11 Years and Counting - Center for Constitutional Rights

11 Years and Counting: Profiles of Men Detained at Guantánamo

11 Years and Counting: Profiles of Men Detained at 

Guantánamo 

Name and Internment Serial Number (ISN) Citizenship 

Shaker Aamer (ISN 239) Yemen 

Umar Abdulayev (ISN 257) Tajikistan 

Ahmed Abdul Aziz (ISN 757) Mauritania 

Abu Zubaydah (ISN 10016) Palestinian Territories 

Ahmed Ajam (ISN 326) Syria 

Mohammed al-Adahi (ISN 33) Yemen 

Sa’ad Muqbil Al-Azani (ISN 575); 

Jalal bin Amer (ISN 564) and Suhail Abdu Anam (ISN 569) Yemen 

Ghaleb al-Bihani (ISN 128) Yemen 

Ahmed al-Darbi (ISN 768) Saudi Arabia 

Mohammed al-Hamiri (ISN 249) Yemen 

Sharqawi Ali al-Hajj (ISN 1457) Yemen 

Sanad al-Kazimi (ISN 1453) Yemen 

Musa’ab al Madhwani (ISN 839) Yemen 

Hussain Almerfedi (ISN 1015) Yemen 

Saad Al Qahtani (ISN 200) Saudi Arabia 

Abdul Rahman Al-Qyati (ISN 461) Yemen 

1

Ali Hussein al-Shaaban (ISN 327) Syria 

Djamel Ameziane (ISN 310) Algeria 

Tariq Ba Odah (ISN 178) Yemen 

Ahmed Belbacha (290) Algeria 

Jihad Dhiab (ISN 722) Syria 

Fahd Ghazy (ISN 26) Yemen 

Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim (ISN 255) Yemen 

Obaidullah (ISN 762) Afghanistan 

Mohamedou Ould Slahi (ISN 760) Mauritania 

Mohammed Tahamuttan (ISN 684) Palestinian Territories 

* The following profiles are intended to provide the Commission with personal 

information about the men at Guantánamo because the United States will not grant the 

Commissioners access to the prisoners themselves. The information has been taken from 

phone calls, letters, or in-person interviews. None of the information herein has been 

deemed "classified" by the U.S Government. Where possible, original source material 

has been included (usually transcribed for ease of reading). 

2

Shaker Aamer 

ISN 239 

Citizenship: Saudi Arabia 

Detained Since: February 2002

Shaker Aamer 

Shaker Aamer, born in 1968, is the last British resident in Guantánamo. 

He grew up in Saudi Arabia with four siblings, but his parents 

divorced when he was a child and, after his father remarried, his stepmother 

was unkind to her new family. At the age of seventeen, Shaker 

left home, traveling first to America, where he stayed with a family he 

knew in Saudi Arabia, and then around Europe and the Middle East. 

Shaker eventually moved to London, where he met his wife-to-be and 

was soon married. The couple has four children, although the youngest, 

Faris, was born in 2002, after Shaker was seized and sent to Guantánamo, and, as a result, he has never 

seen his father. While in London, Shaker worked as an Arabic translator for the solicitor who advised him 

on his immigration case, and, as his lawyers at the legal action charity Reprieve have explained, “Shaker is 

a natural leader who is known for his concern for others … Helping refugees put Shaker where he loved to 

be—as counsel, listening and advising. But in the end, it was his dedication to the welfare of others that led 

to his detention in Guantánamo Bay.” 

In June 2001, he traveled to Afghanistan with his family to establish a girls’ school and to pursue well digging 

projects for an Islamic charity. He lived in Kabul, and was joined by his friend, British national Moazzam 

Begg (who was also held at Guantánamo, but released in January 2005) and his family. 

After the U.S.-led invasion began, in October 2001, Shaker made sure that his family escaped to safety in 

Pakistan, but, fearing that he would be seized, because Arab men could be sold for bounties, he took shelter 

with an Afghan family. However, Afghan soldiers took him from the house where he was staying, and, for 

two weeks, he was sold to various groups of soldiers, who accused him of killing their leader and beat him 

mercilessly. 

Shaker was then driven out of Kabul with four other men and, fearing that he was about to be executed, was 

relieved when he was handed over to U.S. forces. However, when he was taken to Bagram Airbase at the end 

of December 2001, he was immediately subjected to terrible abuse. For nine days, he was deprived of sleep 

and denied food, and he lost 60 pounds in weight. He was also drenched with freezing cold water on a regular 

basis, and this, combined with the effects of the Afghan winter, caused his feet to become frostbitten. 

Despite his suffering, he was chained for hours in positions that made movement unbearable, his frostbitten 

feet were beaten, and he was refused painkillers. 

As a result of his torture, Shaker began to say whatever his U.S. captors wanted, whether it was true or not, 

and only then was he sent to Guantánamo, arriving in February 2002. Throughout his imprisonment, however, 

Shaker has stood up for the rights of his fellow prisoners, and in summer 2005, when a prison-wide 

hunger strike began after a prisoner was assaulted during an interrogation, Shaker was part of six-man 

Prisoners’ Council, who were briefly allowed to negotiate improvements in living conditions. 

However, promises made by the authorities were soon broken, and when the hunger strike resumed in September 

2005, Shaker was placed in solitary confinement, where he spent at least a year and a half. He was 

told in 2007 that he was cleared for release, but although the British government requested his return to the

U.K. in 2007, negotiations with the U.S. apparently ceased in December 2007. 

In 2010, after a new coalition government came to power in the U.K., ministers promised to raise Shaker’s 

case with the Obama administration. However, Shaker is still being held, even though it recently became 

apparent, in a letter to Congress by four British Members of Parliament, that he was cleared for release at 

least two years ago, when President Obama’s interagency Guantánamo Review Task Force issued its report 

on the prisoners. 

In November 2011, Clive Stafford Smith, Reprieve’s director, visited Shaker, and, on departure, wrote a 

letter to the British foreign secretary William Hague listing numerous physical ailments that Shaker suffers 

from—a list that has just been cleared through the U.S. censorship process—and calling for an end to 

the excuses preventing Shaker’s release. The British government has said it wants Shaker back and the U.S. 

government has said that it wants to release him; therefore, it is difficult not to conclude that Shaker is still 

held because he knows too much, not only about the many injustices of Guantánamo, but also about two 

particularly disgraceful episodes. 

The first episode involves Shaker’s claims that he was tortured by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, while British 

agents were in the room. This is a claim that was aired in a British court two years ago, and led to disclosures 

being made to U.S. counsel concerning this abuse. The second involves his claim that, in Guantánamo, on 

June 9, 2006, he was tortured by unidentified U.S. intelligence agents, on the same evening that three other 

prisoners died. The deaths of those three men were described by the authorities as a coordinated suicide 

pact, but in January 2010, Harper’s Magazine published an article by the lawyer and journalist Scott Horton, 

drawing on statements made by soldiers serving in Guantánamo at the time, which cast profound doubts 

on the official story, in which Shaker’s account was also significant.

Testimony by prisoners held by the US at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba 

Shaker Aamer (ISN 239) 

The following is a letter written by Shaker Aamer on his wedding anniversary: 4 

September 2011 demonstrating the pain he feels at even attempting to recall the abuse 

he has suffered. (Edited for spelling and grammar): 

My dear lawyer, 

I am happy to see you today,. The as I told you is my greatest day of my hard 

life. The day of my marriage. Yes it’s the best thing happened to me in my 20 

years of living on this earth. Still is the best I cherish I am in good mood just 

by remembering this day. I don’t know how the day is going to pass for my 

wife. May God give her the patience to go through the memory of this day and 

give her the strength to carry on this hard ship that fell about us. 

You asked me to write about all the torture that happened to me since the 

beginning, because it will help me to shed the light on how brutal USA and 

UK government are and to wakeup the people so we can bring justice to me, 

my family and others all over the world. I know from your perspective it is 

going to help me but please forgive me to tell you it is really hard on me to 

bring back all these memory of torture and agony and hard ship to the surface. 

I try my best to forget them so I can sleep and live normal life. I know it is a 

deep wound and I need it to close and not to re opened even if it help me to 

open it and clean it again. 

Today please forgive me to live a few moments with my wife and the memory 

that can bring me some peace of mind and happiness, I pray to my Lord to get 

every couple together and make their life happy ever after. Thank you to let 

me share these moments with you at this beautiful day. Please tell my wife and 

kids: 

They are the breath of my lungs 

They are the beat of my heart 

They are the light of my eyes 

They are the reason why I am alive 

God witness no lies 

If tears could build me a way 

And memory could build me a lane 

I will walk over the Ocean to be with them again 

This is how I feel 

Yours, 

Shaker Aamer

Umar Abdulayev 

ISN 257 

Citizenship: Tajikistan 

Detained Since: 2002

Umar Abdulayev 

Umar Abdulayev, a native of Tajikistan, born in 1978, has not lived in the 

country of his birth since 1992, when he fled with his parents, two brothers, 

and two sisters to escape the civil war that was beginning to tear the country 

apart. His father was killed in 1994 while returning to Tajikistan to investigate 

the situation. 

Umar lived in Afghanistan until early 2001, when he moved with his family 

to a refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. It was there, on November 25, 

2001, that he was seized in a bazaar by police who handed him over to Pakistani 

intelligence officials and then imprisoned him. 

In Pakistani custody, Umar was beaten and coerced into copying incriminating information, in his own 

hand, into a number of notebooks, with a promise that he would be returned to his mother if he did as 

directed. Instead, he was blindfolded and driven to Kohat prison in Pakistan, where, after nine days, he was 

turned over, along with approximately 30 others, to the custody of the U.S. military. 

Speaking about the circumstances of his detention in U.S. custody, Umar explained, “The Pakistanis are 

making business out of this war, including myself. The detainees are not being captured by U.S. forces, but 

are being sold by the Pakistani government. They are making [up to] $10,000 to sell detainees to the U.S. ... 

they knew that the more evidence they created, the more dangerous they made me, the more money they 

would make from the Americans.” 

After a month in the U.S. prison in Kandahar, Afghanistan, Umar was flown to Guantánamo, where he has 

been held ever since without charge or trial. President Obama’s Guantánamo Task Force approved Umar to 

be transferred out of Guantánamo, yet it appears that the U.S. government continues to hold him with no 

end in sight. 

Irrespective of whether he is able to obtain a writ of habeas corpus, Umar appears to have few prospects for 

leaving Guantánamo. Umar fears for his life in Tajikistan and refuses to return there voluntarily. He needs 

a safe country in which to rebuild his life, but currently there is no indication that the U.S. government is 

taking any steps to resettle him in a third country.

Ahmed Abdul Aziz 

ISN 757 

Citizenship: Mauritania 

Detained Since: October 2002

Notes from client visit with Ahmed Abdulaziz, ISN 757, February 2013 

(edited for clarity) 

P. 2 

WEDS. Jan 2 2013 

BIG REC 

[I have] come from 30 days in Camp V 

(NOTE: Camp V is a maximum security cell-block) 

Our REC time 

Soccer in Big Area 

Detainee stuck half in/out. Shouting to be heard by tower. 

Many people now mentally ill. Little self-control. 

Climbed 1 yard – we do it all the time to get balls that a stuck. 

Spray [from a water hose] most that ever happens. 

Guard pointed rifle at the detainee. 

Detainees shouted. He pointed gun at them. 

Threw little stones at him. 

He shot not at the man climbing but in the REC. 

P.3 

On detainee cut in the throat on adams apple. 

Other scratched near eye etc. 

OIC [officer-in-charge] said this was normal and justified. 

No investigator talked to prisoners – cover up. 

Imposed REC restrictions. 

P.7 

[I am] now voluntarily back in [Camp] V. 

New rule on meds – you can only get them with hassle. So most now refusing. 

[I am]: not getting various meds now. 

Ulcers & hyperacidity in stomach - Nexium 

Creams for hemorrhoids & suppositories 

Irritable Bowel Syndrome 

o Dyclophonax or Elavil 

o Elavil or Tylenol 

o Migraines 

o Great pain in eyes b/c migraines & lights. Blurry sight. 

o Lower and upper back – Arthritis 

o RSI 

P.11 

Still interrogating 1 x week OR 1 x month. 

No message from wife and child since June ’11.

P.12 

Nov. 2009: [I was] cleared for release. 

It makes no sense to insist on rehabilitation or repatriation but no start in Gitmo. 

What they do here is “dis-abilitation”. 

SOP = Severe Oppressive Procedures 

Want just to enforce one SOP – send cleared people home. 

Cleared Prisoners should be in a waiting room to leave. 

In Gitmo it is like having a ticket but there is no airport. 

Drives me to craziness. No legal status. No charge, no proof of guilt. Time has no 

border no limits. Living with a mirage. But we know we are thirsty. 

P. 13 

They say I can walk anywhere, I have free access to the path, but I am on a tether (a 

bungee rope) and they pull me back. 

Much worse to be told I am cleared. 

People are getting more angry. Smallest things get irritating. 

They voted the prayer mats as contraband – then they gave it to us. 

That makes me furious. 

They have embezzled my life and my health. 

Age is accelerated here. A martian day is 2 earth days. 

Proposition to science community: 1 Gitmo day = 10 martian days. 

[I] arrived Oct 22, 2022 at 32. 

[I am] now 43 years old or 32 + (22 x 10) = 232 years. 

There is missing time, & condensed time.

Abu Zubaydah 

ISN 10016 

Citizenship: Palestinian Territories 

Detained Since: September 2006

Abu Zubaydah — and other “high-value detainees” 

Abu Zubaydah, born in 1971 in Saudi Arabia, is a stateless Palestinian. His 

formal name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, and his torture was central 

to the Bush administration’s decision to subject prisoners seized in the 

“war on terror” to torture. 

Within a matter of days after Abu Zubaydah was taken into custody by U.S. 

forces, President Bush began publicly describing him as a “top operative plotting 

and planning death and destruction on the United States.” In short order, 

after being seized during a house raid in Faisalabad on March 28, 2002, 

wherein he was shot three times, leaving him unconscious and in critical 

condition, Abu Zubaydah was flown out of Pakistan and into a secret CIA 

prison in Thailand. Later in 2002, he was transferred to another CIA facility 

Abu Zubaydah immediately after being 

apprehended by the U.S. 

in Poland, and, from September 2003 until March 2004, was one of a handful of “high-value detainees” held 

in a secret prison within Guantánamo (whose existence has never been publicly acknowledged), which 

was closed when the Bush administration began to realize that the Supreme Court was likely to grant the 

prisoners habeas corpus rights. From then until September 2006, he and other “high-value detainees” were 

moved around a network of CIA prisons that included facilities in Romania, Lithuania and Morocco. In 

September 2006, he was one of 14 “high-value detainees” flown to Guantánamo from these secret facilities. 

