his designation as an enemy combatant, a setback for the White House.
The ruling in favor of Huzaifa Parhat comes in the first of what could be 160 or so such court reviews filed by Guantanamo Bay detainees in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The cases of Parhat and a small number of other Chinese Muslim detainees, known as Uighurs, are a unique subcategory of the cases involving roughly 270 detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The Justice Department concedes that Parhat never fought against the U.S. and says it has no evidence he was planning to.
The case hinges on Parhat’s connection to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant group that demands separation from China and that the military says has ties to the al-Qaeda terror network. The U.S. named the East Turkestan movement a terrorist group in 2002.
The appeals court directed the military to release Parhat, transfer him or hold a new proceeding promptly.
