The US Supreme Court is to tackle tomorrow the case of Mohammad Munaf, an American-Iraqi citizen now in custody of the US forces in Iraq.The case may have major significance to the Americans detained in war zones abroad. Mohammad Munaf together with the American-Jordan Shawqi Ahmad Omar, to face the court tomorrow too, are in a prison guarded by the US military police, in the outskirts of Baghdad. The two claim the Camp Cropper guardians are subordinate to the US military, which entitles them, according to the US law, to appeal against their detention in Iraq. But the US authorities say the prison belongs to the multinational force in Iraq and the US courts have not no jurisdiction over the two. The dispute is to be settled by the US Supreme Court. Although before reaching a decision, the protection the two are getting is unclear. Mohammad Munaf was transfered to the Camp Cropper after the three Romanian journalists he had been accompanying in Baghdad had been kidnepped. Together with the three of them, he had been fetched to a dungeon in a farm in the suborbs of the city, where they had spent almost two months together with seven more hostages. After the release, the US and Romanian authorities charged him with plotting the abduction. According to Mediafax Agency, there are judicial documents showing Mohammad Munaf admitted, in video recordings and testimonies written in front of an investigation court, that he had been an accomplice in it. The case got to the Iraqi Central Criminal Court and the accused got sentenced to death in a lawsuit addressed against by his lawyers. The US authorities wanted to hand Mohammad Munaf in to the Iraqi government so that the sentence would be carried out, but an Iraqi court of appeal annulled the sentence three weeks ago. Right now an Iraqi court is working on a new inquiry and Mohammad Munaf is to stay in Camp Cropper. His lawyers appealed against the decision that he should be transfered to Iraq, claiming the US authorities were breaking the constitutional rights of an US citizen and that the transfer could bring their client death. Although he is reported to have admitted his fault true, his lawyers have argued he did it because of being under threat and then Mohammad Munaf pleaded innocent in front of the Iraqi court. (...)

Bogdan GALCA