Deleted:Lakhdar Boumediene

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Lakhdar Boumediene
لخضر بومدين
File:Lakhmar Boumediene -- NA-AU152 GITMO DV 20081120204100.jpg
Born April 27, 1966 (1966-04-27) (age 57)
Aïn Soltane, Saïda, Algeria

Lakhdar Boumediene, (Template:Language with name and transliteration‎) a citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was held in military custody in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba beginning in January 2002.[1] Boumediene was the lead plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush, a 2008 U.S. Supreme Court decision that Guantanamo detainees have the right to file writs of habeas corpus in U.S. federal courts. He and five other detainees were released from Guantanamo on May 15, 2009 after a US Federal Judge found that “the Bush administration relied on insufficient evidence to imprison them indefinitely as ‘enemy combatants.’”[2] He now lives in Provence, France, with his wife and children.[3]

Background

Boumediene was an employee of the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates, which had an office in Sarajevo. At the request of his employer he moved with his family to Bosnia, where he served as director of humanitarian aid for children who had lost relatives during the Balkan conflicts. He became a Bosnian citizen in 1998.[3]

In early October 2001, less than a month after al Qaeda's attack on September 11, 2001, Intelligence analysts in the United States Embassy in Sarajevo became concerned that an increase in chatter was a clue that al Qaeda was planning an attack on the embassy. At their request Bosnia arrested Bensayah Belkacem, the man they believed had made dozens of phone calls to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and five acquaintances of his, including Boumediene. All six men were Algerian-born residents of Bosnia, five of whom were Bosnian citizens.

In January 2002, the Supreme Court of Bosnia ruled that there was no evidence to hold the six men, ordered the charges dropped and the men released. American forces, including troops who were part of a 3,000 man American peace-keeping contingent in Bosnia were waiting for the six men upon their release from Bosnia custody, seized them, and transported them to Guantanamo.

On November 20, 2008, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Lakhdar Boumediene along with four of the other Algerian-born detainees he had been arrested with. The sixth detainee, Bensayah Belkacem, was not ordered to be released.[5]

Boumediene v. Bush

Lakhdar Boumediene is one of the captives who had a writ of habeas corpus submitted on his behalf.[6] The Department of Defense released fifteen pages of documents prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

Military Commissions Act

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.[7]

Supreme Court ruling

On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".[8]

Habeas re-instatement

His habeas corpus and those of the other five men were re-instated.[9] The Department of Justice dropped the allegation that they had been involved in a plot to bomb the US Embassy in Sarajevo. Instead it claimed it would produce evidence that the six men had been planning to travel to Afghanistan, to attack American troops—even though there were American troops stationed in their adopted country—Bosnia.

Release order

On 20 November 2008 US District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled that the USA had no credible evidence to justify the detention of Boumediene and four of the five other men.[2][10][11][12] According to the Washington Post Leon took the extraordinary step of encouraging the Department of Justice to not appeal his ruling, because seven years was enough. Because the Government claimed the evidence should be considered classified Leon considered the evidence in camera. But it was revealed that evidence the five men had planned to travel to Afghanistan was based on a single unnamed source. Template:ARB

First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Lakhdar Boumediene's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 30 November 2005.[13]

Third annual Administrative Review Board

The Department of Defense published documents from the captives' third annual Administrative Review Board hearings on January 9, 2009.[14]

Hunger strike and force-feeding

Lakhdar went on a two year hunger strike while imprisoned because “no one would tell me why I was imprisoned”. He was force fed twice a day by having a feeding tube inserted in his nose and down into his stomach.[3] His lawyer, Stephen Oleskey, described the force feeding as:[15]

"Twice a day he is strapped onto a chair at seven points. One side of his nose is broken, so they put it (the tube) in the other side ... Sometimes it goes to his lung instead of his stomach. He can't say anything because he has the mask on: that's torture."

Release to France

On May 15, 2009, Boumediene was transferred to France, where he has relatives.[16][17] His wife and children have joined him. He has had difficulty in getting employment, due to his imprisonment.[3]

See also

References

  1. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf. Retrieved 2006-05-15. 
  2. 2.0 2.1 Jess Bravin (2008-11-21). "Judge Orders 5 Gitmo Inmates Released". Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122719994241444547.html?mod=googlenews_wsj. Retrieved 2008-12-01.  mirror
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Lakhdar Boumediene (2012-01-07). "My Guantánamo Nightmare". The New York Times. p. SR9. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/my-guantanamo-nightmare.html. Retrieved 2012-04-05.  mirror
  4. Algerians, freed from Guantanamo, still paying the price
  5. http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081120/D94IUT600.html
  6. OARDEC (12 October 2004). "Lakhdar Boumediene v. George W. Bush". United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 108–122. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/publicly_filed_CSRT_records_4947-5068.pdf#108. Retrieved 2007-11-29. 
  7. Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter (2006-10-16). "NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. http://natseclaw.typepad.com/natseclaw/files/Hamdan.28j.letter.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-30.  mirror
  8. Farah Stockman (2008-10-24). "Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant'". Boston Globe. http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2008/10/24/lawyers_debate_enemy_combatant/. Retrieved 2008-10-24.  mirror
  9. James Vicini (2008-11-20). "U.S. judge orders five Algerians at Guantanamo freed". International Herald Tribune. http://www.iht.com/articles/reuters/2008/11/20/africa/OUKWD-UK-GUANTANAMO-COURT.php. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  10. "Release of five Algerians from Guantanamo ordered". Dawn (newspaper). 2008-11-22. http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/22/top17.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  11. "Bosnia: Wife urges Algerian Guantanamo inmates' release after US judge's ruling". Adnknronos. 2008-11-22. http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.2730204727. Retrieved 2008-11-22. 
  12. "Judge's ruling in Guantanamo case says it all — 'enough.'". Houston Chronicle. 2008-11-21. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/outlook/6126037.html. Retrieved 2008-11-22.  mirror
  13. OARDEC (30 November 2005). [? "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Boumediene, Lakhdar"]. United States Department of Defense. pp. pages 29–30. ?. Retrieved 2007-11-29. 
  14. "Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for Administrative Review Boards (Round 3) Held at Guantanamo". United States Department of Defense. 2009-01-09. http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt_arb/ARB3FactorIndex8Jan09.pdf. Retrieved 2009-01-22. 
  15. "'Even the devil couldn't have created it'". Independent Online. 2009-01-22. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=3&art_id=nw20090122183126854C669769. Retrieved 2009-01-23.  mirror
  16. "US sets free test case detainee". BBC News. 2009-05-15. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8052728.stm. 
  17. "Guantanamo Detainee Released To Join Relatives In France". RTT News. 2009-05-15. Archived from the original on 2009-05-15. http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.rttnews.com%2FArticleView.aspx%3FId%3D951209%26SMap%3D1&date=2009-05-15. 

External links

de:Lakhdar Boumediene