[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit blocked the release of Cuban militant Luis Posada Carriles [Wikipedia profile; additional materials] on bail Thursday, after federal prosecutors filed an emergency motion appealing US District Judge Kathleen Cardone's ruling that Carriles should be release on bail [JURIST report] due to his age and ties to the community. Carriles' lawyers will have at least until Tuesday to respond to the court order. Carriles, 79, a former CIA operative trained by the US for the failed anti-Castro Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, was arrested in 2005 [JURIST report; DOJ press release] for illegally entering the United States.

Carriles [JURIST news archive] is currently under the custody of immigration officials because he is due to be deported for entering the US illegally. A US immigration judge delayed his deportation in 2005 [JURIST report], after having determined that Carriles cannot be sent to Venezuela, where he is a naturalized citizen, or to Cuba, the country of his birth, for fears that he would be tortured. Carriles is accused of being behind the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner [Wikipedia backgrounder; additional materials], as well as numerous assassination attempts on Cuban President Fidel Castro. Earlier this week a lawyer representing the government of Venezuela accused the US of preventing Carriles' extradition and obstructing justice and Castro issued a statement condemning the district court's ruling [JURIST reports]. Carriles is wanted in both countries on terrorism charges. AP has more.