During his nearly four-and-a-half years of secret imprisonment, Abu Zubaydah was subjected to a battery 

of well-documented torture. He is one of only three prisoners who the government has admitted to having 

waterboarded, and, by the government’s own account, this was done to him in excess of 80 times in a 

single month alone. Moreover, waterboarding is only one of the many “enhanced interrogation techniques” 

which the August 1, 2002 Office of Legal Counsel memorandum listed as being authorized for use against 

Abu Zubaydah personally. (This memorandum was written specifically for Abu Zubaydah.) Other such 

“techniques” included, but were not limited to, prolonged sleep deprivation, placement in stress positions, 

and confinement in a coffin-sized box. Abu Zubaydah is also one of two prisoners who the government has 

openly admitted to having tortured and videotaped, and then, in violation of several court orders, to having 

destroyed this videotaped evidence of torture. 

When Abu Zubaydah was moved to Guantánamo in 2006, President Bush continued to describe him as 

“a senior terrorist leader and a trusted associate of Osama bin Laden,” and claimed that, because he had 

become “defiant and evasive” after his capture, “the CIA used an alternative set of procedures” for him. According 

to Bush, “These procedures were designed to be safe, to comply with our laws, our Constitution, 

and our treaty obligations. The Department of Justice reviewed the authorized methods extensively and 

determined them to be lawful.” 

President Bush was mistaken in both his claims. First, the torture techniques approved by John Yoo were 

plainly illegal, although the Obama administration has done all in its power to prevent any prosecutions 

from proceeding. Second, Abu Zubaydah was not “a senior terrorist leader,” but was, instead, at most a 

mere gatekeeper for Khaldan, an independent military training camp in Afghanistan (which had been

used to prepare jihadists to fight the communists in Russia in the 1990s) that was forcibly closed down by 

the Taliban in 2000 when its emir, Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, refused to allow it to be taken over by Osama bin 

Laden. The government’s quick labeling of Abu Zubaydah as a “high-value detainee”, “the number three 

man in al Qaeda”, and “al Qaeda’s chief of operations” reveals a disturbing failure of intelligence in the Bush 

administration at the start of its “war on terror.” Moreover, the torture of this man, who was so monstrously 

mischaracterized from the start, also yielded no useful intelligence. In 2009, summing up the results of his 

torture, a former U.S. intelligence official stated, “We spent millions of dollars chasing false alarms.” 

The extent of these failures has even been acknowledged by the Obama administration, although this has 

taken place in court documents submitted by Justice Department lawyers who have tried to portray Abu 

Zubaydah as a different kind of threat. In a submission in 2009, in response to 213 requests by Abu Zubaydah’s 

attorneys for discovery in his habeas corpus petition, the government revealed that it “has not contended 

… that Petitioner was a member of al-Qaeda or otherwise formally identified with al-Qaeda.” The 

Government further stated that they were not “detaining [Abu Zubaydah] based on any allegation that 

[Abu Zubaydah] views himself as part of al-Qaeda as a matter of subjective personal conscience, ideology, 

or worldview.” The Government also “has not contended that Petitioner had any personal involvement in 

planning or executing…the attacks of September 11, 2001,” nor that he had any “advance knowledge of the 

terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,” nor that he had “knowledge of any specific impending terrorist 

operations” being planned by al-Qaeda. 

Instead, the government now claims that the ongoing detention of Abu Zubaydah “is based on conduct and 

actions that establish Petitioner was ‘part of ’ hostile forces and ‘substantially supported’ those forces,” and 

that he “facilitat[ed] the retreat and escape of enemy forces” after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 

October 2001. In response, his attorneys are engaged in attempts to establish that the government has no 

evidence that their client was “part of hostile forces,” and that the people he assisted in escaping Afghanistan 

included “women, children, and/or other non-combatants,” and that the government has evidence to support 

those assertions. 

As one of his attorneys, Brent Mickum, has explained, “I’m not surprised at all that the government has 

dropped the old charges against our client and is alleging new charges against him. That is their triedand-true 

modus operandi … [W]hen their case falls apart, they re-jigger the evidence, and come up with 

new charges and [say], ‘we will defend the new charges with the same zeal we defended the earlier bogus 

charges.’” 

Despite the horrors of Abu Zubaydah’s case, since his arrival at Guantánamo in September 2006, even his 

attorneys have been unable to provide much information to the public. The blunt truth, shockingly, is that 

every word spoken between the “high-value detainees” and their attorneys since their arrival has remained 

classified, and none of it has been unclassified through a Pentagon review process, as has happened with all 

the other prisoners. 

In the cases of the six “high-value detainees” who have faced military commission hearings—Khalid Sheikh 

Mohammed and four other men under President Bush, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri under President 

Obama—some information has emerged. However, in the cases of six other “high value detainees” who

arrived in September 2006 (Majid Khan, Abu Faraj al-Libi, Riduan Isamuddin, aka Hambali, Modh Farik 

Bin Amin, Mohammed Bin Lep and Gouled Hassan Dourad), and two others who arrived at Guantánamo 

in 2007 and 2008 (Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi and Muhammad Rahim), no information has been made publicly 

available. 

This leaves them in an information black hole as severe as when they were held in CIA “black sites.” Additionally, 

this embargo on available information has encouraged the public to completely forget about these 

men, even though all the prisoners subjected to the “high-value detainee” torture program represent the 

nadir of the Bush administration’s lawlessness and hubris.

Why hasn’t Abu Zubaida been tried? - Washington Post http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-28/opinions/35446508_1_qa... 

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Home > Collections > Al-qaeda 

Why hasn’t Abu Zubaida been tried? 

By Amanda L. Jacobsen, March 28, 2012 

This week marks 10 years that my client 

Abu Zubaida has been held in U.S. custody. After a decade of imprisonment, Abu Zubaida has 

never been charged with a crime, much less found guilty. This week there was movement: 

Charges were unveiled — not against Abu Zubaida but against a senior government official 

involved in the CIA’s rendition program. 

The development occurred in Poland, where the former head of the Polish intelligence 

services is charged with unlawful deprivation of liberty, abuse of office by a public official, 

unlawful corporal punishment (i.e., torture) and — notably — unlawful deprivation of access 

to a court of justice. 

Since 2007 Abu Zubaida has had an active habeas corpus case — brought by him against the 

U.S. government to challenge his detention. But in five years this case has not yielded any 

finding that Abu Zubaida is a danger to the United States. To the contrary, since my 

co-counsel and I first filed a discovery request in 2009, seeking access to the evidence in the 

government’s possession, his habeas case has been at a standstill. We have more than a dozen 

motions pending before the D.C. District Court, many of which have been waiting since 2009. 

We continue to await the production of the government’s evidence. We have repeatedly asked 

for a status conference, to move his case forward. Each time the government has opposed our 

request. 

While Europe is moving forward and seeking accountability from its officials for illegal 

conduct, the United States is not. 

We must ask why no charges have been brought against U.S. officials. But we must also ask 

why charges have never been brought against Abu Zubaida — and what is really known about 

my client. 

U.S. officials have said that Abu Zubaida was a senior al-Qaeda terrorist. They claimed that 

he was the “No. 3 man” in al-Qaeda, its chief of operations, who worked directly with Osama 

bin Laden. They said that he was personally involved in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and every 

other major al-Qaeda operation and knew the details of future attack plans. 

But all of these assertions were wrong. 

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OPINIONS 

To the contrary, the government has explicitly conceded in Abu Zubaida’s habeas corpus case 

that he was never a member of al-Qaeda and had no knowledge of al-Qaeda operations. These 

allegations are not the basis on which the government requests that Abu Zubaida continue to 

be detained. 

While the media continue to parrot the early mischaracterizations, the U.S. government has 

quietly airbrushed every reference to him out of the charge sheets of other detainees. 

In September 2006, President George W. Bush announced that he was transferring Abu 

Zubaida from a secret prison, beyond the reach of the law, to the U.S. naval base at 

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, so that he could be charged, prosecuted and brought to justice. Bush 

said that America had a duty to bring to justice those responsible for acts of terrorism. When 

President Obama took office, he said he would close Guantanamo and tasked officials with 

categorizing the detainees, identifying prisoners whom the government wanted to prosecute, 

those it wanted to release and those who could seek relief though habeas corpus. 

Despite having top-secret security clearance as Abu Zubaida’s counsel, I haven’t been allowed 

to see that list, so I don’t know which category the administration put Abu Zubaida in. What’s 

clear, unfortunately, is that this categorization system makes no difference to the fate of these 

men. Imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay is not about justice. More than half of the men still 

there were “cleared for release” years ago. Even prisoners who win their habeas cases or are 

found innocent of charges brought against them may remain at Guantanamo indefinitely. 

We must ask: If Abu Zubaida is a terrorist, why does the government refuse to charge him and 

bring him to justice? 

The reason is: The government got it wrong. U.S. officials made hyperbolic assertions about 

Abu Zubaida and relied on these false allegations in their efforts to justify his rendition, secret 

detention and torture, as well as the torture of many others — acts that Europe, at least, 

admits are grave legal violations. By U.S. government reports, Abu Zubaida was waterboarded 

83 times in one month. And despite court orders to preserve evidence, the government 

We Recommend 

Abu Zubaida’s clear ties to al-Qaeda 

April 13, 2012 

Detainee's Harsh Treatment Foiled No Plots 

March 29, 2009 

No Waterboarding Used in Questioning On Al-Qaeda 

Ties to... 

May 16, 2009 

Find More Stories About 

Al-qaeda 

Government 

Osama Bin Laden 

1 of 3 3/8/2013 1:43 PM

Why hasn’t Abu Zubaida been tried? - Washington Post http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-03-28/opinions/35446508_1_qa... 

destroyed 90 videotapes of his torture and interrogations. 

People assume that the government has not prosecuted Abu Zubaida because he was tortured. 

But the government has admitted to waterboarding two other men, Khalid Sheik Mohammed 

and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, both of whom face criminal prosecution. 

I have visited Abu Zubaida in Guantanamo every few months for three years. I am, along with 

prison guards, among the very few people with whom he is allowed to speak. But everything I 

know about him — as a person and about his legal case — is shrouded in secrecy. If I tell 

anyone anything that I’ve learned about Abu Zubaida from speaking with him directly, I risk 

imprisonment myself. 

When people ask me whether Abu Zubaida is guilty, I can say only: Isn’t it time we find out? 

The government has had 10 years to get its case together. Those who believe that Abu 

Zubaida is a terrorist should bring charges against him and allow him to defend himself. 

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114 

Comments 

joanne_kh wrote: 

3/29/2012 7:58 PM EDT 

arcticredriver responds: 

4/1/2012 10:29 AM EDT 

Notes from a newly converted 

juicer 

The Secret to Cleaning Grout in Tile Floors 

Obama’s sequester deal-changer 

Why Isn't The Dodge Dart Selling? 

What has been -- and is being -- done to Abu Zubaida (and others in his position) is beyond shameful and despicable. 

I really don't have words to describe how angry and upset this makes me. What kind of "advanced democracy" does 

this to people!? 

I don't like injustice, either. 

But in discussions like this, it is important to recognize that many respondents who consider themselves 

patriotic Americans are nevertheless willing to abandon the presumption of innocence, and thinking holding 

men without charge on untested allegations can be justified through claiming it is a necessary sacrifice 

required for public safety. 

I think the claim public safety requires torture, requires holding men without charge on untested allegations, 

is not supportable. I think, when looked at in detail, the public record shows holding men without charge on 

flimsy allegations, that taking confessions and denunciations wrung from captives through abuse or genuine 

torture at face value is not only unjust, but has put the public at much greater risk. 

Taking confessions wrung out from Ibn al Shaykh al Libi is the worst instance of the use of torture in all of 

human history, as believing those tortured confessions was a key trigger for the disastrous invasion of Iraq. 

(I covered this in more detail in an earlier comment.) 

2 of 3 3/8/2013 1:43 PM 

1

Ahmed Ajam 

ISN 326 

Citizenship: Syria 


Ahmed Ajam 

Ahmed Adnan Ajam is a 35-year-old man, born and raised in Aleppo, Syria. Ahmed grew up in comfortable 

economic circumstances, in an open-minded family that exposed him to Western ideas and traditions. 

He spent many hours on his computer. He socialized with European visitors to Syria. He enjoyed Western 

music. He developed a fondness for pizza, burgers, and fries. 

Ahmed has a high school education. He speaks some English. He has a philosophical turn of mind and a 

keen sense of humor. For his mandatory two years of service in the Syrian military, Ahmed served as an aide 

to a high-ranking officer. This was an office job, performing secretarial duties. 

In his twenties, Ahmed began to feel that the life he was leading was shallow and unfulfilling. He wanted to 

deepen his Islamic faith and practice. He decided to visit Afghanistan, to see how that country implemented 

Islamic law, and to get help to become a better Muslim. He lived in Kabul for approximately 11 months. 

While living there, he volunteered for a charity organization, delivering food to the poor. 

In fall 2001, after the war started, Ahmed fled Kabul. He had been told that Arabs, if captured by the 

Northern Alliance, would be killed. Accompanied by several Syrian friends, he made his way through the 

mountains of Afghanistan to Pakistan, where the Pakistani authorities arrested him at the end of 2001. He 

was unarmed. He was transferred to Guantánamo in the winter of 2002. 

Syria has a consistent record of human rights abuses, including the use of torture in detention (which has 

resulted in death), arbitrary detention, prolonged detention without trial, and fundamentally unfair trials 

in the security courts. 

Amnesty International reported in 2005 that “[d]ozens of Syrians were reportedly arrested on their return 

from exile,” often because of “suspected … personal or family links with the Muslim Brotherhood” even 

when they had returned with the permission of the Syrian authorities. In recent years, the Supreme State 

Security Court has prosecuted many such people under Law 49 (1980), which makes affiliation with the 

Muslim Brotherhood punishable by death. 

It appears that Syrian authorities would consider Ahmed a threat simply because the United States has 

imprisoned him at Guantánamo. The ongoing upheaval and deadly repression in Syria emphasizes that he 

cannot return there. His only hope for freedom is that another country will receive him.

Mohammed al-Adahi 

ISN 33 

Citizenship: Yemen 


Mohammed al-Adahi 

Mohammed al-Adahi, born in 1962, is a Yemeni, whose case is emblematic of the way in which the D.C. 

Circuit Court has gutted habeas corpus of all meaning. Married with two children, al-Adahi had never left 

Yemen until July 2001, when he took a vacation from the oil company where he had worked for 21 years to 

accompany his sister to her wedding in Afghanistan. Afterwards, as he traveled through Pakistan to take a 

plane home, he was seized on a bus and sent to Guantánamo. 

