It is amazing that the US dares to criticize other countries for their human
rights records.
Miriam
Ackerman writes: "Objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is 56% of his
ideal body weight, comes as Obama administration fights to stop detainees
seeking freedom in federal courts."
The Obama administration's 2009 review cleared Tariq Ba Odah for transfer,
an indication the government does not possess information sufficient to
charge him. (photo: Brennan Linsley/AP)
US Launches Secret Bid to Stop Release of Hunger-Striking Detainee
By Spencer Ackerman, Guardian UK
15 August 15
Objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is 56% of his ideal body weight,
comes as Obama administration fights to stop detainees seeking freedom in
federal courts
n an extremely rare legal manoeuvre, the Obama administration has
challenged a legal request to free a hunger-striking Guantánamo Bay detainee
entirely in secret.
US officials said the objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is
undernourished to the point of starvation, and the decision to challenge his
legal gambit outside of public view, are indications that the Obama
administration will fight tenaciously to stop detainees from seeking freedom
in federal courts, despite Barack Obamas oft-repeated pledge to close
Guantánamo.
Late on Friday, the US justice department submitted a long-awaited filing in
Ba Odahs habeas corpus petition. The filing was kept under seal, a rarity
for a challenge to the so-called great writ, the underpinning of
Anglo-American jurisprudence.
The filing itself simply reads: Sealed opposition.
Attorneys for Ba Odah are currently reviewing the sealed filing but said
they cannot comment on the substance yet. Keeping the US opposition secret
is rare and unnecessary, said Wells Dixon of the Center for Constitutional
Rights, which has Ba Odah as a client.
Ba Odah, a 36-year-old Yemeni who has spent 13 years at Guantánamo,
currently risks dying in the Guantánamo Bay facility where he has spent a
third of his life. He weighs 74 pounds (34kg), the result of years of
rejecting food and forced feeding through a tube inserted through his nose
into his stomach.
The Obama administrations 2009 review cleared the Yemeni national for
transfer, an indication the government does not possess information
sufficient to charge him with an offense nor considers him a threat to US or
allied security.
In June, lawyers for Ba Odah submitted into the court record statements from
doctors indicating that his weight loss he weighs approximately 56% of his
ideal body weight has reached the point of irreparable medical harm.
There are limits to what the human body can endure, and at 74.5 pounds no
matter the precise nature of his underlying medical complications Mr Ba
Odah is undoubtedly reaching those limits and may soon exceed them, Sondra
Crosby of Boston Medical Center told the US district court for the District
of Columbia on 25 June.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said hardline elements
within the US defense department are convinced that hunger strikes
referred to euphemistically at Guantánamo as non-religious fasting are
functionally a method of warfare. On that view, permitting Ba Odahs
challenge to his detention to go unanswered would both represent a
substantive defeat and would encourage intensification of hunger strikes.
The official indicated that the motive for sealing the motion was to shield
the government from embarrassment, rather than protecting classified
information.
Ba Odahs lawyers reacted with surprise and anger at the governments sealed
challenge. While they hoped the US would not oppose the Yemenis request for
freedom, they also did not expect the US to keep its reasons for the
challenge secret.
Omar Farah, Ba Odahs attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights,
said: We are deeply disappointed by this secret filing. It is a transparent
attempt to hide the fact that the Obama administrations interagency process
for closing Guantánamo is an incoherent mess, and it is plainly intended to
conceal the inconsistency between the administrations stated intention to
close Guantánamo and the steps taken to transfer cleared men. The
administration simply wants to avoid public criticism and accountability.
National-security lawyers said they could not think of a case where the
government had filed a sealed challenge to a habeas petition.
That would be unique, in my experience, said attorney Joshua Dratel, who
has represented several accused terrorists and Guantánamo detainees.
Ive never heard of that in a habeas context. Its rare in a criminal
context.
Ba Odah only represents one aspect of the Obama administrations acrimonious
internal struggles over closing Guantánamo Bay. The Guardian revealed on 13
August that Pentagon has for years blocked the transfers of cleared
detainees for whom the state department had arranged deals to remove from
Guantánamo into home custody, including Shaker Aamer, a UK permanent
resident.
Todays filing in opposition was made under seal, in accordance with
procedures used in the Guantánamo habeas cases when information regarding
detainee medical care and related issues is involved. A public version of
the filing is being prepared and will be filed on the public record, a
justice department spokesperson said, denying that the opposition to Ba
Odahs release contradicted the goal of closing the detention facility.
Farah, Ba Odahs attorney, called sealing the filing an unnecessary move
by the Obama administration.
There is nothing sensitive about this pivotal moment that needs to be
withheld from the public. Mr Ba Odahs grave medical condition is not in
dispute. Given that he has been cleared since 2009, there is no dispute
about whether he should be approved for transfer. All the president has to
decide is whether to exercise his discretion not to contest the motion and
release Mr Ba Odah so that he does not die, he said.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
The Obama administration's 2009 review cleared Tariq Ba Odah for transfer,
an indication the government does not possess information sufficient to
charge him. (photo: Brennan Linsley/AP)
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/15/us-launches-secret-bid-to-sto
p-release-of-hunger-striking-guantanamo-detaineehttp://www.theguardian.com/u
s-news/2015/aug/15/us-launches-secret-bid-to-stop-release-of-hunger-striking
-guantanamo-detainee
US Launches Secret Bid to Stop Release of Hunger-Striking Detainee
By Spencer Ackerman, Guardian UK
15 August 15
Objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is 56% of his ideal body weight,
comes as Obama administration fights to stop detainees seeking freedom in
federal courts
n an extremely rare legal manoeuvre, the Obama administration has
challenged a legal request to free a hunger-striking Guantánamo Bay detainee
entirely in secret.
US officials said the objection to freeing Tariq Ba Odah, who is
undernourished to the point of starvation, and the decision to challenge his
legal gambit outside of public view, are indications that the Obama
administration will fight tenaciously to stop detainees from seeking freedom
in federal courts, despite Barack Obamas oft-repeated pledge to close
Guantánamo.
Late on Friday, the US justice department submitted a long-awaited filing in
Ba Odahs habeas corpus petition. The filing was kept under seal, a rarity
for a challenge to the so-called great writ, the underpinning of
Anglo-American jurisprudence.
The filing itself simply reads: Sealed opposition.
Attorneys for Ba Odah are currently reviewing the sealed filing but said
they cannot comment on the substance yet. Keeping the US opposition secret
is rare and unnecessary, said Wells Dixon of the Center for Constitutional
Rights, which has Ba Odah as a client.
Ba Odah, a 36-year-old Yemeni who has spent 13 years at Guantánamo,
currently risks dying in the Guantánamo Bay facility where he has spent a
third of his life. He weighs 74 pounds (34kg), the result of years of
rejecting food and forced feeding through a tube inserted through his nose
into his stomach.
The Obama administrations 2009 review cleared the Yemeni national for
transfer, an indication the government does not possess information
sufficient to charge him with an offense nor considers him a threat to US or
allied security.
In June, lawyers for Ba Odah submitted into the court record statements from
doctors indicating that his weight loss he weighs approximately 56% of his
ideal body weight has reached the point of irreparable medical harm.
There are limits to what the human body can endure, and at 74.5 pounds no
matter the precise nature of his underlying medical complications Mr Ba
Odah is undoubtedly reaching those limits and may soon exceed them, Sondra
Crosby of Boston Medical Center told the US district court for the District
of Columbia on 25 June.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said hardline elements
within the US defense department are convinced that hunger strikes
referred to euphemistically at Guantánamo as non-religious fasting are
functionally a method of warfare. On that view, permitting Ba Odahs
challenge to his detention to go unanswered would both represent a
substantive defeat and would encourage intensification of hunger strikes.
The official indicated that the motive for sealing the motion was to shield
the government from embarrassment, rather than protecting classified
information.
Ba Odahs lawyers reacted with surprise and anger at the governments sealed
challenge. While they hoped the US would not oppose the Yemenis request for
freedom, they also did not expect the US to keep its reasons for the
challenge secret.
Omar Farah, Ba Odahs attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights,
said: We are deeply disappointed by this secret filing. It is a transparent
attempt to hide the fact that the Obama administrations interagency process
for closing Guantánamo is an incoherent mess, and it is plainly intended to
conceal the inconsistency between the administrations stated intention to
close Guantánamo and the steps taken to transfer cleared men. The
administration simply wants to avoid public criticism and accountability.
National-security lawyers said they could not think of a case where the
government had filed a sealed challenge to a habeas petition.
That would be unique, in my experience, said attorney Joshua Dratel, who
has represented several accused terrorists and Guantánamo detainees.
Ive never heard of that in a habeas context. Its rare in a criminal
context.
Ba Odah only represents one aspect of the Obama administrations acrimonious
internal struggles over closing Guantánamo Bay. The Guardian revealed on 13
August that Pentagon has for years blocked the transfers of cleared
detainees for whom the state department had arranged deals to remove from
Guantánamo into home custody, including Shaker Aamer, a UK permanent
resident.
Todays filing in opposition was made under seal, in accordance with
procedures used in the Guantánamo habeas cases when information regarding
detainee medical care and related issues is involved. A public version of
the filing is being prepared and will be filed on the public record, a
justice department spokesperson said, denying that the opposition to Ba
Odahs release contradicted the goal of closing the detention facility.
Farah, Ba Odahs attorney, called sealing the filing an unnecessary move
by the Obama administration.
There is nothing sensitive about this pivotal moment that needs to be
withheld from the public. Mr Ba Odahs grave medical condition is not in
dispute. Given that he has been cleared since 2009, there is no dispute
about whether he should be approved for transfer. All the president has to
decide is whether to exercise his discretion not to contest the motion and
release Mr Ba Odah so that he does not die, he said.
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http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
