Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada

Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada

Tariq Ali Abdallah Ahmad Ba’Awadha wearing the orange uniform issued to non-compliant individuals
Detained at Guantanamo
ISN 178
Charge(s) no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status Cleared for release since 2009, on long term hunger strike to protest his detention

Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His detainee ID number is 178. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate that Baada was born in 1976, in Shebwa, Yemen.

Baada arrived at Guantanamo on February 9, 2002, and has been held at Guantanamo for 14 years, 2 months and 29 days.[2] Baada was cleared for release by the Guantanamo Joint Task Force initiated by President Barack Obama when he first took office in January 2009.[3]

Baada has been a long term hunger striker, and, by June 2015, his weight had dropped to 75.4 pounds (34.2 kg) 56 percent of his ideal weight.[4] In September 2015 his lawyer warned that Baada's life is in danger.[5][6]

In September, an unspecific country offered to accept him into their country on the condition of being able to review his medical records. However, as of December 28, 2015, the Pentagon has refused to release the records, citing privacy concerns.[7]

Inconsistent spelling and naming in various documents

Baada's name was spelled inconsistently on official Department of Defense documents:

Official status reviews

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.[17] 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.[18][19]

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.[17][20]

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[21]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on October 13, 2004.[12] A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada's first annual Administrative Review Board, on June 21, 2005.[13] A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada's second annual Administrative Review Board, on March 22, 2006.[14]

Habeas corpus petition

A habeas corpus was filed on this captive's behalf. In September 2007 the Department of Justice published dossiers of unclassified documents arising from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals of 179 captives.[22] This habeas was not among those published.

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.[23]

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".[24]

On 2008-07-16 Julia Symon filed a "UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXPEDITED ENTRY OF PROTECTIVE ORDER" on behalf of Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Ba Odah, Tariq Ali Abdullah Ba Odah, Nasser Ali Abdullah Odah in Civil Action No. 06-cv-1668 (HHK).[25]

On June 26, 2015, Courthouse News reported that Baada's lawyer, Omar Farah, filed requests for his rapid transfer from Guantanamo because his weight had fallen dangerously low.[4][26] His weight was so low his lawyers found him barely recognizable. Medical experts tell them his health is now so fragile that he could die from a simple infection. They said that, even if he escaped accidental death, death would be an inevitable consequence of weight so low.

His lawyers quoted policy on repatriating those with a "chronic disease", and argued he met the criteria for repatriation under this policy.[4]

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.[27][28] A Joint Task Force Guantanamo detainee assessment was drafted on January 13, 2008.[16] It was ten pages long, and was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby. He recommended continued detention.

Guantanamo Review Task Force

On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.[3][29][30] He established a task force to re-review the status of all the remaining captives. Where the OARDEC officials reviewing the status of the captives were all "field grade" officers in the US military (Commanders, naval Captains, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels) the officials seconded to the task force were drawn from not only the Department of Defense, but also from five other agencies, including the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security. President Obama gave the task force a year, and it recommended the release of Baada and 54 other individuals.

2016-04-16 transfer

On Saturday April 16, 2016, Baada and eight other individuals from Yemen were transferred from Guantanamo.[31][32][33] Most media sources reported that all nine men were transferred to Saudi Arabia, but the New York Times only reported that the eight other men were transferred to Saudi Arabia.[34] They reported that Baada's host country was unknown. The transfer came a week before President Obama was scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia.

References

  1. 1 2 OARDEC. "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. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-09-30. Retrieved 2006-05-15. Works related to List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 at Wikisource
  2. ↑ "Measurements of Heights and Weights of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (ordered and consolidated version)" (PDF). Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas, from DoD data. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-09.
  3. 1 2 Andy Worthington (2012-10-25). "Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?". Retrieved 2015-02-19. I have already discussed at length the profound injustice of holding Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, in articles here and here, and noted how their cases discredit America, as Khan, against whom no evidence of wrongdoing exists, nevertheless had his habeas corpus petition denied, and Ghani, a thoroughly insignificant scrap metal merchant, was put forward for a trial by military commission — a war crimes trial — under President Bush.
  4. 1 2 3 Adam Klasfield (2015-06-26). "Release Sought for 75-Lb. Gitmo Hunger-Striker". Courthouse News. Archived from the original on 2015-06-26.
  5. ↑ Carol Rosenberg (2015-10-15). "Federal judge: Guantánamo hunger striker may be entitled to medical review". Miami Herald. Retrieved 2016-04-17. Lawyers for Tariq Ba Odah wanted U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan to order the Obama administration to release the Yemeni under Army and Geneva Conventions guidelines for gravely ill prisoners of war.
  6. ↑ News, ABC. "Lawyers: Guantanamo Prisoner on Hunger Strike 'Gravely Sick'". Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  7. ↑ LEVINSON, CHARLES; ROHDE, DAVID (December 28, 2015). "Special Report: Pentagon thwarts Obama's effort to close Guantanamo". WASHINGTON: Reuters.
  8. ↑ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
  9. 1 2 OARDEC (July 17, 2007). "Index for Combatant Status Review Board unclassified summaries of evidence" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  10. ↑ OARDEC (2007-08-09). "Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  11. ↑ OARDEC (2007-07-17). "Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  12. 1 2 OARDEC (2004-10-13). "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Baada, Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. p. 84. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  13. 1 2 OARDEC (2005-06-21). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Baada, Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 6–8. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-12-03. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  14. 1 2 OARDEC (2006-03-22). "Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Baada, Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. pp. 59–61. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2007-12-04. Retrieved 2007-12-05.
  15. ↑ Julia C. Symon (2008-07-18). "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 142 -- STATUS REPORT" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
  16. 1 2 "Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada: Guantanamo Bay detainee file on Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada, US9YM-000178DP, passed to the Telegraph by Wikileaks". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2015-06-26.
  17. 1 2 "U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2012-08-11. 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.
  18. ↑ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  19. ↑ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  20. ↑ "Q&A: What next for Guantanamo prisoners?". BBC News. 2002-01-21. Archived from the original on 23 November 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-24. mirror
  21. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Benjamin Wittes, Zaathira Wyne (2008-12-16). "The Current Detainee Population of Guantánamo: An Empirical Study" (PDF). The Brookings Institution. Retrieved 2010-02-16. mirror
  22. ↑ OARDEC (2007-08-08). "Index for CSRT Records Publicly Files in Guantanamo Detainee Cases" (PDF). United States Department of Defense. Retrieved 2007-09-29.
  23. ↑ Peter D. Keisler, Douglas N. Letter (2006-10-16). "NOTICE OF MILITARY COMMISSIONS ACT OF 2006" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 2008-09-30. mirror
  24. ↑ Farah Stockman (2008-10-24). "Lawyers debate 'enemy combatant'". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2008-10-24. mirror
  25. ↑ Julia Symon (2008-07-16). "Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation: Doc 66 -- UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXPEDITED ENTRY OF PROTECTIVE ORDER" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. Retrieved 2008-11-12. mirror
  26. ↑ David Rohde (2015-08-13). "Detainees' lawyers question Obama commitment to close Guantanamo". Washington, DC: Reuters. Retrieved 2016-04-17. The 36-year-old Yemeni detainee has been force-fed by nasal tube since he stopped eating solid food in 2007. His weight loss over the last 18 months has raised fears among his lawyers that he could die of starvation. Pentagon officials said he is receiving proper care.
  27. ↑ Christopher Hope, Robert Winnett, Holly Watt, Heidi Blake (2011-04-27). "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 2012-07-13. Retrieved 2012-07-13. 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.
  28. ↑ "WikiLeaks: The Guantánamo files database". The Telegraph (UK). 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2012-07-10.
  29. ↑ Peter Finn (January 22, 2010). "Justice task force recommends about 50 Guantanamo detainees be held indefinitely". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  30. ↑ Peter Finn (May 29, 2010). "Most Guantanamo detainees low-level fighters, task force report says". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2015-05-19. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
  31. ↑ "US sends nine Yemeni Guantanamo inmates to Saudi Arabia". Al Jazeera. 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-17. The United States has transferred nine Yemeni men to Saudi Arabia from the US military prison at Guantanamo, including an inmate who had been on a hunger strike since 2007, US officials said.
  32. ↑ Steve Almasy, Tom Kludt (2016-04-16). "Nine Guantanamo detainees transferred to Saudi Arabia". CNN. Retrieved 2016-04-17. It also comes ahead of Obama's planned trip to Saudi Arabia next week.
  33. ↑ "US transfers nine Yemeni inmates from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia as closure programme accelerated". The Telegraph. 2016-04-16. Retrieved 2016-04-17. Saturday's release marks the largest transfer since 10 Yemenis were sent to Oman in January. It is the first time Saudi Arabia has taken any former Guantanamo inmates.
  34. ↑ Margot Williams (2008-11-03). "Guantanamo Docket: Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada". New York Times. Retrieved 2016-04-17. He was transferred to an undetermined country on April 16, 2016.
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