In August 2009, ACLU client Mohammed Jawad was released from Guantánamo and returned to Afghanistan, ending nearly seven years of illegal detention by the United States. U.S. District Judge Ellen S. Huvelle granted Jawad's habeas corpus petition and ordered the Justice Department to release him, finding there was no credible evidence to continue holding him. Judge Huvelle had previously issued a ruling throwing out Jawad's supposed "confession" because it was the product of torture.