Hozaifa Parhat
Encyclopedia
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Parhat chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review TribunalCombatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as "enemy combatants". The CSRTs were established July 7, 2004 by order of U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense...
.
On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order
Court order
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of certain steps by one or more parties to a case...
from Judge Jed Rakoff, the Department of Defense
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense is the U.S...
published a ten page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.
Federal appeal
On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled on Boumediene v. BushBoumediene v. Bush
Boumediene v. Bush, 553 U.S. 723 , was a writ of habeas corpus submission made in a civilian court of the United States on behalf of Lakhdar Boumediene, a naturalized citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, held in military detention by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba...
. Its ruling overturned aspects of the Detainee Treatment Act
Detainee Treatment Act
The Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 is an Act of the United States Congress that prohibits inhumane treatment of prisoners, including prisoners at Guantanamo Bay; requires military interrogations to be performed according to the U.S...
and Military Commissions Act of 2006
Military Commissions Act of 2006
The United States Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. Drafted in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on Hamdan v...
, allowing Guantanamo captives to access the US justice system for habeas petitions.
On Monday June 23, 2008, it was announced that a three judge Federal court of appeal had overturned the determination of Parhat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal on Friday June 20, 2008. Parhat's was the first case to ruled on since the Supreme Court's ruling in Boumediene v. Bush.
The panel that reviewed Parhat's CSR Tribunal determination was made up of David B. Sentelle
David B. Sentelle
Judge David Bryan Sentelle is the Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.- Early life and education :...
, Merrick B. Garland
Merrick B. Garland
Merrick Brian Garland is an American federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
and Thomas B. Griffith
Thomas B. Griffith
Thomas Beall Griffith is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Before his appointment to the bench he was Senate Legal Counsel, the chief legal officer of the United States Senate...
. The court initially published only a one paragraph announcement as its full ruling contained classified material.
According to CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
the judges ordered the Department of Defense to either: "release or transfer Parhat, or to expeditiously hold a new [military] tribunal."
According to Sabin Willett, one of his lawyers, it was not possible to tell Parhat of the ruling, because camp authorities were holding him in solitary confinement
Solitary confinement
Solitary confinement is a special form of imprisonment in which a prisoner is isolated from any human contact, though often with the exception of members of prison staff. It is sometimes employed as a form of punishment beyond incarceration for a prisoner, and has been cited as an additional...
.
The Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
quoted comments on the ruling from David Cole
David D. Cole
David D. Cole is an American law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center. He has published in various legal fields including civil rights, criminal justice, constitutional law and law and literature...
, the author of two books on military law:
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On June 19, 2008, Congressional Representatives
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
Bill Delahunt
Bill Delahunt
William D. Delahunt is a former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1997 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Delahunt did not seek re-election in 2010, and left Congress in January 2011. He was replaced by Norfolk County District Attorney Bill Keating...
and Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Rohrabacher
Dana Tyron Rohrabacher is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 45th and 42nd, serving since 1989. He is a member of the Republican Party...
published an open letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates
Robert Gates
Dr. Robert Michael Gates is a retired civil servant and university president who served as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense from 2006 to 2011. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W....
, calling for the Uyghurs to be moved to more humane conditions within Guantanamo until a country can be found to accept them.
The 39 paqe redacted, unclassified version of the ruling was published on June 30. The ruling pointedly criticized the government's argument that evidence must be reliable because it appears in several documents, stating that “This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true.” It compared this argument to the Bellman
Bellman
Bellman is an alternative term for a bellhop. It may also refer to:People named Bellman* Carl Michael Bellman, Swedish poet and composer* Eric Bellman, psychotherapist* Gina Bellman, New Zealand/English actress...
's dictum in Lewis Carroll
Lewis Carroll
Charles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark
The Hunting of the Snark is usually thought of as a nonsense poem written by Lewis Carroll in 1874, when he was 42 years old...
: "Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact that the government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true."
Steve Chapman
Steve Chapman
Professor Stephen Kenneth Chapman FRSE FRSC CChem PhD is Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.-Early life:...
a legal columnist at the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
commented on the Bush administration's arguments:
Petition for release into the USA
On July 23, 2008 Susan Baker Manning filed a motion requesting Parhat be released on parole in the USA, until his habeas petition was completed.On August 5, 2008 the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
opposed Parhat being released in the USA, and to having a judgment made on his habeas petition.
The Government's opposition filing was 22 pages long.
The Department of Justice had initially claimed it was necessary to convene a new Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which might consider new evidence supporting a determination that Parhat was indeed an "enemy combatant".
On September 2, 2008 the DC Circuit Court denied the Department of Justice plea, ensuring that there would be no re-hearing for Parhat.
The Bush administration still maintains no foreign country is willing to accept Parhat, and is resisting calls to offer him residency or asylum in the USA.
On September 29, 2008 James Oliphant, writing in the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
, quoted Jason Pinney, one of the Uyghur's attorneys.
Oliphant characterized the USA decideing to label the Separatist group the Uyghurs were said to have been affiliated with a terrorist group, long after they were captured, in order to curry support from the Chinese for the invasion of Iraq:
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Oliphant also quoted Commander
Commander
Commander is a naval rank which is also sometimes used as a military title depending on the individual customs of a given military service. Commander is also used as a rank or title in some organizations outside of the armed forces, particularly in police and law enforcement.-Commander as a naval...
Jeffrey Gordon
Jeffrey D. Gordon
Jeffrey D. Gordon is a communications consultant to several conservative Washington, DC-based think tanks. Gordon is also a contributing columnist to Fox News, AOL News, the Washington Times and other media outlets. Previously, he was a Commander in the United States Navy.-Naval career:He was...
, a Guantanamo spokesman, who defended the record of GI's at Guantanamo:
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Sent to Bermuda
Huzaifa Parhatand three other Uyghurs
Abdul Helil Mamut
Abdul Helil Mamut
Khalil Mamut is an Uyghur refugee, imprisoned for seven years at the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.The US Department of Defense estimated that Mamut was born in Kashgar, China, in 1977 and assigned him the Guantanamo Internment Serial Number 278.Mamut is one of the 22...
, Emam Abdulahat
Emam Abdulahat
Salahidin Abdulahat is an Uyghur refugee, imprisoned for seven years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 295....
and Jalal Jalaladin
were set free in Bermuda on June 11, 2009.
External links
- From Guantánamo to the United States: The Story of the Wrongly Imprisoned Uighurs Andy WorthingtonAndy WorthingtonAndy Worthington is a British historian, journalist, and film director.He has published three books, and been published in numerous publications.In 2009 Worthington was the co-director of a documentary about the Guantanamo detainees....
October 9, 2008 - Judge Ricardo Urbina’s unclassified opinion (redacted version)
- MOTIONS/STATUS HEARING - UIGHURS CASES BEFORE THE HONORABLE RICARDO M. URBINA
- Human Rights First; Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases (2010) mirror
- Uighur detainees: U.S. helped Chinese interrogate us