WASHINGTON — Attorneys for a young Guantanamo Bay detainee being considered for prosecution in the United States said today the government has no authority to continue holding him in Cuba and Afghanistan is ready to pick him up.

A federal judge who recently described the government's case as an "outrage" ordered U.S. officials to come back within 24 hours to propose a resolution for Mohammed Jawad. Jawad has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for nearly seven years after being accused of tossing a grenade at a jeep in Afghanistan, wounding two U.S. soldiers and their interpreter.

But on Friday, U.S. attorneys said they no longer consider him a wartime prisoner. They said they were holding him, perhaps for several more weeks, at the naval detention center while they conduct a criminal investigation, which could mean he would eventually be brought to the United States for trial. There was no immediate indication the government would change that position in response to the judge's order.

By The Associated Press