Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab

Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab also known as Abu Wa'el Dhiab[1] was born in Lebanon. He was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba until he was released to Uruguay.[2] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 722. Dhiab was one of the Guantanamo hunger strikers.[3]

Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab
ArrestedNovember 2001
Pakistan
CitizenshipSyrian
Detained atGuantanamo
ISN722
Charge(s)No charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Statusgranted asylum in Uruguay, current location: Unknown.

He, along with other 5 Guantanamo prisoners, was granted asylum by Uruguay in exchange for a trade agreement to allow Uruguay to sell oranges to the US.[4] On December 7, 2014, he was released to Uruguay.

Capture

Dhiab was captured in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2002, and taken to the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba. While U.S. officials stated that he had links to militants, he was never charged. Dhiab spent 12 years at the facility, where he went on hunger strikes to protest his detention.[3]

Wife

His wife, Yusra al-Hussein, was apprehended and held in extrajudicial detention in Syria in July 2008.[5] Amnesty International reports she was released on July 22, 2009.[6]

Official status reviews
See also: Syrian detainees at Guantanamo Bay

Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[7] In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[8][9]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[7][10]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal on 2004-09-25.[11] The memo listed nine allegations:

The Summary of Evidence memos prepared for his 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Administrative Review Board hearings have been published.[12][13][14][15] Among the allegations he faced were:

  • that he had hosted Abu Musab Al Zarqawi to stay in his house;
  • that he was an expert forger;
  • that he was a member of Asbat Al Ansar;
  • that he had wanted to attend the Khalden training camp, but attended the Khandahar airport camp instead;
  • some senior al Qaida members resented his assumption that he could attend an al Qaida camp without being vetted;
  • some senior al Qaida members were suspicious of him because of his ties to takfiris;

Habeas corpus petition

Diyab had a writ of habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf.[16] The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.[17] On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".[18]

Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment

On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts.[19][20] His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on April 21, 2008.[21]

Hunger strike lawsuit

In 2009 the U.S. government cleared Dhiab for release.[22] He was ultimately released in December 2014.[22] During the interim years, Dhiab protested his continued detention by going on hunger strike, in response to which the government subjected Dhiab to forced cell extractions and force-feeding techniques.[22]

In 2013, Dhabi sought an injunction in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to stop the government from force-feeding him.[22] In October 2014, District Judge Gladys Kessler determined that she had no jurisdiction over confinement conditions at Guantanamo.[23] After the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected that theory, Dhabi again sought an injunction to stop the force feedings.[22] In November 2014, District Judge Kessler again denied Dhabi relief.[24]

However, in the course of discovery, the government disclosed that it had recorded itself force-feeding Dhabi and classified the videotapes as "SECRET".[22] Sixteen news organizations intervened seeking access to the tapes of Dhabi being force-fed.[22] In October 2014, District Judge Kessler ordered the tapes unsealed.[25]

The D.C. Circuit, in an unsigned opinion joined by Chief Circuit Judge Merrick Garland, determined it did not yet have jurisdiction over the interlocutory order but encouraged the district court to consider additional declarations made by the government.[26] In December 2015, District Judge Kessler again ordered the tapes to be redacted and unsealed.[27]

In March 2017, the D.C. Circuit ordered that the tapes remain secret, with the panel unanimously voting to reverse but with each of the three judges providing different reasons in separate opinions.[28] Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph argued that the press has no right to access classified court filings made by prisoners petitioning for habeas corpus and that the lower court clearly erred by not deferring to declarations by Rear Admirals Kyle Cozad and Richard W. Butler asserting a national security threat.[22] Judge Judith W. Rogers argued that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the public a qualified right to access prisoners' court filings but agreed that the government had identified a national security interest justifying secrecy.[22] Senior Judge Stephen F. Williams also agreed that national security justified secrecy but questioned if the government could logically keep all Guantanamo filings secret.[22]

Release and post-release activities

On December 7, 2014, he was released to Uruguay.

On June 18, 2016, it was reported that his location was unknown.[3] On June 27, 2016, he went to the Uruguayan Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. He asked the Uruguayan government to help him go to Turkey to be with his family and stated he did not want to return to Uruguay.[29]

On July 1, 2016, a representative for the Colombia-based Avianca Airlines in São Paulo, Brazil confirmed that an alert had been issued to internal employees asking employees to be on the lookout and report any sightings of Dhiab.[30]

Unhappy with his circumstances, Dhiab said he would go on a hunger strike.[31] On September 9, 2016, it was reported that Dhiab was on a hunger strike at his apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay and that his health was deteriorating. An Uruguayan official stated they were trying to find "another country to take Dhiab".[32] On September 14, 2016, a doctor in Uruguay stated that Abu Wa'el Dhiab "was unconscious" and had slipped into a coma due to a prolonged hunger strike and that it was hard to tell if "it was reversible".[33] He was given medical treatment, came out of the coma, then continued his hunger strike.[34]

On December 17, 2016, he was deported back to Uruguay from South Africa after trying to enter this country as a tourist.[35]

On July 24, 2017, he was once again deported back to Uruguay from Morocco. He entered Morocco with a false Tunisian passport, once more he stated that he wanted to join his family in Turkey.[36]

In early 2018, a business owner made allegations against Dhiab saying he was associated with ISIS. and Dhiab made accusations in return the business owner had stolen property from him valued at US$35,000.[37]

References
  1. "South Africa turns away former hunger-striking Guantánamo detainee". Miami Herald. December 16, 2016.
  2. "List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved May 15, 2006.
  3. Carol Rosenberg (June 17, 2016). "Former Guantánamo hunger striker sent to Uruguay may have gone to Brazil". Miami Herald. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved June 18, 2016. Law enforcement is now searching for former detainee Abu Wa'el Dhiab in Brazil. A Syrian national, he is sometimes also identified as Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab.
  4. Observador, El (May 6, 2016). "Mujica: "Para venderle unos kilos de naranja a EE.UU me tuve que bancar a cinco locos de Guantánamo"". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved November 30, 2019.
  5. "Amnesty hails release of Syrian prisoner". United Press International. July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  6. "Wife of Guantánamo detainee released in Syria". Amnesty International. July 22, 2009. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  7. "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. October 11, 2007. Archived from the original on August 11, 2012. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
  8. Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 – mirror Archived September 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  9. Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  10. "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. January 21, 2002. Archived from the original on November 24, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2008.
  11. OARDEC (September 25, 2004). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal – Diyab, Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 91–92. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 10, 2008. Retrieved November 18, 2008.
  12. OARDEC (October 13, 2005). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Deyab, Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  13. OARDEC (June 26, 2006). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Deyab, Jihad Ahmed Mustafa". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  14. OARDEC (July 2, 2007). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Jihad Deyab". United States Department of Defense. Retrieved July 22, 2009.
  15. OARDEC (September 11, 2008). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Deyab, Jihad" (PDF). Guantanamo: United States Department of Defense. p. 217. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 11, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  16. Zachary Katznelson (July 18, 2008). "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 121 – STATUS REPORT" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved November 17, 2008.
  17. Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter (October 16, 2006). "NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006". United States Department of Justice. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 30, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2008.
  18. Farah Stockman (October 24, 2008). "Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant'". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on October 24, 2008. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
  19. Christopher Hope; Robert Winnett; Holly Watt; Heidi Blake (April 27, 2011). "WikiLeaks: Guantanamo Bay terrorist secrets revealed – Guantanamo Bay has been used to incarcerate dozens of terrorists who have admitted plotting terrifying attacks against the West – while imprisoning more than 150 totally innocent people, top-secret files disclose". The Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on July 13, 2012. Retrieved July 13, 2012. The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
  20. "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). April 27, 2011. Archived from the original on June 26, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2012.
  21. "Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Diyab: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Diyab, US9LE-000722DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). April 27, 2011. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  22. Note, Recent Case: D.C. Circuit Holds Press Cannot Unseal Classified Videos of Guantanamo Bay Detainee, 131 Harv. L. Rev. 902 (2018).
  23. Dhiab v. Obama, 952 F. Supp. 2d 154 (D.D.C. 2013).
  24. Dhiab v. Obama, 74 F. Supp. 3d 16 (D.D.C. 2014).
  25. Dhiab v. Obama, 70 F. Supp. 3d 486 (D.D.C. 2014).
  26. Dhiab v. Obama, 787 F.3d 563 (D.C. Cir. 2015).
  27. Dhiab v. Obama, 141 F. Supp. 3d 23 (D.D.C. 2015).
  28. Dhiab v. Trump, 852 F.3d 1087 (D.C. Cir. 2017).
  29. "Cancillería informó que exrecluso de Guantánamo no quiere volver a Uruguay". El Observador. July 27, 2016.
  30. Savarese, Mauricio; Haberkorn, Leonardo. "South American airline issues alert on former Gitmo detainee" (July 4, 2016). Associated Press. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  31. https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/after-12-years-in-guantanamo-ex-detainees-find-little-solace-in-uruguay/2015/03/21/4d376006-c1e5-11e4-a188-8e4971d37a8d_story.html
  32. "Hunger-striking Gitmo ex-detainee's health said to worsen". Associated Press. September 9, 2016. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  33. Fox, Ben; Haberkorn, Leonardo (September 14, 2016). "Doctor: Hunger-striking ex-Gitmo prisoner slips into coma". Associated Press. Retrieved September 15, 2016.
  34. Haberkorn, Leonardo (September 19, 2016). "Uruguay rejects demand by hunger-striking ex-Gitmo detainee". Associated Press. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  35. "Diyab fue deportado por Sudáfrica y regresa a Uruguay". El Observador. December 17, 2016.
  36. "Exrecluso de Guantánamo volvió a Uruguay luego de ser deportado en Marruecos". El Observador. July 24, 2017.
  37. Observador, El (January 5, 2018). "Policía investiga si Jihad Diyab pertenece al Estado Islámico". El Observador (in Spanish). Retrieved November 30, 2019.
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