In August 2009, Judge Gladys Kessler granted al-Adahi’s habeas corpus petition, ruling that the government 

had not established that, as alleged, he “was part of the inner circle of the enemy organization al-Qaeda,” 

even though there was “no question that the record fully supports the Government’s allegation that Petitioner 

had close familial ties to prominent members of the jihad community in Afghanistan,” and that his 

brother-in-law was, apparently, “a prominent man in Kandahar,” and even though it was “undisputed” that 

Osama bin Laden “hosted and attended [the] wedding reception in Kandahar,” and that al-Adahi “was 

briefly introduced to bin Laden.” 

Drawing on al-Adahi’s own statements, who she saw testify live from Guantánamo, Judge Kessler accepted 

that there was no reason to doubt his explanation about why he traveled to Afghanistan, and noted that he 

had freely admitted to briefly meeting Osama bin Laden. She also refused to accept his brief attendance at 

the al-Farouq training camp as evidence of anything sinister, acknowledging that he “pursued training at 

al-Farouq to satisfy ‘curiosity’ about jihad, and because he found himself in Afghanistan with idle time,” and 

noting in particular that the camp leaders expelled him after seven to ten days “for failing to comply with 

the rules,” which included a ban on smoking. 

Other ludicrous allegations—that al-Adahi was an instructor at al-Farouq in February 2000 (18 months before 

his arrival in Afghanistan) and that he was a bodyguard for bin Laden—were dismissed because Judge 

Kessler identified that both claims had been made by a prisoner for whom “the record contains evidence 

that [he] suffered from ‘serious psychological issues,’” and another prisoner who “suffers from serious credibility 

problems that undermine the reliability of his statements.” 

Instead of releasing him, however, the government appealed and, in July 2010, Judge Randolph reversed 

Judge Kessler’s, ruling, which Judge Randolph described as “manifestly incorrect—indeed startling.” Judge 

Randolph claimed that Judge Kessler had considered each piece of evidence on its own merits, instead of as 

part of a whole, and described this as a “fundamental mistake that infected the court’s entire analysis.” Judge 

Kessler had, in fact, examined the evidence as part of what the government contended was a “mosaic” of 

intelligence, to be viewed as a whole, rather than being examined in isolation, but had found the “mosaic” 

to be unpersuasive. In a startling departure from precedent, Judge Randolph gave no credence to Judge Kessler’s 

opportunity to see al-Adahi testify live and subject to the government’s cross examination. 

Responding to the ruling, in which Judge Randolph also indicated that he believed the “preponderance” 

standard used in the habeas cases to be too high, one of Mohammed al-Adahi’s attorneys, John A. Chandler, 

“criticized the appeals court for reassessing the evidence being used to hold al-Adahi instead of assessing 

the trial court’s ruling for errors of law,” as was noted in an article at the time. Chandler explained, “The ap-

pellate court pretty clearly wanted to find he was al-Qaeda and substituted their judgment on the facts for 

the judgment of the trial court, when the trial court is supposed to make decisions of fact.” 

These were entirely valid complaints, but disturbingly Judge Randolph has prevailed. Since his ruling in the 

case of Mohammed al-Adahi, every habeas corpus petition since July 2010 has been denied, as the lower 

court judges have been obliged to follow Judge Randolph’s order to give more credence to the government’s 

unverified allegations than they had been doing. In addition, five other successful petitions have been either 

reversed (like al-Adahi) or vacated, and sent back to the lower court to reconsider.

Sa’ad Muqbil Al-Azani 

ISN 575 

Jalal bin Amer 

ISN 564 

Suhail Abdu Anam 

ISN 569 


Detained Since: Spring 2002

Sa’ad Muqbil Al-Azani, Jalal bin Amer, Suhail Abdu Anam 

Sa’ad Muqbil Al-Azani, ISN 575, detained at Guantánamo since Spring of 2002. 

Jalal bin Amer, ISN 564, detained at Guantánamo since Spring of 2002. 

Suhail Abdu Anam, ISN 569, detained at Guantánamo since Spring of 2002. 

All three of these men were captured at the same time in February 2002 in Karachi, Pakistan. Mr. Al-Azani 

and Mr. bin Amer have been Cleared for Transfer by the Obama Task Force in 2009, but still they sit in 

detention, with no charges having ever been brought against them. 

For more information, please contact: 

Darold W. Killmer 

KILLMER, LANE & NEWMAN, LLP 

1543 Champa St., Suite 400 

Denver, CO 80202 

(303) 571-1000 

dkillmer@kln-law.com

Ghaleb al-Bihani 

ISN 128 



GHALEB AL-BIHANI, ISN 128 

IN DIRE HEALTH & DETAINED FOR OVER A DECADE WITHOUT CHARGE 

Ghaleb Al-Bihani is a young man from Yemen who is in seriously ill health and who has been detained 

at Guantánamo for over a decade without any charge. 1 He has been imprisoned for 11 years and will 

continue to be held indefinitely—on the basis of allegations that he was an assistant cook for a group 

that no longer exists. Ghaleb sought justice all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court, but that court, his 

last hope for legal redress in the United States, refused to hear his case in April 2011. 

Ghaleb lives with physical illness, including diabetes, and suffers from pain and psychological anguish. 

He recently expressed that the “current circumstances have become unbearable.” In his more hopeful 

moments, he imagines rebuilding a peaceful life beyond the prison walls. Despite his depression, he is 

trying to trying to learn languages and other skills to improve himself in detention, and still dreams of 

the chance to rebuild his life. He would accept both repatriation to his country or safe resettlement in a 

third country. 

Ghaleb’s health status 

Ghaleb has been described by the Joint Task Force Guantánamo (JTF-GTMO) as being “on a list of high 

risk detainees from a health perspective.” His ailments include Type 2 Diabetes, asthma, chronic 

migraine headaches, chronic neck and lower back pain, depression, and anxiety. His blood sugar level 

fluctuates dangerously, rising as high as 700. He has been hospitalized for weeks at a time over the past 

several months, and medical personnel at Guantanamo have told him they are gravely concerned about 

his health. Ghaleb’s physical and psychological health have declined markedly over the last several 

months, and his attorneys assess that he is now in critical condition. 

Ghaleb’s attempts to challenge his detention in U.S. courts 

In January 2009, Judge Richard Leon denied Ghaleb’s habeas petition, ruling that Ghaleb could continue 

to be detained indefinitely at Guantánamo without charge, on the basis of allegations that he was a 

kitchen aide for Arab forces in Afghanistan supporting the Taliban in a local conflict against the 

Northern Alliance pre-9/11. In January 2010, the decision was affirmed by the D.C. Circuit in an 

opinion that disavowed the relevance of international law in determining the scope of the government’s 

detention authority—a position even the government rejects. 

1 Ghaleb’s Internment Serial Number (ISN) at Guantánamo is 128.

In August 2010, the full circuit court reviewed the January 2010 ruling, declining to endorse the claims 

about the irrelevance of international law, but affirming the denial of Ghaleb's habeas petition. In April 

2011, the Supreme Court, Ghaleb's last hope, denied his petition for certiorari. As a result, an alleged 

kitchen aide, who was never accused of having raised arms against U.S. or allied forces, has lost 11 

years of his life at Guantanamo and continues to be held indefinitely. 

More information 

Ghaleb Al-Bihani is represented by attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights. For more 

information, the Commission should contact: 

Pardiss Kebriaei 

Center for Constitutional Rights 

pkebriaei@ccrjustice.org 

(212) 614-6452

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17228617-non-lethal-round-fired-at-gitmo-detainees-in-soccer-field-inc 

'Non-lethal round' fired at Gitmo detainees in soccer field incident, US military 

confirms 

By Michael Isikoff, National Investigative Correspondent, NBC News 

Updated 22 hours ago NBCNews.com 

John Moore / Getty Images file Camp Delta in the Guantanamo Bay 

detention center in 2010. 

U.S. military officials 

confirmed Thursday 

that a guard at the 

U.S. detention facility 

at Guantanamo Bay 

last January fired a 

"non-lethal round" to 

disperse detainees 

after one of them 

sought to climb a 

fence and others 

threw rocks at the 

guard tower. 

No one was injured 

during the incident, 

which appears to be 

the first shooting 

involving rubber 

bullets in the 11-year 

history of the 

Guantanamo facility. 

Nonetheless, it has 

fueled claims by defense lawyers – denied by camp officials – that the detainees have been engaged for weeks in 

widespread protests, including hunger strikes and refusing to sleep in their cells. 

The conflicting claims about conditions come as the detention facility in Cuba – which began under President 

George Bush in 2002 – is once again in the spotlight. Congressional Republicans, led by South Carolina Sen. 

Lindsey Graham , on Thursday sharply criticized the Obama administration for flying the recently captured 

Sulaiman Abu Ghaith , Osama bin Laden's son in law, to New York to stand trial in federal court rather than sending 

him to Guantanamo. 

Al-Qaida spokesman and bin Laden son-in-law captured 

“When it comes to people like this ... we want them to go to Gitmo to be held in military custody for interrogation 

purposes," Graham said in a news conference. 

But Obama administration officials say they have ruled out sending any more terror suspects to Guantanamo because 

it would undercut their intention to shut down the facility. On his first full day in office in January 2009, President 

Barack Obama vowed to close Guantanamo, but he has been blocked from doing so by Congress, leaving most of 

the 166 detainees remaining there in perpetual limbo – even though at least 55 of them have been publicly cleared 

for release by an administration task force consisting of U.S. intelligence agencies. 

The shooting incident , first reported by the Miami Herald, 

occurred on the grounds of a new $744,000 soccer and 

recreation field that was opened last year and touted by base officials as an example of new and more permissive 

conditions at the facility. The new soccer field was featured in an NBC News report on Guantanamo last June. 

Read more at The Isikoff Files 

Page 1 of 3 08/03/2013 15:19 PM

http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/07/17228617-non-lethal-round-fired-at-gitmo-detainees-in-soccer-field-inc 

Navy Capt. Robert Durand, chief public affairs spokesman at Guantanamo, told NBC News in an email that on the 

afternoon of Jan. 2, the incident occurred "after a detainee attempted to climb the fence" in the new recreation field 

and a "small crowd of detainees began throwing rocks at the guard tower." 

"After repeated warnings were ignored, the guard force was forced to employ appropriate crowd-dispersal measures, 

in accordance with standard operating procedures," Durand wrote. 

In response to follow-up questions, Durand said that the measures involved the shooting of a "non-lethal round" 

consisting of "several small rubber balls with limited ability to penetrate skin and little ability to cause injury." One 

of these balls "hit a detainee," he added. (During a May 2006 disturbance at Guantanamo, guards fired pepper spray 

at detainees, Durand said.) 

Information only began to emerge in recent weeks when some of the detainees began informing their lawyers – 

whose communications with their clients are tightly regulated. One detainee, Bashir al-Marwalah, wrote his New 

York lawyers in a letter received Feb. 22: "We are in danger. One of the soldiers fired on one of the brothers a 

month ago. Before that, they send the emergency forces with M-16 weapons into one of the brothers' cell blocks." 

The letter, a copy and translation of which was obtained by NBC News, further alleged that a copy of the Quran had 

been "desecrated" during a search the day before and that guards were going from "cell block to cell block" and 

taking away detainee possessions. 

"Now they want to return us to the darkest days under Bush. They said this to us. Please do something." the letter 

stated. It then concluded: "We asked that this be announced to the media so that people know what the Obama 

administration is doing to prisoners now. All the brothers are now on a hunger strike in protest of mistreatment and 

the desecration of the Quran." 

The claims in the letter have been echoed in the last few days by lawyers for other detainees , who have said their 

clients have told them about large-scale hunger strikes – with some detainees "losing consciousness" and "coughing 

up blood." The claims of widespread hunger strikes have been vigorously denied by Guantanamo officials, who say 

there are now seven who are doing so – about the same number as have for the past year. 

Pardiss Kebriaei, a lawyer for the Center for Constitutional Rights, said she spoke to one of her clients, Ghaleb 

Al-Bihani, also a Yemeni, by phone this week and he said he has refused food for a month. "He's dropped 23 

pounds, he’s a diabetic, and medical staff have told him his life is in danger," Kebriaei said. 

Kebriaei said her client told her that there is now a "mass hunger strike" in Camp 6 – the largest and most permissive 

of the camps at Guantanamo – and that all but two detainees are participating. In addition, she said, the detainees are 

protesting in other ways – by refusing to sleep in their cells, instead taking their mats outside and sleeping there. The 

trigger for the protests appears to be new restrictions and more comprehensive searches of cell blocks imposed by 

the new camp commander, Rear Adm. John Smith. 

Durand, the Guantanamo spokesman, disputed the lawyers' claims across the board. 

“In broad terms, what we are seeing is a coordinated effort by detainees and their attorneys to take routine camp 

events and create a false picture of conditions," he wrote in an email. "Every day, to some degree, there are a few 

hunger strikers, a few detainees who assault or threaten guards. To describe the current conditions in the camp as 

'deteriorating' is patently false." 

He added: "Detainees, their attorneys, family members and sympathetic organizations routinely attempt to gain 

sympathy for detainees in the media by initiating and spreading falsehoods regarding conditions of detention, 

allegations of abuse by guards, denial of medical treatment, abuse of the Quran and reports of mass unrest or hunger 

striking. These tactics have been employed off and on since Joint Task Force Guantanamo opened in 2002." 

Read more from Open Channel: 

Iran was holding bin Laden son-in-law Abu Ghaith, US officials say 

Page 2 of 3 08/03/2013 15:19 PM

Ahmed al-Darbi 

ISN 768 


Detained Since: March 2003

Ahmed al-Darbi 

Ahmed al-Darbi, born in 1975, is a Saudi, who was seized as he tried to enter 

Azerbaijan in June 2002. Held for two months, he was transferred to U.S. custody 

in August 2002, and, as he explained in a court submission in July 2009, 

he was then flown to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, where he was held 

in isolation for two weeks, and subjected to sleep deprivation and the use of 

agonizingly painful stress positions. He also said that he was prohibited from 

praying, that his cell was very hot and brightly lit, and that loud music was 

regularly pumped into his cell. 

After two weeks, Ahmed was imprisoned with the general population at Bagram, 

but his abuse did not come to an end, as this was the period when at 

least two prisoners died at Bagram as a result of persistent, violent abuse by the guards. Ahmed’s complaints 

about his abuse during this period eventually surfaced in a trial at which a number of U.S. personnel received 

prison sentences, although none of the senior officials who sanctioned the abuse have been held 

accountable for their actions. 

In March 2003, Ahmed was moved to Guantánamo, but there too he was subjected to abuse, as one of the 

one in six prisoners subjected to the techniques approved by Donald Rumsfeld, according to the former 

interrogator who spoke to The New York Times in January 2005. As Ahmed described it: “Painfully loud 

music was often played in my cell. Sometimes they played a repetitive song composed of what sounded like 

a cat’s meow. It was very hard to sleep because the cells were chilled to extremely cold temperatures, and 

there was extremely bright lighting and also the loud music.” 

