Iraqi court rulings stop at US detention sites

After Saddam Hussein's fall in 2003, U.S. officials helped reorganize Iraq's judicial system and later applied intense pressure for the amnesty law, which was finally passed in February. The U.S. military regularly refers cases to Iraq's criminal courts if it thinks there is enough evidence for a conviction.

But if Washington likes the system, it doesn't necessarily abide by it.

U.S. troops burst into Humadi's home in Baghdad in April 2007, tossing stun grenades, searching the building and immediately arresting him. He was charged with illegally possessing weapons and attacking U.S. forces, though only one rifle was found in the home, al-Baghdadi said. Iraq law allows every home to have one assault rifle.

U.S. military lawyers provided evidence to an investigating judge, who recommended a trial. But the three-judge tribunal that heard the case, and an appeals court, both ruled in July 2007 that the evidence did not support the charges.

All the roughly 3,000 U.S. detainees whose cases were thrown out by Iraqi tribunals were kept in military detention, at least temporarily, until U.S. officers could make their own determination, said Navy Capt. Brian Bill, Stone's top military attorney. All of their cases are sent before a military review board within 30 days.

It was not clear how many of those detainees are still in U.S. custody.

The amnesty law looms as a separate test between the U.S. military and Iraqi justice.

So far the only known case of the Iraqi courts granting amnesty to a U.S. detainee involved AP photographer Bilal Hussein. He was released within 72 hours of the ruling in early April, but with a caveat from the military that he was not being freed because of the amnesty.

"The decision to detain is based on an assessment of the threat the individual poses to the security of Iraq," Stone said in a statement at the time. "These determinations will continue to be made on a case-by-case basis and as a separate action from any determination of amnesty."

Maj. Matthew Morgan, Stone's spokesman, said military lawyers have identified more than 400 other U.S. detainees who may also be eligible for amnesty.