Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-cand-4_07-cv-02463/USCOURTS-cand-4_07-cv-02463-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 530
Nature of Suit: Prisoner Petitions - Habeas Corpus
Cause of Action: 28:2241 Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus

---

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

OAKLAND DIVISION

DJAFAR SHAMS,

Petitioner,

 v.

MICHAEL CHERTOFF, et al.,

Respondents. 

No. C 07-2463 SBA

ORDER TO RESPOND

Petitioner Djafar Shams has submitted a petition for writ of habeas corpus pursuant to 28 U.S.C.

§ 2241 [Docket No. 1]. Shams is a native and citizen of Iran. Shams has been residing in the United

States since 2000. Petitioner had applied for asylum, but this was denied. He was ordered removed

from the country on June 16, 2003. The travel documents necessary for his removal, however, are

lacking, and this order has not been carried out. Shams applied for a passport from Iran in March 2004,

but he has yet to receive it or other travel documents. 

On October 27, 2006, Shams was detained and he has remained in detention at the Santa Clara

County Jail in San Jose, California. Under the “post-removal-order” detention statute, 8 U.S.C. §

1231(a), an alien may detained for 90 days. Aliens may be detained beyond this 90 days only for “a

period reasonably necessary to bring about that alien’s removal from the United States.” Zadvydas v.

Davis, 533 U.S. 678, 689 (2001); see also Ma v. Ashcroft, 257 F. 3d 1095, 1105 (9th Cir. 2001) (“In

cases in which an alien has entered the United States and there is no reasonable likelihood that a foreign

government will accept the alien’s return in the reasonably foreseeable future, ... [the government is not

permitted] to hold the alien for more than a reasonable period beyond that removal period”). The

presumptively reasonable period of time is six months. Zadvydas, 533 U.S. at 701. Shams has been

detained for longer than six months; thus his detention is no longer presumptively reasonable, absent

some rebuttal by the government. 

Accordingly, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 2241, the Court ORDERS as follows:

1. Preliminary examination of petitioner’s application for a writ of habeas corpus establishes that

summary dismissal is not warranted.

Case 4:07-cv-02463-SBA Document 3 Filed 05/17/07 Page 1 of 2
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28 2

2. The clerk shall deliver copies of the petition and this order by certified mail to the respondents

and the respondents’ attorney, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California.

The clerk shall also serve a copy of this order on the petitioner. 

3. The respondents shall file an answer no later than July 17, 2007. 

4. If the petitioner so chooses, he may file a reply no later than August 17, 2007.

5. The respondents’ answer shall respond to the legal and factual contentions raised in the petition.

IT IS SO ORDERED.

May 17, 2007 _________________________________

Saundra Brown Armstrong 

United States District Judge

Case 4:07-cv-02463-SBA Document 3 Filed 05/17/07 Page 2 of 2