A federal district judge in D.C. has ordered the release of Mohamedou Ould Slahi, a suspected Al-Qaeda point man once called “the highest value detainee” at Guantánamo Bay.

Slahi is believed to have helped recruit members of an Al Qaeda cell in Germany to participate in the attacks of 9/11.

The Wall Street Journal reports:

U.S. District Judge James Robertson granted Mr. Slahi’s petition for habeas corpus, effectively finding the government lacked legal grounds to hold him. The order was classified, although the court said it planned to release a redacted public version in the coming weeks.
Mr. Robertson held four days of closed hearings in the Slahi case last year. Mr. Slahi testified via secure video link from Guantánamo Bay, said his attorney.
“They were considering giving him the death penalty. Now they don’t even have enough evidence to pass the test for habeas,” said the attorney, Nancy Hollander, of Albuquerque, N.M.
She said she could not comment further because the proceedings were classified. Mr. Slahi remains in detention at the U.S. facility in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. The government may appeal, and on Monday Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the Justice Department was “reviewing the ruling.”
Brig. Gen. John Furlow, who helped lead a Pentagon-ordered investigation into detainee abuse at Guantánamo Bay, has testified that Mr. Slahi was “the highest value detainee” at the offshore prison and “the key orchestrator of the al Qaeda cell in Europe.”