RICHMOND, Va. – A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a suspected American-born Taliban fighter cannot meet with his lawyers because the judge who ordered the meetings did not adequately consider the government's position that the prisoner is an enemy combatant.
A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously overturned U.S. District Judge Robert G. Doumar's ruling that Yaser Esam Hamdi could meet privately with attorneys from the federal public defender's office.
Hamdi, 21, was captured in Afghanistan in November after a prison uprising by Taliban and Al Qaeda members. He was held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, until it was discovered that he was born in Louisiana to Saudi Arabian parents.
He was moved to the jail at the Norfolk Naval Base in April, where he has been held incommunicado as an enemy combatant.
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