A federal appeals court has upheld a decision not to release a Yemeni detainee from Guantanamo Bay.

The original decision said Mashour Abdullah Muqbel Alsabri was being lawfully detained at the U.S. naval prison in Cuba. U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina concluded that Alsabri traveled to Afghanistan to fight with al-Qaida and Taliban forces.

In a decision unsealed this week, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously found "no clear error" in that conclusion.

Alsabri has denied being part of the forces, even though he admitted being associated with members. He also acknowledged being at Taliban front lines in 2001, but said he was there essentially as a tourist and not a fighter.