DETROIT — An attorney representing Najib Shemami, who has served about a year of a nearly-four-year sentence for spying for Iraq, has asked a federal judge to intervene last week in his quest for a release from federal prison in North Carolina due to his cancer diagnosis. 

The judge does not believe that she can tell the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to make that decision.

Shemami was convicted for providing information on military movements in Turkey before the 2003 invasion led by the U.S. to overthrow Saddam Hussein. 

The North Carolina prison will not release him, however, saying that he is still a threat to commit a crime. His attorney has argued against that assertion saying that it is not reasonable.