As a result of the pressure exerted on Ahmed, which included threats that he “would be sentenced to death 

and executed,” or “would be tortured, raped, and sexually abused,” or “sent back to Bagram or to other 

countries,” he made numerous false statements, based on statements he had first made while being tortured 

in Afghanistan. 

Ahmed also described the longstanding effects of his torture and abuse as follows: “To this day, I frequently 

feel anxious, depressed and worried. I feel not quite right, not quite like myself. I have recurring nightmares 

of the U.S. guards and interrogators from Bagram chasing me. Whenever anybody wakes me, I wake up 

screaming in shock and panic. I have headaches. I feel that I am emotionally unstable, and I know that I 

go through personality changes and mood swings, which were not typical for me before I came into U.S. 

custody. Sometimes I lose physical control.” 

During the Bush administration, Ahmed was put forward for a trial by Military Commission, and in September 

2009, under President Obama, he had a pre-trial hearing, at which Ramzi Kassem, one of his attorneys, 

attempted to persuade the military judge, Army Col. James Pohl, to refuse to accept as evidence any 

of Ahmed’s 119 statements because, as he explained, they were obtained “through beatings, threats of rape, 

sleep and sensory deprivation, and sexual humiliation,” at Bagram and Guantánamo. 

The military commission charges against Ahmed were withdrawn and dismissed in 2009, then sworn out 

again in August 2012, with no movement since.

Mohammed al-Hamiri 

ISN 249 



MOHAMMED AL-HAMIRI, ISN 249 

CLEARED YEMENI DETAINEE IN NEED OF URGENT RELEASE FROM GUANTÁNAMO; 

CLEARED FOR TRANSFER SINCE 2009 

Name: Mohammed Abdullah al-Hamiri, ISN 249 

Date of Birth: 1982 

Place of Birth: Yemen 

Residence: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

Family: Large family network in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

Education: Imam Sha'abi School, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Standard 8 

Medical Status: Hunger-striking as of September 2012 and being force-fed; cranial fracture and 

reconstructive metal plate in skull; chronic headaches and other adverse side effects 

Place of Detention: Guantánamo base hospital 

“The U.S. government has all the power in its 

hands: If it wants us to walk out of Guantánamo 

on our feet, they can make it so. If they want us 

to leave Guantánamo in coffins, they can do that 

too.” 

-Mohammed al-Hamiri, September 24, 2012 

Repatriation/Resettlement Options: Mr. al-Hamiri should be returned to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

where his family has a home, financial resources, and has pledged to support him. He is now 

roughly 30 years old and wants nothing more than to regain his freedom and have the chance to 

begin rebuilding his life. 

1

SUMMARY 

Mohammed al-Hamiri is a 30 year old Guantánamo detainee who has been held without charge 

since 2002. He is cleared for release by President Obama’s Inter-Agency Task Force. Mr. al- 

Hamiri was transferred to the Guantánamo base hospital in September 2012, in the immediate 

wake of the death of Adnan Latif. Mr. al-Hamiri remains at the hospital under supervision. His 

continued detention – despite his clearance and his compromised health – is indefensible. The 

U.S. government must immediately release Mr. al-Hamiri for humanitarian reasons. He could be 

immediately and seamlessly reintegrated into his large family network in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

or returned to Yemen, his country of origin. 

BACKGROUND 

Mr. al-Hamiri is a Yemeni citizen and lifetime resident of Saudi Arabia. His father emigrated 

from Yemen more than thirty years ago. Mr. al-Hamiri comes from a large, stable, and devoted 

family. Mr. al-Hamiri’s mother, grandparents, siblings and extended family all live in Jeddah. 

He enjoyed a nurturing upbringing there and was known and well-liked throughout his 

community. 

As a boy, Mr. al-Hamiri was injured in an accident that left him with a cranial fracture. His 

family took him to the Saudi-German Hospital in Jeddah for treatment. A reconstructive metal 

plate was inserted into Mr. al-Hamiri’s skull. Physicians at the Saudi-German Hospital 

instructed Mr. al-Hamiri that he would require follow-up treatment for his recovery to be 

complete. The cost was too prohibitive, however, and Mr. al-Hamiri did not return to the 

hospital for additional care. He subsequently suffered a second injury, which aggravated his 

condition. 

Mr. al-Hamiri traveled to Pakistan in 2001 in search of cheap medical care. While in Pakistan, 

he crossed the border into Afghanistan, but left in the wake of the U.S. invasion. He was 

subsequently arrested by Pakistani police and transferred to U.S. custody. 

The U.S. government has never alleged that Mr. al-Hamiri engaged in any acts of terrorism or 

that he engaged in any armed conflict. 1 The government’s reflexive allegation that Mr. al- 

Hamiri supported the Taliban and Al Qaeda rests on uncorroborated photographic identifications 

from a handful of current and former Guantánamo detainees. The government’s own records 

reveal that the credibility of each is severely compromised by a range of factors, including in one 

case by a government-diagnosed mental illness. For his part, Mr. al-Hamiri has stated 

emphatically that he traveled to the region for only one reason – to obtain medical care – and that 

he never fought, trained, or associated in any way with the Taliban or Al Qaeda. His statements 

have been consistent for more than ten years. The Inter-Agency Task Force cleared al-Hamiri 

for release in 2009. 

1 Mr. al-Hamiri’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus was argued before Judge Henry Kennedy in January 2010. 

The case was transferred to Judge Thomas Hogan on November 4, 2011 after Judge Kennedy retired. A decision is 

still pending. 

2

MR. AL-HAMIRI’S CURRENT CONDITION AND NEED FOR URGENT RELEASE 

Mr. Al-Hamiri is on a hunger-strike at the Guantánamo base hospital under close medical and 

psychological supervision. He has spent one-third of his life in arbitrary, indefinite detention at 

Guantánamo. Though the government conceded in 2009 that it no longer has an interest in 

detaining Mr. Al-Hamiri, he remains imprisoned with no end in sight. He is also acutely aware 

that, as a Yemeni, he currently stands no chance of leaving Guantánamo – unless the government 

chooses to spare him. This is why he says that “the U.S. government has all the power in its 

hands: If it wants us to walk out of Guantánamo on our feet, they can make it so. If they want us 

to leave Guantánamo in coffins, they can do that too.” 

The only workable solution that remains is for the government to implement its Task Force 

determination and immediately release Mr. Al-Hamiri. The government can no longer afford to 

be indifferent to his suffering. To do so is reckless. 

LEGAL REPRESENTATION 

Mr. al-Hamiri is represented by attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights and Clifford 

Chance US LLP. For more information, the Commission should contact: 

Omar A. Farah 


ofarah@ccrjustice.org 

(212) 614-6485 

Jeff Butler 

Clifford Chance LLP 

Jeff.butler@cliffordchance.com 

(212) 878-8205 

3

Freedom or Death at Guantánamo 

By: Center for Constitutional Rights Friday 

January 25, 2013 8:45 am 

by Omar Farah, staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. 

Adnan Latif and Mohammed al-Hamiri arrived at Guantánamo through strikingly 

similar twists of fate. Adnan Latif is the most recent of nine men – four since 

President Obama took office – to die in U.S. custody at Guantánamo. 

Mohammed al-Hamiri is a Yemeni prisoner I have represented and visited since 

2008 who remains trapped at Guantánamo, housed at the prison’s medical clinic, 

fighting to stave off despair. Like all Guantánamo prisoners, he grapples daily 

with the haunting thought that he many never leave the island prison alive. 

January 11 marked 11 years since the first of these men arrived at Guantánamo, 

and this week marks four years since the president’s signing an executive order 

mandating the closure of Guantanamo within the year. As we observe these 

anniversaries, I question what, if anything, the Obama administration learned 

from Adnan’s senseless death. For better or for worse, the answer will say a lot 

about what lies ahead for Mohammed. 

Both Adnan and Mohammed suffered severe injuries as boys that left them with 

cranial fractures. There is a noticeable scar under Mohammed’s hairline, and he 

suffers from chronic headaches caused by the reconstructive metal plates in his 

skull. Mohammed’s first round of treatment at the Saudi-German Hospital in 

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia is well documented. The necessary follow-up treatment 

was financially prohibitive, so, like Adnan, Mohammed traveled to Pakistan in 

search of cheap medical care.

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Mohammed was arrested in Pakistan 

by local police. In that respect, his story and Adnan’s are typical. Since the 

prison first opened, the government has cynically perpetuated the myth that 

Guantánamo prisoners were “captured on the battlefield.” Nothing could be 

further from the truth: the troubling reality is that in the months after September 

11, the U.S. military ran a slipshod bounty system that offered handsome 

compensation to Afghan and Pakistani locals for turning over anyone who 

seemed out of place. That is how Adnan ended up at Guantánamo, and the 

circumstances surrounding Mohammed’s arrest point to the same explanation. 

Hooded and shackled, Mohammed was then rendered to Guantánamo in 

2002. He was just 19 or 20 years old. Since then, he has endured more than a 

decade of arbitrary, indefinite detention, with no end in sight. He has never been 

charged with a crime. He never will be. In 2009, he, like Adnan, was approved 

for release by unanimous consent of an Inter-Agency Task Force that President 

Obama convened. The Task Force included representatives from every military, 

law enforcement, and national security agency with a stake in detainee 

affairs. But within months, the President instituted a moratorium on transfers to 

Yemen, effectively rescinding Mohammed’s clearance in favor of a policy of 

crude collective punishment – one that bases the detention of Guantánamo’s 

Yemeni prisoners on citizenship alone. 

The results are at once shameful and predictable: it has been 30 months since a 

Yemeni has been repatriated or resettled. Of the 166 prisoners who remain at 

Guantánamo, roughly 90 are from Yemen. Fifty-six Yemenis are already cleared 

for transfer – 57 before Adnan died. 

Death is rapidly becoming the only way out of Guantánamo. That is the 

inevitable byproduct of the administration’s inaction. It is a chilling fact that is not 

lost on Mohammed, who was housed in a cell near Adnan, his dear friend and 

countryman. It was there, in the harsh, isolative conditions of Camp V, that 

Mohammed came face-to-face with the grim toll indefinite detention takes on the 

men at Guantánamo. That is where his path and Adnan’s parted. It is no 

wonder that Mohammed is – in his words – at a “breaking point.” 

But Mohammed’s continued torment is unnecessary: President Obama has the 

power to free him with the stroke of a pen. He should do so immediately, or 

history will not judge him kindly. The cost of delay has never been so high or 

potentially irrevocable. The president now confronts a grave moral 

question: had he foreseen Adnan’s death, would he have done anything 

differently? For Mohammed’s sake, and for the others languishing at 

Guantánamo, I hope the answer is yes.

Sharqawi Ali al-Hajj 

ISN 1457 



Sharqawi Ali al-Hajj 

Sharqawi Ali al-Hajj, born in 1974, is a Yemeni, who was seized in a house raid in Karachi, Pakistan in February 

2002. Initially questioned by American interrogators, he freely answered questions about his business 

in Pakistan, explaining that he was doing what he could to help Yemeni refugees. He was promised that, if 

he continued to answer questions, he could go home to Yemen. However, his transfer to Jordan came about 

because, as his attorney, John A. Chandler, explained, “The CIA lied about his going home; it decided to 

torture Sharqawi in the hope that they might get more information from him.” 

Sharqawi then became one of at least 15 prisoners whose torture was outsourced to the Jordanian authorities 

between 2001 and 2004. Prior to his rendition, his Pakistani guards told him, “May your mother pray 

for you,” and other such exhortations, knowing that he was on his way to the Jordanian secret police. In 

Jordan, he was held for over almost two years. 

In Jordan, Sharqawi was again told that, if he cooperated, he could go home. The cooperation, it soon became 

apparent, involved obtaining information from him about prisoners held in Guantánamo, but there 

was no way he could please his captors, and no way that he was going home. 

As John Chandler also explained, “Sharqawi was shown pictures of men who he later met in Guantánamo. 

He was asked a series of questions from Americans posed by his Jordanian captors. If his answers were not 

satisfactory, he would be beaten and threatened with electrocution. He randomly identified men as terrorists 

and was beaten. He identified every third man as a terrorist and was beaten. No answers were satisfactory.” 

Tortured daily for nine months, Sharqawi was subjected to falanga, a Jordanian specialty, in which the sensitive 

nerve endings on the bottom of his feet were struck repeatedly, causing excruciating pain. He was also 

held in isolation, kept naked in the cold, threatened with rape, and subjected to electric shocks. 

Afterwards, for another year and a half, Sharqawi was moved to another part of the facilities in Jordan, 

where the torture ceased, and, he said, the guards treated him well and occasionally lent him a cell phone 

to call home. 

Rather than sending him home, however, the CIA chartered a plane (Tail No. N313P), which flew from 

Frankfurt, Germany, to Amman, Jordan, and picked him up and delivered him to Bagram, where, yet again, 

he was promised that, if he cooperated, he could go home. Instead, Sharqawi was kept in a 2 foot by 3 foot 

closet for several days before a female interrogator from the Naval Criminal Investigative Service came to 

question him, and who later followed him to Guantánamo. 

Here is what Pro Publica has written about Sharqawi and another Guantanamo prisoner, Uthman. The US 

produced statements by Sharqawi to use as evidence against Uthman based on the agent’s summaries of the 

two, four-hour interviews she conducted with Sharqawi at Bagram and Guantanamo. 

“The statements are quite damning on their faces,” wrote Judge Kennedy of the United States District Court 

for the District of Columbia. But they were problematic. He said the statements were not reliable because 

they were obtained after the men had been tortured.

“In light of the abusive circumstances of the detention . . . and serious questions about the accuracy of their 

identifications of Uthman, the Court finds these statements to be unreliable and will not consider them 

in evaluating whether the detention of Uthman is lawful,” Kennedy wrote. Further, under the subheading 

“Torture,” Judge Kennedy said the Court could not rely on their statements “because there is unrebutted 

evidence in the record that, at the time of the interrogations at which they made the statements, [Sharqawi] 

recently had been tortured.” 

Joanne Mariner, the director of the counterterrorism program at Human Rights Watch, investigated 

Sharqawi’s treatment while in Jordanian custody. 

“I agree with the judge,” she said. “There is no doubt he was very seriously tortured in Jordanian custody 

which is why he was sent there. He was just sent there because at that time, the CIA was still outsourcing 

the most brutal methods of torture. This was before the CIA had set up its own prison system and was still 

working out authorization for the use of abusive techniques,” Mariner said. 

