Yaser Esam Hamdi

Reversing course, Pentagon officials have decided to allow a U.S.-born terrorism suspect access to a lawyer, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. The department will make arrangements over the next few days for a lawyer to visit Yaser Esam Hamdi, "subject to appropriate security restrictions," a Pentagon statement said. Hamdi is being held as an "enemy combatant," a designation the Bush administration says denies him rights to a lawyer or a trial.

A Saudi American who had been captured in Afghanistan and held in U.S. solitary confinement for nearly three years without charge was freed and returned to his family Monday after agreeing to forfeit his U.S. citizenship. Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the U.S.-led battle against the Taliban regime, landed in Saudi Arabia about noon Monday, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour Turki said. "We are happy that he is home.

The Bush administration agreed Wednesday to release an American-born "enemy combatant" whose more than two-year detention without charges or lawyers culminated this summer in a resounding Supreme Court defeat for the White House. After insisting for months that the continued incarceration of Yaser Esam Hamdi was essential to national security, government attorneys agreed to send him back to his family in Saudi Arabia, on a Defense Department jet, in the next few days.

Saudi Arabia has delayed the transfer of Yaser Hamdi from the United States due to concerns about his release deal, U.S. officials said. The United States agreed last month to free the American-born, Saudi-raised Hamdi, designated an enemy combatant, no later than Sept. 30, but Saudi officials complained they were told too little about the deal struck with his lawyers and held up his departure for the kingdom.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Thursday that he expected U.S. and Saudi authorities would be able to resolve differences that had delayed the release of a U.S. citizen captured in Afghanistan. Yaser Esam Hamdi was allowed by U.S. officials Thursday to call his mother and father in Saudi Arabia for the first time, said his attorney, Frank Dunham Jr. Hamdi, still being held at a U.S.

A U.S. military flight to take accused "enemy combatant" Yaser Esam Hamdi from the United States to Saudi Arabia was rescheduled for today after Hurricane Jeanne and other problems prevented his departure Sunday, his attorney said. "At the present time, we have no idea as to when on Tuesday this will occur," federal public defender Frank W. Dunham Jr. said in a statement Monday. He said Hamdi was scheduled to depart Sunday from a U.S. Navy base in Charleston, S.C.

A U.S. citizen jailed since he was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001 met with his attorney for the first time Tuesday in a jailhouse session. Federal public defender Frank W. Dunham Jr. emerged from the one-hour meeting with Yaser Esam Hamdi, whom the government has declared an "enemy combatant," and said he was pleased to finally see the man whose case he had litigated for more than two years.

Justice Department officials have decided not to charge the American-born prisoner who was transferred from a U.S. military prison in Cuba to Norfolk, Va., last week, concluding that U.S. prosecutors lack enough incriminating information, officials said. That leaves the detainee, Yaser Esam Hamdi, 22, in legal limbo as government lawyers try to determine whether there is a way to charge him under U.S. military law.

A day after saying it would provide a lawyer to a U.S. citizen captured with Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan, the Bush administration argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that the rights of such "enemy combatants" remained extremely narrow, and that the government could detain such suspects for the duration of hostilities without charging them.

The Bush administration on Wednesday took the first step toward release of the American-born "enemy combatant" whose case resulted in a landmark Supreme Court defeat for the White House six weeks ago.

Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Thursday that he expected U.S. and Saudi authorities would be able to resolve differences that had delayed the release of a U.S. citizen captured in Afghanistan. Yaser Esam Hamdi was allowed by U.S. officials Thursday to call his mother and father in Saudi Arabia for the first time, said his attorney, Frank Dunham Jr. Hamdi, still being held at a U.S.

A U.S. military flight to take accused "enemy combatant" Yaser Esam Hamdi from the United States to Saudi Arabia was rescheduled for today after Hurricane Jeanne and other problems prevented his departure Sunday, his attorney said. "At the present time, we have no idea as to when on Tuesday this will occur," federal public defender Frank W. Dunham Jr. said in a statement Monday. He said Hamdi was scheduled to depart Sunday from a U.S. Navy base in Charleston, S.C.

The Bush administration agreed Wednesday to release an American-born "enemy combatant" whose more than two-year detention without charges or lawyers culminated this summer in a resounding Supreme Court defeat for the White House. After insisting for months that the continued incarceration of Yaser Esam Hamdi was essential to national security, government attorneys agreed to send him back to his family in Saudi Arabia, on a Defense Department jet, in the next few days.

The Bush administration on Wednesday took the first step toward release of the American-born "enemy combatant" whose case resulted in a landmark Supreme Court defeat for the White House six weeks ago.

A U.S. citizen jailed since he was captured with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan in 2001 met with his attorney for the first time Tuesday in a jailhouse session. Federal public defender Frank W. Dunham Jr. emerged from the one-hour meeting with Yaser Esam Hamdi, whom the government has declared an "enemy combatant," and said he was pleased to finally see the man whose case he had litigated for more than two years.

A day after saying it would provide a lawyer to a U.S. citizen captured with Taliban soldiers in Afghanistan, the Bush administration argued in a brief to the Supreme Court that the rights of such "enemy combatants" remained extremely narrow, and that the government could detain such suspects for the duration of hostilities without charging them.

Saudi Arabia has delayed the transfer of Yaser Hamdi from the United States due to concerns about his release deal, U.S. officials said. The United States agreed last month to free the American-born, Saudi-raised Hamdi, designated an enemy combatant, no later than Sept. 30, but Saudi officials complained they were told too little about the deal struck with his lawyers and held up his departure for the kingdom.

A Saudi American who had been captured in Afghanistan and held in U.S. solitary confinement for nearly three years without charge was freed and returned to his family Monday after agreeing to forfeit his U.S. citizenship. Yaser Esam Hamdi, who was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 during the U.S.-led battle against the Taliban regime, landed in Saudi Arabia about noon Monday, Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Mansour Turki said. "We are happy that he is home.

Reversing course, Pentagon officials have decided to allow a U.S.-born terrorism suspect access to a lawyer, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. The department will make arrangements over the next few days for a lawyer to visit Yaser Esam Hamdi, "subject to appropriate security restrictions," a Pentagon statement said. Hamdi is being held as an "enemy combatant," a designation the Bush administration says denies him rights to a lawyer or a trial.

Justice Department officials have decided not to charge the American-born prisoner who was transferred from a U.S. military prison in Cuba to Norfolk, Va., last week, concluding that U.S. prosecutors lack enough incriminating information, officials said. That leaves the detainee, Yaser Esam Hamdi, 22, in legal limbo as government lawyers try to determine whether there is a way to charge him under U.S. military law.