WASHINGTON – The Defense Department says it wants to transfer an American citizen detained in Iraq to a third, unidentified country.
The detainee has been held without charge since he surrendered on the Syrian battlefield in September 2017. He has been accused of fighting with Islamic State militants.
A federal court judge ordered the government to give his attorneys 72 hours' notice before transferring the detainee, who also is a citizen of Saudi Arabia.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing him, says the Trump administration has been detaining him unlawfully for more than seven months, and that forcibly sending him to another country would violate his constitutional rights.
The government announced its plan in a court filing unsealed on Tuesday.
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