In his habeas case, the Court found that Sharqawi had been tortured. Chief Judge Royce Lamberth found: 

“At the outset, the Court finds that respondents-who neither admit nor deny petitioner’s allegations 

regarding his custody in Jordan and Kabul-effectively admit those allegations. Accordingly, 

the Court accepts petitioner’s allegations as true. In Jordan, petitioner experienced patent 

coercion during interrogations-including intimidation, regular beatings, and threats of electrocution 

and violence. In Kabul, he was forced to endure complete darkness and continuous loud 

music. The Court thus finds that petitioner was subject to physical and psychological coercion 

in Jordan and Kabul” Sharqawi abdu ali Al Hajj, Civil Action No 09-745 (RCL), June 8, 2011. 

As John Chandler also observed, “After years of torture, an FBI clean team came in to start interrogations 

anew in the hope of obtaining information that was admissible and not the product of torture. The Courts, 

however, have held that torture after Karachi excludes all his interrogations. Nearly 10 years later, Sharqawi 

sits in Guantánamo. His health is ruined by his treatment by or on behalf of our country. He can eat little 

but yogurt. He weighs perhaps 120 pounds. The United States of America has lost its way.”

Sanad al-Kazimi 

ISN 1453 

Citizenship: Yemen

Sanad al-Kazimi 

Sanad al-Kazimi, born in 1970, is a Yemeni, who was seized in the United Arab Emirates in January 2003, 

and was subsequently handed over to U.S. forces, and was rendered to an unidentified secret CIA prison, 

and then to the “Dark Prison” and Bagram Air Base. During this period, he told his attorney, Martha 

Rayner, that “his interrogators beat him; held him naked and shackled in a cold dark cell; dropped him into 

cold water while his hands and legs were bound; and sexually abused him.” 

After this Sanad was relocated to the “Dark Prison,” where, he said, “he was always in darkness and ... was 

hooded, given injections, beaten, hit with electric cables, suspended from above, made to be naked, and 

subjected to continuous loud music.” He told Martha Rayner that eventually “[h]e made up his mind to say 

‘Yes’ to anything the interrogators said to avoid further torture.” 

At Bagram, he said, he was isolated, shackled, “psychologically tortured and traumatized by guards’ desecration 

of the Koran” and interrogated “day and night, and very frequently.” He added that he “tried very 

hard” to tell his interrogators the same information he had told his previous interrogators “so they would 

not hurt him.” 

In August 2007, Ramzi Kassem, another of Sanad’s attorneys, added further details, telling Jane Mayer of 

The New Yorker that Sanad was “suspended by his arms for long periods, causing his legs to swell painfully 

... It’s so traumatic, he can barely speak of it. He breaks down in tears.” He also said that Sanad stated 

that, “while hanging, he was beaten with electric cables,” and explained that he also told him that, while in 

the “Dark Prison,” he “attempted suicide three times, by ramming his head into the walls.” Ramzi Kassem 

added, “He did it until he lost consciousness. Then they stitched him back up. So he did it again. The next 

time he woke up, he was chained, and they’d given him tranquillizers. He asked to go to the bathroom, and 

then he did it again.” On this last occasion, he “was given more tranquilizers, and chained in a more confining 

manner.”

Musa’ab Al Madhwani 

ISN 839 



Musa’ab Al Madhwani 

Musa’ab Al Madhwani was everybody’s favorite kid in school, and his nieces’ 

and nephews’ favorite uncle. Musa’ab was the class clown, now forced to 

quickly grow up. He has been imprisoned at the U.S. Naval Station in Guantánamo 

Bay, Cuba for virtually his entire adult life. 

Musa’ab was captured by Pakistani police in September 2002, while trying to 

get home to his native Yemen. He was severely beaten by Pakistani authorities, 

and then taken to two CIA-run torture prisons in Afghanistan. At the 

“Dark Prison”—so known because prisoners were held in permanent darkness—Musa’ab 

and others were held in squalid conditions, deprived of food and clean water, bombarded 

with loud music and horrible noises, and otherwise physically and mentally tortured in ways that seem 

unimaginable. 

Musa’ab was then sent to Guantánamo, where the only opportunity he had to tell of his treatment came in 

2005, when a military official asked him during a review board hearing, “Are you holding anything back 

from the interrogators?” He replied, “That is impossible, because before I came to the prison in Guantánamo 

Bay I was in another prison in Afghanistan, under the ground [and] it was very dark, total dark, 

under torturing and without sleep. It was impossible that I could get out of there alive. I was really beaten 

and tortured.” Under the coercion of torture, Musa’ab made false confessions that are now used to justify 

his imprisonment. But even the most unthinkable persecution has not crushed his love of life. Musa’ab now 

uses his comedic gift to try and lighten the hearts of the men with whom he is imprisoned. 

Astoundingly, when Federal District Court Judge Thomas F. Hogan ruled against Musa’ab’s habeas petition 

in December 2009, Musa’ab’s first response was to comfort his grief-stricken lawyers. And we were griefstricken; 

it is still impossible to understand how any rational court could have ruled against this innocent 

man. Inexplicably, Judge Hogan predicated his ruling on Musa’ab’s own statements made in the coercive 

Guantánamo review board hearings, while ruling that the numerous additional coerced statements Musa’ab 

had made to interrogators shortly after his arrival at Guantánamo were legally unreliable. These, he said, 

were tainted by torture, but he refused to accept that the same was true of Musa’ab’s later coerced statements, 

despite ample evidence to the contrary. 

The notion that Musa’ab could be labeled a “terrorist” is inconceivable to all who know him. Even the 

judge who ruled against him found that Musa’ab is not a threat to the United States. Repeatedly questioning 

whether there is any real basis for his continued detention, Judge Hogan found that Musa’ab’s record, 

including the government’s own documents, “do[es] not give any basis for his continued detention” but instead 

shows he is “a lot less threatening” than scores of detainees the government had recently released. The 

court agreed with an official government agent’s own assessment of Musa’ab as a young, naive, unemployed 

Yemeni who should be returned home. But despite these explicit findings, Judge Hogan believed his “hands 

[were] tied” by the “law as written,” which he interpreted as requiring him to approve Musa’ab’s continued 

detention.

In spite of these profound injustices, Musa’ab does not blame the American people for any of the treatment 

he has suffered, and holds no grudge against them. The generosity of Musa’ab’s character is reflected, too, 

in every member his family. His family is very poor, yet during our visit with them in Yemen, his brother 

insisted on buying us gift after gift, and his sister gave me the clothes out of her own closet. Now, Musa’ab’s 

eyes cloud with sentimentality when I visit wearing his sister’s dress. He may well never see her, or the rest 

of his family, again. Memories of Musa’ab fade from the minds of his nieces and nephews. But even as our 

legal system has been perverted to the point of futility and my value to him as a lawyer has run dry, I will 

continue to visit Musa’ab, as he has become a part of my family. 

—Mari Newman, Counsel for Musa’ab

Hussain Salem 

Mohammed Almerfedi 

ISN 1015 


Detained Since: May 2003

Hussain Salem Mohammed Almerfedi (ISN 1015) 

Hussain Almerfedi was born in southern Yemen in 1977. He sought to leave Yemen and travel to Europe 

to escape the poverty and oppression in southern Yemen. Believing it would be difficult to get a visa from 

Yemen to a European country, Hussain planned to travel to Pakistan and then to Europe with individuals 

from a well-known and apolitical Islamic religious group called Jama’at al-Tablighi (“JT”). Hussain left Yemen 

for Pakistan on September 9, 2001. 

After the attacks of September 11 made it impossible to travel to Europe with a missionary group, Hussain 

accepted a man’s offer to “smuggle” him from Pakistan to Europe, via Iran and Turkey. The men traveled 

by bus to Mashad, a large city in eastern Iran, where Hussain waited for a month. He grew impatient and 

confronted his smuggler. They left for Europe the next day. In Tehran, they were stopped by Iranian police, 

who arrested Hussain purportedly because he did not have a visa. The smuggler was not arrested, and Hussain 

never saw him again. 

The Iranians held Hussain in various prisons, beat him and accused him of being a spy for the United States. 

In about March 2002 they turned him and other prisoners over to the United States as part of a “prisoner 

exchange.” The United States held him in Afghanistan until May 2003 when he was sent to Guantánamo. 

Hussain was approved for transfer from Guantánamo under the “Administrative Review Board” procedures 

used during President Bush’s administration as well as by the unanimous decision of President Obama’s 

Guantánamo Review Task Force. In July 2010, District Judge Paul L. Friedman granted Hussain’s petition 

for a writ of habeas corpus in part based on his finding that a detainee named Jadani, on whose statements 

the government principally relied, was incredible and wholly unreliable. 

In June 2011, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Friedman’s decision and ordered that Hussain’s 

petition be denied. The Court of Appeals held that the government had satisfied its burden on the 

strength of three facts alone: (1) Hussain spent from September to November 2001 in the company of JT; 

(2) Hussain traveled the “wrong way” in Iran, i.e., away from Europe rather than toward it; and (3) Hussain 

allegedly had a “large, unexplained” amount of cash on his person when the Iranians arrested him. The 

Court of Appeals then placed a burden on Hussain to offer a more persuasive explanation for these facts, 

but held that he had failed to do so. The Court of Appeals also found Jadani reliable but claimed not to rely 

directly on his statements. 

The Supreme Court of the United States denied Hussain’s petition for certiorari in June 2012. In October 

2012, Judge Friedman denied Hussain’s motion for reconsideration, which was based on belated disclosures 

that further undermined Jadani’s credibility.

Saad Al Qahtani 

ISN 200 


Detained Since: January 2002

Saad Al Qahtani 

Saad Al Qahtani, ISN 200, was one of the first prisoners taken to 

Guantánamo and held in an open-air cage in Camp X-Ray. He arrived 

at Guantánamo on January 16, 2002, and he remains there today – 

even though United States military, law enforcement, and intelligence 

officials decided many years ago that he should be sent back to his 

home country of Saudi Arabia. 

Saad is 34 years old, and he has spent one-third of his life detained 

without charge at Guantánamo. He is bright, engaging, and speaks at 

least six languages fluently. While at Guantánamo, he taught himself 

to speak, read, and write English. Saad’s extraordinary language skills and his ability to mediate disputes 

between prison staff and other prisoners have made him a favorite among his guards and interrogators. 

Saad’s father died when he was eight years old, and his mother and grandmother raised him and his five 

siblings in Khamis Mushayt, Saudi Arabia. Saad’s mother and his grandmother both died in November 

2007. As of that time, Guantánamo prisoners were not allowed to speak with their families by telephone or 

videoconference. As a result, his mother was unable to see Saad or hear his voice in the last 5½ years of her 

life. Saad and his siblings are extremely close, and the family anxiously awaits Saad’s return home. 

Saad is not and has never been a threat to the United States or its allies. He has never engaged in hostilities 

or combat operations, never fired a weapon at anyone, and never had any intention of taking up arms 

against the United States or its allies. Long before September 11, 2001, Saad travelled to Afghanistan because 

he was curious about the Taliban government (recognized by his home country as legitimate), and 

because he wanted to help the Afghan people, who had endured decades of war. The only time Saad fought 

anyone was when he intervened to stop Taliban soldiers from beating an Afghan truck driver. Unwilling to 

participate in the fighting that erupted in Afghanistan during the second half of 2001, Saad made his way 

to Pakistan, went to the first police station he could find, and asked for help in returning home. Instead 

the Pakistanis turned Saad over to U.S. forces, who were then offering generous bounties for foreigners 

captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Saad was transported to Kandahar prison and then to Guantánamo. 

Over the past eleven years, numerous American guards and interrogators have told Saad that his release 

from Guantánamo was imminent. Within the first year of his imprisonment, United States and Saudi authorities 

determined that Saad did not belong in Guantánamo. The Administrative Review Board established 

under the Bush Administration approved Saad to return to his home country in 2008. In 2009, the 

Review Task Force established by President Obama also determined unanimously that Saad should be 

repatriated. Saudi government officials told Saad and his family in the spring and summer of 2012 that he 

would return home very soon, and guards told Saad the same thing. Because of these repeated promises 

of release from Guantánamo, Saad agreed to stay the court proceedings on his petition for habeas corpus. 

Saad refuses to complain about the harsh and degrading treatment he has received at the hands of U.S. 

forces in Kandahar and at Guantánamo. Having suffered from depression and insomnia for several years,

Saad is now sinking into despondency over the repeatedly broken promises to release him from Guantánamo. 

Saad wants only to return to his family and homeland where he can continue his studies, work, get 

married, and resume his life. 

Patricia A. Bronte

Abdul Rahman Al-Qyati 

ISN 461 



Abdul Rahman Al-Qyati 

His face is gentle, and somehow, after nearly ten years of imprisonment, serene and friendly. His hair and 

beard have grayed just a bit over the five years that we have known one another—too much so for a young 

man in his 30’s—but he is attractive and . . . gentle. He is a humble man, fond of poetry. He used to write his 

own poetry, but does not much anymore. He wrote a poem about birds for my young daughter, but the U.S. 

Government—which insists on calling him “ISN 461” instead of by his name—ordered that it remain classified, 

so she has never seen her poem. His perspectives on life and circumstance are a true inspiration to 

me. His ability to accept the profoundly perverse fate foisted upon him is bewildering to me. He still laughs 

easily. He is my friend now, as much as my client. 

Abdul Rahman was born and raised in Saudi Arabia, but because his father was born in Yemen, he is considered 

a Yemeni by the U.S. officials imprisoning him. This makes all the difference, as most of the Saudi 

detainees have long ago been released back to their country as a result of political deal-making. Yemenis, 

however, are given especially unfavorable treatment at Guantánamo. There is a presidential directive currently 

in place prohibiting the release of any Yemeni detainees, even if they have been “cleared for transfer” 

after executive review of their files. So Abdul Rahman sits, imprisoned and innocent. The only “evidence” 

the U.S. claims against him comes from “confessions” extracted from him under brutal, unimaginable, inhuman 

torture inflicted upon him by American agents following his capture at a mosque in Afghanistan. In 

other words, there is no credible evidence against him at all. 

Abdul Rahman is an innocent man. His unjust imprisonment threatens to silence the poetic voice of a beautiful 

man. Still, he remains gentle. I can only hope that my own children develop the character and serenity 

that he consistently demonstrates. 

—Darold Killmer, Counsel for Abdul-Rahman

Ali Hussein al-Shaaban 

ISN 327 


Detained Since: June 2002

Ali Hussein al-Shaaban 

Ali Hussein al-Shaaban, born in 1982, is a Syrian who, as his attorney, Michael 

E. Mone, Jr. explains, “is stuck in Guantánamo because he cannot be safely 

returned to his native Syria, and no third country has yet to step forward to 

grant him refuge.” He faces persecution if repatriated, and over the years his 

interrogators have repeatedly threatened him with rendition to Syria. “You 

know what the Syrians will do to you if you go back there,” interrogators have 

told him. “You must cooperate with us or we will send you to them.” 

