One of the defendants in the recently overturned Detroit terror case was released from jail today--allowed to go to a halfway house while he awaits trial on a document fraud offense and possible deportation. He had quite an earful for the Judge:

"I am innocent," said the immigrant, Karim Koubriti, a 26-year-old Moroccan, in an interview shortly after the judge, Gerald A. Rosen, said he would not have to return to prison. "I always say I was innocent. Three years ago I said I was innocent and nobody believed me except these guys," he said, referring to his lawyers.

Mr. Koubriti said he had been kept in an isolation cell 23 hours a day for much of his incarceration with a television but no reading material. "All my time in Wayne County they didn't even let me out to smell air," he said, referring to the jail at Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit. He also said he was often verbally abused in prison for being a terrorism suspect, especially in 2001.

"It was horrible, especially from some of the deputies - not all, to be honest with you," he said. "I heard all sorts of stuff - devil worshiper, monster, go pray to your terrorist god."

And in what must be the understatement of his life, when asked about his release, he said: