Detention & Guantanamo

Joseph Scozzari / Ben Balter (background)

As both a candidate and as president, Barack Obama repeatedly expressed his desire to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The facility and its role in the military's detention operations have been deeply controversial from the beginning of the war against Al Qaeda. Timelines for closing the facility have come and gone, yet the administration has been stymied by legislation that has made the task extremely difficult. Detention has been litigated up and down the federal appellate ladder. And as criminal trials have begun for some of the inmates in military commissions, the legal questions surrounding their detention and treatment have only gotten thornier.

Latest in Detention & Guantanamo

Military Commissions

Guantanamo Detainee Files Suit for Release Following Completion of 10-Year Sentence

On June 7, Majid S. Khan, a Pakistani detainee at Guantánamo Bay whose sentence ended on March 1, filed a 30-page petition for a writ of habeas corpus against President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Lance Okamura, the U.S. commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo.

Documents

D.C. Circuit Denies Guantanamo Habeas Petition of Yemeni Detainee

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today denied a habeas corpus petition from a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo Bay. Judge Neomi Rao, writing for the court, argued that "the Due Process Clause may not be invoked by aliens without property or presence in the sovereign territory of the United States." The petitioner, Abdulsalam al Hela, has been in detention at Guantanamo Bay since 2004.

Documents

Court Unseals Ruling Denying Paracha Petition for Habeas Corpus

The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia unsealed a ruling denying Guantanamo detainee Saifullah Paracha's petition for habeas corpus. In the January decision, the court held that the government may detain Paracha on the basis of evidence that he rendered "substantial support" to al-Qaeda and the Taliban, though he was not a member of either. The decision is available here and below.

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