WASHINGTON - US authorities have branded Qatari national Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri as an enemy combatant who helped set up al-Qaeda cells in the United States, dropping criminal charges against him and turning him over to military custody.
Marri, 37, is the third person named as an enemy combatant since the September 11, 2001, attacks that killed more than 3,000 in the United States. He is the first to have been given that designation after first being charged with a crime.
A Justice Department official said Marri - arrested shortly after the attacks - was accused of being part of a group planning a new wave of attacks in the United States.
A Defense Department source outlining Monday's development did not say where he was being held.
ABC television said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks, had given information leading to the decision.
Designation as an enemy combatant allows US authorities to detain someone outside the protections afforded by the criminal justice system. Detainees are treated as prisoners of war and can be held indefinitely, although US officials have rejected that designation for those held in the war on terrorism.
Marri was turned over to military custody after an Illinois judge dropped charges of credit card forgery and making false statements.
Marri was accused of having withheld information on several telephone calls to the United Arab Emirates to a person suspected of having helped paid for the September 11 attacks.
Late Monday, Human Rights Watch issued a statement criticizing the measure to label Marri an enemy combatant, saying it threatened rights guaranteed by the US Constitution.
"It is invoking the laws of war in the United States to justify locking people up without charge and without access to a lawyer," said US advocacy director for Human Rights Watch Wendy Patten.
"This kind of military detention has no place in a country committed to the rule of law."
Marri is the only non-US citizen to be held as an enemy combatant.
The other two are Jose Padilla, who is accused of having planned a radiological 'dirty bomb' attack on the United States, and Yaser Esam Hamdi, an American of Saudi origin, who was caught in Afghanistan.
Neither has been charged with a crime.
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