WASHINGTON, March 10 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. military on Tuesday transferred an "enemy combatant" to civilian custody, the Justice Department said.

    The man, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, a 43-year-old Qatari national, is now in the custody of U.S. Marshals Service after being released from the Naval Consolidated Brig in South Carolina, the department said in a written statement.

    He was arrested in December 2001 while studying in a US college and had been detained by the U.S. military since then as an "enemy combatant" without any charges.

    The U.S. military accused al-Marri of being an al-Qaida "sleeper agent" in the United States, and had been trained at a terror camp in Afghanistan, met al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, and "volunteered for a martyr mission."

    The American Civil Liberty Union had filed a case on his behalf, challenging the U.S. president's unilateral authority to detain him indefinitely and without charges.

    On last Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Obama administration's request to dismiss al-Marri's challenge.

    Meanwhile, President Barack Obama ordered the U.S. military to transfer him to civilian custody, saying it was "in the interest of the United States."

    Al-Marri is expected to face a trial on terrorism charges in a civilian court.

    However, the Supreme Court's ruling means there's no resolution of the larger issue of the U.S. president's power to detain people accused of terrorism and other crimes in the United States.