Even before the “Arab Spring,” prisoners could not be safely returned to Syria 

because of the Assad regime’s brutal use of torture. In May 2010, the United Nations Committee Against 

Torture stated that it was “deeply concerned about numerous, ongoing, and consistent allegations concerning 

the routine use of torture by law enforcement and investigative officials” in Syria. Now, with the Assad 

regime desperately clinging to power while blaming “criminal terrorist thugs” for the uprising, the stigma of 

his years of imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay will undoubtedly follow Ali home with dire consequences. 

Not that he has any interest in ever returning to Syria. According to his attorney, “Ali looks at the utter 

chaos and widespread suffering going on in Syria right now and he wants no part of it.” 

In 2009 Ali was cleared for release by the Obama Administration’s Guantánamo Review Task Force, a determination 

which only serves as further proof that Ali was not a terrorist but simply in the wrong place at 

the wrong time, another of Guantánamo’s many mistakes. 

After graduating from high school, Ali wanted to see some of the world before attending university. He traveled 

to Afghanistan where he lived in Kabul with three other young Syrian men and studied the Koran at a 

local school. When war broke out he fled to Pakistan, along with thousands of other refugees. Ali was not 

captured on the battlefield, nor was he armed. Rather, because he was an Arab, Pakistani authorities seized 

him at the border and handed him and his three fellow countrymen over to the United States, probably in 

exchange for the generous cash bounties that were being offered by the U.S. military to their Afghan and 

Pakistani allies. In June 2002, Ali was shackled, hooded, and flown to Guantánamo. He has been there ever 

since. 

Ali is an excellent candidate for resettlement. He reads, writes and speaks fluent English, and is also committed 

to learning the native language of the country that accepts him, if another language is spoken there. 

He is eager to resume his academic pursuits upon release and study at a university. However, after years of 

working in his father’s metal shop making doors, window frames, and water tanks, he is a skilled welder 

and well prepared to find employment in construction or manufacturing. Ali is fortunate to be in very good 

physical and mental health. As he awaits a new home, he spends his days exercising, studying his English 

dictionary and reading the works of his favorite authors: John Grisham, Sandra Brown, and John Le Carré. 

While his time in Guantánamo Bay has certainly been hard, Ali bears no animosity towards the American 

people. His youth, intelligence, good health, and determination to live a peaceful and productive life point 

towards a successful integration. He wants nothing more than to live a normal life: to finish school, find a 

job, fall in love, and start a family. All he needs is for a third country to give him the chance to rebuild his 

life after years of abusive incarceration.

Djamel Ameziane 

ISN 310 

Citizenship: Algeria 


Photo credits: Center for Constitutional Rights 

DJAMEL AMEZIANE 

ALGERIAN GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEE IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION; 

CLEARED FOR TRANSFER SINCE OCTOBER 2008 

Date of Birth: April 14, 1967 

Place of Birth: Algiers, Algeria 

Citizenship: Algerian 

Ethnicity: Berber 

URGENT PROTECTION REQUIRED: 

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the 

Organization of American States issued urgent precautionary 

measures on August 20, 2008, requiring that all necessary 

measures be taken to ensure that Mr. Ameziane is not 

transferred or removed to a country where he would likely face 

torture or other persecution. 

On March 20, 2012, the Commission accepted jurisdiction to 

decide the merits of Mr. Ameziane’s human rights law claims, 

concluding in part that he would face a “substantial risk” of 

torture and abuse in Algeria. 

Education: Institut Hydraulique de Ksar Chellala, college diploma, 1991 

Languages: French, Arabic, English, German (limited) 

Family: Single; no children 

Prior Employment: Water and waste disposal technician; chef; salesman 

Prior Residences: Vienna, Austria; Montreal, Canada 

Medical Illness: None 

Criminal History: None 

Place of Detention: Camp 6, Guantánamo Bay (communal living reserved for “most compliant” 

detainees without security or disciplinary problems) 

Status: Detained at Guantánamo since February 2002; Cleared for release since October 2008 

Personal Interests: Football; cooking; drawing; writing; reading mystery 

novels and French fashion magazines for men


ALGERIAN GUANTÁNAMO DETAINEE IN NEED OF HUMANITARIAN PROTECTION 

Overview 

Mr. Ameziane is a college-educated citizen of Algeria. An ethnic Berber, Mr. Ameziane fled his home country more 

than 20 years ago in order to escape escalating violence and insecurity, and in search of a better life. He traveled 

first to Austria, where he worked as a high-paid chef in an Italian restaurant, and then to Canada, where he sought 

political asylum and lived for five years but was ultimately denied refuge. Fearful of being deported to Algeria, and 

faced with few options, Mr. Ameziane went to Afghanistan. He traveled to Afghanistan because it was the only 

country he could think of where, as a Muslim man, he might live peacefully and without constant fear of being 

returned to Algeria. He fled that country soon after the fighting began in October 2001, but was captured by a local 

Pakistani tribe. The tribe turned him over to Pakistani authorities, who apparently sold him to the U.S. military for a 

bounty, as was practice at the time. The Americans transported Mr. Ameziane first to the airbase at Kandahar, 

Afghanistan, and then to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where he remains imprisoned without charge or a judicial 

determination of the legality of his detention. 

Biography 

Mr. Ameziane was born in 1967 in Algiers to a close-knit family of four brothers and four sisters. He attended 

primary school, secondary school and university in Algeria. After obtaining a college diploma, he worked for the 

government as a supervisor responsible for supplying drinking water and waste disposal. Mr. Ameziane speaks 

French, English, and Arabic fluently. He also speaks some limited German. 

In 1992, Mr. Ameziane left Algeria to escape escalating instability and oppression under the one-party government 

then in power. He transited through Italy to Vienna, Austria, where he lived legally for several years. Mr. Ameziane 

began working as a dishwasher in Vienna, but his talent allowed him to rise quickly to become the highest-paid chef 

at Al Caminetto Trattoria, a well-known Italian restaurant. In 1995, following the election of a new government, 

more restrictive immigration policies kept him from extending or renewing his visa, and his work permit was denied 

without explanation. He was forced to leave the country. 

Mr. Ameziane traveled directly to Canada because of its large French-speaking population and his belief that 

Canada’s immigration policy would be more favorable to him. Immediately upon his arrival, he told immigration 

officials that he wanted to apply for asylum because he was afraid of being deported to Algeria. As he awaited a 

decision, Mr. Ameziane obtained a temporary work permit and worked diligently for an office supply company and 

for various restaurants in Montreal. His application was denied in 2000 for reasons that were not explained to him, 

and he was forced to uproot his life and leave the country he had made his home for the past five years. 

Fearful of being forcibly returned to Algeria, and confronted with few options, Mr. Ameziane traveled to 

Afghanistan, where he felt he could live freely without discrimination as a Muslim man, and where he would not 

fear deportation to Algeria. He did not participate in any military training or fighting in Afghanistan, and soon after 

the war started he fled to escape the fighting. He was captured by local tribal authorities after crossing the border 

into Pakistan. They turned him over to Pakistani police, who turned him over to U.S. forces for a bounty. Later, at 

Guantánamo, American soldiers told Mr. Ameziane that the Pakistanis sold prisoners to them for $2,000 each in 

Afghanistan, and for $5,000 each in Pakistan. 

Mr. Ameziane has never been alleged by the U.S. government to have engaged in any acts of terrorism. He has also 

consistently denied that he ever engaged in any acts of terrorism, or ever picked up a weapon or participated in any 

military training or fighting. In sum, he has never had any involvement with extremism, terrorism or any act of 

violence whatsoever. Tragically, he was nonetheless sent to Guantánamo Bay in early February 2002.



Imprisonment at Guantánamo 

For more than a decade, Mr. Ameziane has remained indefinitely detained at Guantánamo, despite being 

cleared for transfer by President Bush in October 2008 and again by the Obama Administration's 

Guantánamo Review Task Force in May 2009. 

As one of the first prisoners to arrive at Guantánamo, Mr. Ameziane was held in the now-infamous metal cages of 

Camp X-Ray. Starting in 2006, he was held for more than a year in solitary confinement in a small windowless cell 

in Camp 6, which the International Committee of the Red Cross described as more restrictive than “supermax” 

prison facilities in the United States. In addition to the inhumane conditions of his detention, he was subjected 

repeatedly to brutal acts of physical violence by military guards. In one unprovoked incident, guards sprayed him all 

over with cayenne pepper and then hosed down with water to accentuate the effect of the pepper spray and make his 

skin burn. They then held his head down and placed a running water hose between his nose and mouth, running it 

for several minutes over his face and suffocating him, repeating the operation several times. He wrote of that 

experience, “I had the impression that my head was sinking in water. Simply thinking of it gives me the chills.” 

Following that episode, the guards bound him in cuffs and chains and took him to an interrogation room, where he 

was left for several hours, writhing in pain, his clothes soaked while air conditioning blasted in the room, and his 

body burning from the pepper spray. He also spent as many as 25 and 30 hours at a time in interrogation rooms, 

sometimes with techno music blasting, “enough to burst your eardrums.” 

For the injuries and ailments resulting from his imprisonment and abuse, he has never been afforded adequate 

medical care. For example, his vision deteriorated as a result of his time in Camp 6, from staring at the white walls 

of his small cell all day. It took a year of repeated requests for him to receive even a basic, cursory eye examination. 

He also developed rheumatism in his legs because of the extremely cold temperatures when he was in Camp 6, for 

which he could not even get a pair of socks. 

Thankfully, Mr. Ameziane was moved to less-restrictive conditions in Camp 4, and his health was restored steadily. 

He has since been moved back to Camp 6, which is now a communal prison facility reserved for the “most 

compliant” detainees without disciplinary problems. Mr. Ameziane can now take advantage of limited opportunities 

to exercise, improve his considerable language skills, and learn to draw. 

However, there are some things his years at Guantánamo have cost him that can never be retrieved. His father died 

during this period, before Mr. Ameziane could see or communicate with him one last time, and his mother is now 

very elderly. His brothers and sisters have had wedding ceremonies he has been unable to attend, and had children 

who have never known their uncle. He has lost the last decade of his life to Guantánamo, and his detention 

continues to be indefinite and perpetual. Nevertheless, he continues to have remarkable strength and hope for his 

future. 

Legal Challenges 

Mr. Ameziane filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in 

February 2005. He filed a motion for expedited judgment in February 2009, arguing that the government’s evidence 

failed to raise any genuine issues of fact requiring a full hearing on the merits. The Court denied that motion in 

April 2009, and the case was proceeding slowly toward a final ruling on the merits. However, in May 2009, the 

Court stayed the case indefinitely without issuing a ruling on the merits of Mr. Ameziane’s petition because the 

government argued he had long been cleared for transfer and the only open question in his case was the country to 

which he would be transferred.



Mr. Ameziane also filed a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (“IACHR”) in August 

2008. His petition challenged his arbitrary detention and mistreatment at Guantánamo, including his torture and 

abuse, and the denial of adequate medical care, as well as his risk of forcible transfer to Algeria. The IACHR 

promptly issued urgent precautionary measures to ensure that he is not transferred or removed from Guantánamo to 

any country, including Algeria, without his express consent. On March 20, 2012, the IACHR issued a landmark 

admissibility report in Mr. Ameziane’s case. This ruling marks the first time the IACHR has accepted jurisdiction 

over the case of a man detained at Guantánamo, and underscores the fact that there has been no effective domestic 

remedy available to victims of unjust detentions and other abuses at the base. The IACHR will now move to gather 

more information on the substantive human rights law violations suffered by Djamel Ameziane, including the harsh 

conditions of confinement he has endured, the abuses inflicted on him, and the illegality of his detention. 

Fear of Return to Algeria 

Mr. Ameziane has a credible fear of persecution if he were to be returned to Algeria. He is a member of the 

persecuted Berber minority group. The stigma of having spent time in Guantánamo would also be enough to put him 

at risk of being imprisoned if he is returned. In Mr. Ameziane’s hometown in Kabylie, an unstable region in the 

north of Algeria known for frequent, violent clashes between the Algerian army and Islamic opposition groups, 

practicing Muslims are automatically suspected of being supporters of such groups and are frequently harassed and 

targeted for arrests and detention by the government solely because of their religious practices. Algeria has a 

documented history of torture and ill-treatment of its prisoners, particularly those suspected of links with terrorism, 

which international human rights organizations and the U.S. Department of State itself have recognized. Amnesty 

International has reported that the most serious violations of human rights abuses have been committed by the DRS, 

Algeria’s “military security” police, in cases of individuals detained on suspicion of terrorist activity. All of the 

Algerians transferred out of Guantánamo so far have been detained immediately upon arrival for questioning for a 

period of nearly two weeks, during which they were denied access to a lawyer and their families. Several of them 

now face the prospect of fundamentally unfair trials. Some were returned against their will, and at least one has 

suffered serious persecution. 

Need for Humanitarian Protection 

Mr. Ameziane remains trapped at Guantánamo until a third country offers him safe resettlement. After he is 

released, Mr. Ameziane hopes to get married and start a family of his own; to work and live a quiet life in freedom; 

and to begin the process of rebuilding and enjoying his life after Guantánamo. 

Legal Representation 

Mr. Ameziane is represented by attorneys at the Center for Constitutional Rights. For more information about him, 

please contact: 

J. Wells Dixon 


666 Broadway, 7 th Floor 

New York, NY 10012 

Tel.: (212) 614-6423 

wdixon@ccrjustice.org 

Omar Farah 


666 Broadway, 7 th Floor 

New York, NY 10012 

Tel.: (212) 614-6485 

ofarah@ccrjustice.org

Tariq Ba Odah 

ISN 178 



TARIQ BA ODAH, ISN 178 

YEMENI DETAINEE IN NEED OF URGENT RELEASE ON HUMANITARIAN GROUNDS; 

ON HUNGER-STRIKE AT GUANTÁNAMO SINCE FEBRUARY 2007 

Name: Tariq Ba Odah 

Age: 34 years old 

Place of Birth: Shabwah, Yemen 

Family: Large family residing in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia 

Languages: Arabic 

“Even if they keep me another 10 years, I will not 

break my hunger-strike. I’ll stop under one of two 

conditions: I die or I am returned to my family.” 

Personal interests: World politics; Reading political biographies; Poetry 

– Tariq Ba Odah [March 22, 2012] 

Status: Detained in February 2002; Began a peaceful hunger-strike to protest his indefinite 

detention in February 2007; Force-fed daily through nasogastric intubation; Segregated since 

2009 and held in under solitary-confinement like conditions in Camp 5; Held without charge.

MR. BA ODAH IS A HUNGER-STRIKER IN NEED OF URGENT RELEASE 

Tariq Ba Odah was born in Yemen, but lived almost of all of his life before his imprisonment in 

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was sent to Guantánamo in February 2002 at approximately age 24. 

His petition for a writ of habeas corpus is stayed in the U.S. District Court for the District of 

Columbia in part because of Mr. Ba Odah’s compromised health. 

As of counsel’s last visit to Guantánamo in December 2012, the U.S. Department of Defense has 

been holding Mr. Ba Odah in solitary-confinement like conditions in Camp 5. It isolates Mr. Ba 

Odah from the other prisoners because he has been on a 6-year, peaceful hunger-strike to protest 

his indefinite detention. The Department of Defense views this as non-compliance. Mr. Ba 

Odah has maintained his hunger-strike throughout the years because he sees the U.S. Department 

of Defense, the Obama administration, Congress, and increasingly U.S. courts as part of single 

apparatus of power that keeps him locked-up at Guantánamo and separated from his loved-ones. 

In his words – hunger-striking “is the only peaceful way I can show the magnitude of the 

injustice I suffer.” 

Mr. Ba Odah is force-fed daily. He is strapped to a restraint chair, a rubber tube is forced down 

his nose, and a liquid dietary supplement is pumped into his stomach. In what Mr. Ba Odah 

believes are clear attempts to break his protest, prison administrators have told him that “if [he] 

stops his strike, [he would] be moved to the common area with friends, television, and recreation 

time” – basic rights the men in Camp 5 are often deprived. 

Mr. Ba Odah is only permitted to be outside of his cell between 2-4 hours per 

day. Unfortunately, Mr. Ba Odah is often too weak to take advantage of the recreation time that 

is allotted to him. He has virtually no human contact. He must shout through a slot in the door of 

his cell to exchange a word with another prisoner. To protest these conditions, Mr. Ba Odah has 

also gone on “no wash protests,” in one instance going four months without showering, leaving 

his cell for recreation, or cutting his nails. According to Mr. Ba Odah, he “looked like [he] 

crawled out of a grave.” No independent medical expert has ever assessed the impact of 

extended hunger-striking on Mr. Ba Odah’s body. But there can be no doubt that he is need of 

urgent, sophisticated medical care. Like most other Guantánamo prisoners, Mr. Ba Odah has 

never been charged with a crime. President Obama should lift the moratorium on transfers to 

Yemen and certify Mr. Ba Odah for release on humanitarian grounds. 


Mr. Ba Odah is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights. For more information, the 

Commission should contact: 

Omar A. Farah 



(212) 614-6485

Ahmed Belbacha 

ISN 290 

Citizenship: Algeria 


Ahmed Belbacha 

Ahmed Belbacha is an Algerian who fears being forcibly repatriated, as happened 

with his compatriots Abdul Aziz Naji (in July 2010) and Farhi Saeed 

bin Mohammed (in January 2010, whose habeas corpus petition had been 

granted in November 2009). Despite this, he was appealing against his forced 

repatriation when the Obama administration sent him home, and, as his attorney, 

Buz Eisenberg, said: 

By transferring Mr. Mohammed to Algeria against his will, the administration 

has once again demonstrated an appalling disregard for the rule 

of law. On November 5, Mr. Mohammed asked the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the legality of 

this very transfer. By forcibly and secretly sending Mr. Mohammed to a place to which he did not 

want to go, even while the Supreme Court was considering his petition, the administration has 

again declared itself above the law. 

While most of the remaining Algerians fear both the security services and Islamists, Ahmed Belbacha has 

another reason to fear being returned. In November 2009, he was convicted in absentia, in what his lawyers 

described as “a disgraceful show trial” in which no lawyer was appointed to defend him, and the court gave 

him a 20-year sentence for belonging to an “overseas terrorist group.” As his lawyers explained, “Despite 

repeated requests and extensive investigation, [we] have been unable to discover what exactly Ahmed is 

supposed to have done. No evidence has been produced to support his ‘conviction,’ which appears to be 

retaliation against Ahmed for speaking out about the inhumane treatment he would be subjected to if sent 

to Algeria.” 

Ahmed, who was born in 1969, worked as an accountant for Algeria’s main oil company, Sonatrach, from 

1988 to 1997, with a short break to complete his military service. In 1997, however, when he was called upon 

to rejoin the army, Islamists from the Groupe Islamique Armé (GIA) began to threaten him. After trying, 

and failing, to lie low by working for his father, he fled to the U.K. in 1999, where he applied for asylum and 

worked in a laundromat and then in a hotel in Bournemouth. During the Labour government’s conference, 

Ahmed cleaned the room of the deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, and did such a good job that he received 

a thank-you note and a tip. 

Unfortunately, Ahmed’s application for asylum was refused. He appealed, but the procedure dragged on for 

months. He was having increasing difficulty finding steady work and greatly feared deportation. Ahmed 

decided to travel to Pakistan, where he could take advantage of free educational programs to study the 

Koran. He hoped after a few months the economy would be better and his job prospects would improve. In 

Pakistan, he decided, with a friend, to visit Afghanistan, where he was seized after the 9/11 attacks and the 

U.S.-led invasion. 

While he was in Guantánamo, in 2002, Ahmed’s asylum appeal was denied, ironically because he did not 

turn up for his hearing, and the judge did not know that he was a prisoner. Five years later, the U.S. authorities 

finally acknowledged that they had no reason to hold him, but Ahmed then sought and secured an in-

junction in the U.S. courts to prevent his forcible repatriation, which survived until the D.C. Circuit Court 

ruled in September 2009 that judges could not prevent the Obama Administration from forcibly repatriating 

prisoners to countries where they might face persecution. 

Sadly for Ahmed, the British government has refused to accept him, and no other government has offered 

to help, even though his plight, and his gentle nature, has led to other offers of help. He has been given a 

room in a flat by a Bournemouth resident, and the town of Amherst, Massachusetts offered him refuge in 

defiance of Congress in October 2009.

Jihad Dhiab 

ISN 722 


Detained Since: August 2002

Jihad Dhiab (ISN 722) 

The following is an extract from a call with Jihad Dhiab on September 13 2012, 

illustrating his state of mind: 

“I am tired and sick. I am in a very depressed condition. I have very low 

esteem. I have no idea what to do. I am reaching a situation where I do not 

want to have any discussion with a guard or anyone else. I have come to a 

dead end. I am not acting out of stubbornness. I am so depressed that I do not 

want to speak to anyone here. I am just deeply depressed. I have no desire to 

talk to anyone. I have no desire to do anything. As you know a few days ago 

one of our brother killed himself, he reached such a state. I have a lot of 

medical issues. My kidneys, and so many other things going on with me. 

Earlier my right kidney was hurting me. Now it is my left kidney as well. Both 

are hurting me a lot. I really don’t know what to say. If you can, put yourself 

in my position and feel how you would be. My living circumstances are very 

depressing. I have been put in isolation for a long time. I am unable to speak to 

anyone here.” 

“The painful circumstances that I am living in are unbearable. In particular, 

the repeated promises that have not been fulfilled. This is becoming more and 

more difficult. I know that President Obama wanted to improve the conditions 

here but the actual circumstances are very different from what he ordered. It is 

as if the prisoner is meant to be made of steel, not of human flesh. You must 

understand where I am – I will speak in short sentences. The fact that I might 

do some harm to myself is not is far from my mind. But Abdul Latif, the 

person who died here a few days ago, went through something very similar. 

He cooperated. He went to see his lawyer regularly. But in the end it was just 

more than he could take. Like me, they put him in isolation because he was 

depressed. I do not know how long I can stand it. I am in isolation a lot. I do 

no know what to say.”

Fahd Ghazy 

ISN 26 


Detained Since: January 2002

FAHD GHAZY, ISN 026 

YEMENI DETAINEE IN NEED OF URGENT RELEASE FROM GUANTÁNAMO; 

CLEARED FOR RELEASE BY PRESIDENT BUSH IN 2007 

Name: Fahd Abdullah Ahmed Ghazy 

Age: Born on May 2, 1984 

Place of Birth: Beyt Ghazy, Yemen 

Family: Father to Hafsa, born June 18, 2001, and husband to Faiza 

Education: Al Najah Secondary School; Diploma received; First in class; Received a 

scholarship to attend university 

Languages: Arabic, English 

“All I hope for upon release is to meet my wife and 

daughter, my mother and brothers, and to live an 

independent life with them. To complete my studies 

and get a decent job.” 

– Fahd Ghazy [September 30, 2005] 

Personal interests: Studying to prepare for higher education upon release; Writing letters to 

Hafsa, Reading and translating Arabic and English texts, 

Status: Detained in January 2002 at age 17; Cleared by President Bush in 2007; One of the last 

remaining Guantánamo Prisoners to have been detained as a juvenile; Held without charge.

BACKGROUND 

Fahd Ghazy was only 17 years old when he was rendered to Guantánamo in 2002 and is one of 

the last remaining prisoners to have been detained as a juvenile. He was cleared for transfer in 

2007 by the Bush administration, but he remains unlawfully imprisoned to this day. In December 

2010, President Obama instituted a moratorium on transfers to Yemen, effectively rescinding 

Fahd’s clearance in favor of a policy of crude collective punishment. 

Fahd was born and raised in Beyt Ghazy, Yemen. He was married in his early teens and had a 

daughter, Hafsa, shortly after his 17 th birthday. Fahd was an ambitious student. He attended the 

Al-Najah primary and secondary school in the district near his home. Shortly after the birth of 

his daughter, Fahd sat for a series of exams that were required of all graduating secondary school 

students. He placed first in his class. Those results won him a scholarship to attend university, 

news of which he received while already imprisoned in Guantánamo. 

During the holiday after his graduation, Fahd traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He was 

arrested in Pakistan and was one of the first prisoners to arrive at Guantánamo in January 2002. 

He has been interrogated more times than he can remember under U.S. Department of Defense 

methods that were humiliating and coercive. Even before he was transferred to Guantánamo, 

Fahd was “kicked and beaten and cursed like a dog.” During an interrogation in 2003 at 

Guantánamo, while Fahd was still a teenager, he was made to stand for hours with his feet and 

hands chained together so that he could not straighten his back. Interrogators told him that they 

“had the power to make him hungrier and sicker than he had ever been in his life.” Fahd was 

cleared for release by the Bush administration in 2007. 

Despite his treatment and the length of his detention, Fahd continues to prepare himself for his 

release. He has mastered English while at Guantánamo and he reads voraciously – all in the 

hope that one day he will be able to secure a good job and provide for his family. But Fahd, who 

is now 28 years old and has been detained for 11 years, is beginning to doubt whether that day 

will ever come. 

Fahd Ghazy was imprisoned as a juvenile and has been held without charge for 11 years. His 

continued detention at Guantánamo is indefensible. The Obama administration must immediately 

lift the moratorium on transfers to Yemen and certify Fahd for release. 


Mr. Ghazy is represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights. For more information, the 

Commission should contact: 

Omar A. Farah 



(212) 614-6485

Saeed Hatim 

ISN 255 



Saeed Mohammed Saleh Hatim (ISN 255) 

Saeed Hatim was born in Yemen in 1977, graduated from high school in 1994, 

and traveled to Afghanistan in March or April 2001. He claims he went to 

Afghanistan for personal reasons including to cease being a financial burden 

on his family. He spent approximately one month in Kandahar and then went 

to Kabul in April or May 2001. He remained in the Kabul area until shortly 

after the U.S. bombing began, at which time Saeed fled the city and headed 

for the Pakistan border with hundreds of other refugees. Pakistani authorities 

stopped the car in which Saeed was a passenger, arrested him, and held 

him for several weeks in various prisons until turning him over to the United 

States military at the end of 2001. He was taken to a military base in Kandahar for six months before being 

sent to Guantánamo. 

The government alleges that Saeed spent approximately three weeks at the al Farouq training camp in the 

spring of 2001. Saeed denies the allegation and claims he falsely admitted to attending al Farouq because his 

captors threatened and abused him. 

The government also alleges that Saeed stayed in al Qaeda guesthouses and that he was on the front lines 

of the conflict between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance for a few weeks in the summer of 2001, prior 

to the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Saeed denies that the guesthouses in which he stayed had any al Qaeda 

affiliation of which he was aware, and claims that he visited a front line on one day just to see what it was 

like, that he observed no fighting, and that shepherds and their flocks roamed freely throughout the area. 

The government has offered no statements from any witness who claims to have seen Saeed in Afghanistan, 

much less to have seen him in the act of combat or supporting al Qaeda or the Taliban. There is no evidence 

that Saeed was part of an enemy armed force, or a substantial supporter of such a force, at any time during 

the period when the United States was engaged militarily in Afghanistan. 

In September 2009, President Obama’s Guantánamo Review Task Force unanimously approved Saeed for 

transfer out of Guantánamo. In December 2009, District Judge Ricardo M. Urbina granted Saeed’s petition 

for a writ of habeas corpus. In February 2011, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated Judge Urbina’s 

decision and remanded the case to district court. In April 2011, Saeed filed a motion for a status conference 

and scheduling order to re-litigate his case. The motion remains pending, and, following Judge Urbina’s 

retirement, Saeed’s case has yet to be reassigned to a new judge.

Obaidullah 

ISN 762 

Citizenship: Afghanistan 


The Indefinite Detention of Obaidullah 

Mr. Obaidullah already has spent almost a third of his life in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He 

may be there indefinitely – a term of life imprisonment – even though he has never been convicted of a 

crime. This violates his fundamental human right to be free from arbitrary and indefinite imprisonment 

without trial or conviction. 

Facts: In July 2002, Mr. Obaidullah (he has only one name) was a 19-year old man, living with his 

family in the village of Milani in Khost Province, Afghanistan, working in a store selling pots and pans. 

He had attended school until the eleventh grade, but left in order to support his family. On a July night, 

Obaidullah was picked up during a nighttime raid by American forces, beginning an eleven-year 

nightmare of torture and imprisonment. Over one decade later, Obaidullah is still detained at 

Guantanamo Bay, yet to face any criminal charges. 

Faulty Intelligence: The U.S. military raided Obaidullah’s family compound based on a tip from one 

still-unknown source who claimed that he was a member of an Al Qaeda bomb cell and that there were 

Soviet-made mines inside the compound. The source was wrong on both counts. When the compound 

was stormed, no mines were found inside. Mines were uncovered at some distance outside the 

compound, buried in the ground, but they were of Pakistani and Italian manufacture. Moreover, mines 

are littered across Afghanistan because of the civil war that raged for decades. 

U.S. forces also found a notebook on Obaidullah’s person allegedly containing information about 

constructing IED’s. Obaidullah maintains that he took these notes while he was forced to attend a 

Taliban-sponsored school. He has consistently and vehemently denied any affiliation with Al Qaeda (or 

Taliban). After two days at the school, he decided not to return, and he later went to work in a pots-andpans 

store. Proof of this is that the notebook also details routine sales and inventory information from 

the shop. Finally, the U.S. military also found a car in the compound. Four years after the raid, for the 

first time, a soldier who participated in the raid claimed that the car contained dried blood and Taliban 

propaganda. In federal court, the government never presented any evidence of blood or propaganda. 

