In closing the investigation, Judge José de la Mata [es] applied reforms to the universal jurisdiction law introduced by the current[when?]
[19][20][21] The four men: Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, Lahcen Ikassrien, Jamiel Abdul Latif al Banna and Omar Deghayes, had previously faced charges in Spanish courts, based on confessions they made while in US custody.
[22] Spain's principle of universal justice allows third party states to charge non-citizens, and request their extradition, only when their country of citizenship has not conducted its own investigation.
[22] On May 20, 2009, The New York Times reported that some Spanish legislators were proposing a law to strip investigating magistrates of the authority to pursue international human rights cases.
[18] Garzón, however, continued an investigation into torture at Guantanamo Bay and U.S. Officials indicated in a cable they feared he may, "attempt to wring all the publicity he can from the case unless and until he is forced to give it up.
Spanish Foreign Minister Angel Losada was quoted as saying, "the National Court had broad jurisdiction for universal justice and that there was no political influence on the judicial process.