[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia on Thursday ruled [opinion, PDF] against the release of a former high-ranking Taliban [CFR backgrounder] official at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] despite a request from Afghanistan’s Peace Council to release the prisoner. Judge Ricardo Urbina [official profile] denied a petition for writ of habeas corpus initiated by Khairullah Khairkhwa, a Taliban government media spokesman, governor and Cabinet minister. While the government contends that Khairkhwa provided material…