None of this – or any other – evidence corroborates the solitary Al Qaeda allegation from the unknown 

source. As such, Obaidullah’s detention rests on very shaky ground. 

Torture and Detention: After the raid, Obaidullah was taken to Chapman Airfield in Afghanistan, 

where he was mistreated, including with a blow to the head with a rifle butt. He was then sent to Bagram 

Airfield for three months, where he was further subjected to harsh treatment and physical abuse, and he 

made coerced statements upon which the government later decided not to rely in court. Finally, he was 

sent to Guantanamo, and after a few months, he recanted his coerced statements and told interrogators 

the truth, that he was not a terrorist and posed no danger to anyone. 

No Criminal Charges or Trial. Obaidullah has been detained at Guantanamo Bay for over ten years. A 

district court in Washington, D.C. denied his petition for a writ of habeas corpus, based on the 

uncorroborated and unknown intelligence source. His appeal of this decision was denied by the D.C. 

Circuit. His petition for a writ of certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court was filed in February 2013 and is 

pending. The government swore military charges against him in 2008 and dismissed them in 2011. No 

criminal charges are pending, either in federal or military court.

Mohamedou Ould Slahi 

ISN 760 

Citizenship: Mauritania 

Detained Since: August 2002

Mohamedou Ould Slahi 

Mohamedou Ould Slahi, born in 1970, is a Mauritanian, who was seized by 

the Mauritanian authorities on November 20, 2001, at the request of the Bush 

administration. As he explained in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal at 

Guantánamo in 2004: “My country turned me over, shortcutting all kinds of 

due process of law, like a candy bar to the United States.” 

After Mohamedou was seized, he was transferred by the CIA to Jordan— 

one of at least 15 prisoners rendered to Jordan by the CIA between 2001 and 

2004—where he was held for eight months, and where, he said, what happened 

to him was “beyond description.” He was then transferred to the U.S. 

prison at Bagram in Afghanistan, where he was held for two weeks, and he 

arrived at Guantánamo in August 2002. 

In Guantánamo, Mohamedou was the second prisoner subjected to a specifically tailored torture program, 

which included prolonged isolation, prolonged sleep deprivation, beatings, death threats, and threats that 

his mother would be brought to Guantánamo where she would be the lone female prisoner. The program, 

which began in May 2003, was augmented with further techniques authorized by defense secretary Donald 

Rumsfeld, and culminated, in August 2003, in an incident in which Mohamedou was taken out on a boat 

wearing isolation goggles while agents whispered, within earshot, that he was “about to be executed and 

made to disappear.” 

The torture of Mohamedou was so severe that, in May 2004, Lt. Col. Stuart Couch of the Marine Corps, 

who had been assigned his case as a prosecutor, refused to prosecute the case. He told the chief prosecutor, 

Army Col. Bob Swann, that, in addition to legal reasons, he was “morally opposed” to the interrogation 

techniques, and for that reason alone “refused to participate” in the Slahi prosecution “in any manner.” 

The use of torture not only led to Stuart Couch’s refusal to prosecute his case; it also led to Mohamedou 

telling his torturers whatever they wanted to hear. As he explained in a letter to his attorneys in November 

2006, “I yes-ed every accusation my interrogators made ... I just wanted to get the monkeys off my back.” 

Despite this, he is regarded by the authorities as one of “the most significant informants ever to be held at 

Guantánamo,” as The Washington Post reported in March 2010. 

Although Mohamedou was initially touted as a significant al-Qaeda operative, and was alleged to have 

been involved with the 9/11 hijackers while he lived in Germany, by the time his habeas corpus petition 

was granted by Judge James Robertson in March 2010, the government acknowledged that he “probably did 

not even know about the 9/11 attacks.” Another key claim—that he was involved in the foiled “Millennium 

Plot” to blow up Los Angeles airport—was also dropped, and although Judge Robertson noted that he continued 

to have knowledge of people connected to al-Qaeda, he granted his habeas corpus petition. After the 

government appealed, the case was remanded to the district court where he must essentially begin again.

Mohammed Tahamuttan 

ISN 684 

Citizenship: Palestinian Territories 


Mohammed Tahamuttan 

In December 2009, after the German government expressed a willingness to take prisoners who could not 

be repatriated, Daniel Fried, Obama’s Special Envoy on Guantánamo, sent nine suggestions, including Mohammed 

Tahamuttan, a Palestinian, born in 1979. As Der Spiegel explained, Tahamuttan “grew up on the 

West Bank and quickly had his fill of intifada, war and deplorable living conditions.” 

In October 2001, Tahamuttan flew to Pakistan, because he “yearned to be a pious man,” and Pakistan 

housed the headquarters of the huge Islamic missionary movement Jamaat al-Tablighi, which he had been 

a member of since the age of 14. Tablighi members “acquired a visa for him and arranged for him to stay in 

a religious school in Raiwind,” where he “studied the Koran for four months before moving on to Lahore, 

then Quetta and, finally, Faisalabad.” 

In Faisalabad, he met some Arab students and moved into a house with them. On March 28, 2002, the 

house was raided and all 15 of the guesthouse residents were taken to Guantánamo, on the basis that the 

house was supposedly connected to the alleged “high-value detainee” Abu Zubaydah, who was seized on 

the same night in a different raid. However, despite the government’s claims that all of these men were 

somehow connected to militancy, six of them have been freed so far. 

In July 2010, Der Spiegel noted that Mohammed had “made a good impression on the Germans,” but that 

he was ultimately rejected, a move that was “probably intended primarily to send a political message at 

home in Germany,” where it was thought that Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière “felt that he had to 

show the many members of his party who had opposed reaching an agreement with the United States on 

Guantánamo that he was not blindly obeying the Americans.” As a result, Mohammed is still stranded in 

Guantánamo, awaiting a new home.

The names of the 166 

men who remain at 

Guantánamo

The names of the 166 men who remain at Guantánamo 1 

ISN Name Country 

4 Abdul Haq Wasiq Afghanistan 

6 Mullah Norullah Noori Afghanistan 

7 Mullah Mohammad Fazl Afghanistan 

26 Fahd Ghazy Yemen 

27 Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman Yemen 

28 Muaz Al Alawi Yemen 

29 Muhammad Al Ansi Yemen 

30 Ahmed Al Hikimi Yemen 

31 Mahmoud Al Mujahid Yemen 

33 Mohammed al-Adahi Yemen 

34 Abdallah Al Yafi Yemen 

35 Idris Qader Idris Yemen 

36 Ibrahim Idris Sudan 

37 Abd Al Malik Abd Al Wahab Yemen 

38 Ridah Al Yazidi Tunisia 

39 Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman Ismail Yemen 

40 Abdel Qadir Al Mudhaffari Yemen 

41 Majid Ahmad Yemen 

42 Abdul Rahman Shalabi Saudi Arabia 

43 Samir Moqbel Yemen 

44 Mohammed Abu Ghanim Yemen 

45 Ali Ahmad Al Rahizi Yemen 

63 Mohammed Al Qahtani Saudi Arabia 

88 Waqas Mohammed Ali Awad Yemen 

91 Abdul Al Saleh Yemen 

115 Abdul Rahman Naser Yemen 

1 This list was prepared by the Center for Constitutional Rights from publicly available 

information. 

1


117 Muktar Al Warafi Yemen 

128 Ghaleb Al-Bihani Yemen 

131 Salem Ahmed Hadi Yemen 

152 Asim Al Khalaqi Yemen 

153 Fayiz Suleiman Yemen 

163 Khalid Al Qadasi (Othman) Yemen 

165 Adil Said Al Busayss Yemen 

167 Ali Yahya Mahdi Al Rimi Yemen 

168 Adel Hakimi Tunisia 

170 Sharaf Masud Yemen 

171 Abu Bakr Alahdal Yemen 

174 Hisham Sliti Tunisia 

178 Tariq Ba Odah Yemen 

189 Salem Gherebi Libya 

195 Mohammad Al Shumrani Saudi Arabia 

197 Yunis Shokuri Morocco 

200 Saad Al Qahtani Saudi Arabia 

202 Mahmmoud Bin Atef Yemen 

223 Abdul Rahman Sulayman Yemen 

224 Abdul Rahman Muhammad Yemen 

232 Fawzi Al Odah Kuwait 

233 Abdul Salih Yemen 

235 Saeed Jarabh Yemen 

238 Nabil Hadjarab Algeria 

239 Shaker Aamer Saudi Arabia 

240 Abdullah Al Shabli Yemen 

242 Khaled Qasim Yemen 

244 Abdul Latif Nasir Morocco 

249 Mohammed al-Hamiri Yemen 

251 Muhammad Bin Salem Yemen 

2


254 Mohammed Khenaina Yemen 

255 Said Hatim Yemen 

257 Umar Abdulayev Tajikistan 

259 Fadil Hintif Yemen 

275 Yusef Abbas China 

280 Saidullah Khalik China 

282 Hajiakbar Abdulghupur China 

288 Mutij Sadiz Ahmad Sayab Algeria 

290 Ahmed Belbacha Algeria 

309 Muieen Abdal Sattar United Arab Emirates 

310 Djamel Ameziane Algeria 

321 Ahmed Yaslam Said Kuman Yemen 

324 Mashur Al Sabri, Yemen 

326 Ahmed Ajam Syria 

327 Ali Hussein al-Shaaban Syria 

329 Abd Al Hadio Omar Mahmoud Faraj Syria 

434 Mustafa Al Shamyri Yemen 

440 Mohammed Bwazir Yemen 

441 Abdul Rahman Ahmed (al Zahry) Yemen 

461 Abdul Rahman Al-Qyati Yemen 

498 Mohammed Haidel Yemen 

502 Abdul Ourgy Tunisia 

506 Khalid Mohammed Salih Al Dhuby Yemen 

508 Salman Rabeii Yemen 

509 Mohammed Khusruf Yemen 

511 Sulaiman Al Nahdi Yemen 

522 Yasin Ismail Yemen 

535 Tariq Al Sawah Egypt 

549 Omar al Dayi Yemen 

550 Walid Zaid Yemen 

3


552 Fayiz Al Kandari Kuwait 

553 Abdul Khaled Al Bedani Saudi Arabia 

554 Fahmi Al Sani Yemen 

560 Haji Wali Mohammed Afghanistan 

564 Jalal bin Amer Yemen 

566 Mansoor Qattaa Saudi Arabia 

569 Suhail Abdu Anam Yemen 

570 Sabri Mohammed Al Qurashi Yemen 

572 Slah Al Zabe Yemen 

574 Hamoud Al Wady Yemen 

575 Sa’ad Muqbil Al-Azani Yemen 

576 Zahar Bin Hamdoun Yemen 

578 Abdul Aziz Abdullah Ali Al Suadi Yemen 

579 Khirullah Khairkhwa Afghanistan 

680 Emad Abdalla Hassan Yemen 

682 Ghassan Al Sharbi Saudi Arabia 

684 Mohammed Tahamuttan Palestinian Territories 

685 Abdelrazak Ali Abdelrahman Algeria 

686 Abdel Hakim Yemen 

688 Fahmi Ahmed Yemen 

689 Mohammed Salam Yemen 

690 Ahmed Abdul Qader Yemen 

691 Mohammed Al Zarnuki Yemen 

694 Sufyian Barhoumi Algeria 

695 Omar Abu Bakr Libya 

696 Jabran Al Qahtani Saudi Arabia 

702 Ravil Mingazov Russia 

707 Noor Uthman Muhammaed Sudan 

708 Ismael Ali Al Bakush Libya 

713 Muhammed Murdi Issa Al Zahrani Saudi Arabia 

4


722 Jihad Dhiab Syria 

728 Jamil Nassir Yemen 

753 Abdul Zahir Afghanistan 

757 Ahmed Abdel Aziz Mauritania 

760 Mohamedou Ould Slahi Mauritania 

762 Obaidullah Afghanistan 

768 Ahmed al- Darbi Saudi Arabia 

832 Mohammad Nabi Omari Afghanistan 

836 Ayoub Murshid Ali Saleh Yemen 

837 Bashir Al Marwalah Yemen 

838 Shawki Awad Balzuhair Yemen 

839 Musa'ab Al Madhwani Yemen 

840 Hail Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali Yemen 

841 Said Salih Sa id Nashir Yemen 

893 Tofiq Al Bihani Yemen 

894 Mohammed Abdul Rahman Tunisia 

899 Shawali Khan Afghanistan 

928 Khi Ali Gul Afghanistan 

934 Abdul Ghani Afghanistan 

975 Bostan Karim Afghanistan 

1015 Hussein Salem Mohammed Almerfedi Yemen 

1017 Omar Al Rammah Yemen 

1045 Mohammed Kamin Afghanistan 

1094 Saifullah Paracha Pakistan 

1103 Mohommod Zahir Afghanistan 

1119 Haji Hamidullah Afghanistan 

1453 Sanad al-Kazimi Yemen 

1456 Hassan Bin Attash Yemen 

1457 Sharqawi Ali al-Hajj Yemen 

1460 Abdul Rahim Ghulam Rabbabi Pakistan 

5


1461 Mohammed Ahmad Ghulam Rabbani Pakistan 

1463 Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal Yemen 

3148 Haroon Al Afghani Afghanistan 

10001 Bensayah Belkacem Algeria 

10011 Mustafa Al Hawsawi Saudi Arabia 

10013 Ramzi Bin Al Shib Yemen 

10014 Walid Bin Attash Yemen 

10015 Abd Al Rahim Al Nashiri Saudi Arabia 

10016 Abu Zubaydah Palestinian Territories 

10017 Abu Faraj Al Libi Libya 

10018 Ammar Al Baluchi Pakistan 

10019 Riduan Isomuddin Indonesia 

10020 Majid Khan Pakistan 

10021 Mohd Farik Bin Amin Malaysia 

10022 Mohammed (Lillie) Bin Lep Malaysia 

10023 Guleed Hassan Dourad Somalia 

10024 Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Pakistan 

10025 Mohammed Abdul Malik Kenya 

10026 Abd Al Hadi Al Iraqi Iraq 

10029 Muhammad Rahim Al Afghani Afghanistan 

6

“The past years were all the worst moments. I would describe them as a boat 

out at sea, battered by successive storms during its trip towards an unknown 

destination, benefiting only from very short periods of respite between two 

storms. These respites were the best moments.” 

“I overcame the conditions of imprisonment during all these past years by always 

maintaining hope that one day I would be freed, because I am innocent.” 

—Djamel Ameziane, writing from detention at Guantánamo Bay Naval Base 

Artwork created by Djamel Ameziane at Guantánamo

11 Years and Counting - Center for Constitutional Rights

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