Mohamedou Ould Slahi
Encyclopedia
Mohamedou Ould Slahi or Salahi (December 20, 1970) is a Mauritania
n who has been detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp since August 4, 2002. He is being held under the authority of AUMF
alleged by the US government to be "part of" al Qaeda at the time of his arrest but he won his habeas corpus
case and Judge Robertson concluded that: "his association with al-Qaeda ended after 1992, [and], even though he remained in contact thereafter with people he knew to be al-Qaeda members, he did nothing for al-Qaeda after that time." (p. 3)
Slahi traveled to Afghanistan
in December 1990 “to support the mujahideen”. (p. 4) He trained in an al Qaeda camp and swore bayat to al Qaeda in March 1991. Slahi returned to Germany soon after and then traveled to Afghanistan again for three months in early 1992. Slahi alleges that he "severed all ties with ... al-Qaeda" at that time. The U.S. government maintains that Slahi "recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support" since then. (p. 5)
Slahi was detained in Mauritania on November 20, 2001 and questioned for seven days by Mauritanian officers and by the FBI. Then the CIA rendered him to Jordan
for eight months where he claims that he was tortured. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, Slahi was transferred to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba
on August 4, 2002.
Slahi faces no criminal charges. Lt. Col Stuart Couch
refused to prosecute Slahi in a Military Commission
after concluding that in 2003, "Slahi's incriminating statements -- the core of the government's case -- had been taken through torture, rendering them inadmissible under U.S. and international law."
Slahi challenged the lawfulness of his detention and Judge James Robertson
granted a writ of habeas corpus
, ordering Slahi to be released on March 22, 2010. In his unclassified opinion, Judge Robertson wrote: "Associations alone are not enough, of course, to make detention lawful." (p. 29) The Department of Justice appealed the decision, which was heard on September 17, 2010. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010 for further factual findings. (p. 16)
. In December 1990, Slahi went to Afghanistan to support the mujahideen
against the communist central government. He trained for six weeks at al-Farouq
, an al Qaeda-run training camp near Khost. At the end of his training in March 1991, he swore bayat to al Qaeda and was given the kunya "Abu Musab." He then returned to Germany to continue his studies. In January 1992, he again traveled to Afghanistan to fight in support the mujahideen. He was assigned to a mortar battery in Gardez. In March, the Mohammad Najibullah
regime fell and Slahi returned to Germany. (p. 12) In hearings in Guantanamo, Slahi has stated that he did travel to Afghanistan twice, attended the al Farouq training camp in 1990 and fought against the Afghan central government in 1992, but that those actions do not make him an enemy combatant against the United States. (pp. 2–4) (pp. 4–6)
Slahi graduated from the university (renamed Gerhard Mercator University in 1994) with a degree in electrical engineering in 1995. He began seeking an unlimited visa and work permit to remain in Germany and as well as landed immigrant status in Canada during 1996. (p. 12) Slahi obtained landed immigrant status in Canada in September 1998.
Slahi's cousin and former brother-in-law is Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, also known as Abu Hafs al-Mauritania. Al-Walid is alleged to be one of the spiritual advisers to Osama bin Laden
and a high-ranking leader of al Qaeda. (p. 21) While al-Walid was in the Sudan, he asked Slahi to help him get money to his family in Mauritania twice, about $4,000 in December 1997 and again $4,000 in December 1998. About this, the District Court stated: "the government relies on nothing but Salahi's uncorroborated, coerced statements to conclude that the money transfers were done on behalf of and in support of al-Qaida." (p. 26) In 1998, Slahi was heard by U.S. intelligence talking to al-Walid on a satellite phone
traced to bin Laden. (p. 12)
The 9/11 Commission Report
stated that in 1999, Slahi advised three members of the Hamburg Cell
to travel to Afghanistan
to obtain training before waging jihad in Chechnya
. However, the habeas court found only that Slahi "provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany [in November 1999], that one of them was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan." (p. 19)
, Canada
on November 26, 1999 because German immigration
wouldn't prolong his visa. Since he was a hafidh, he was asked to lead Ramadan
prayers for a large Muslim mosque by its Imam. (p. 14) Ahmed Ressam
, who was caught with explosives crossing the Canadian border in December 1999 as part of the 2000 Millennium Plot, was also a member of the same mosque. Since Slahi's name was known to U.S. intelligence, he became suspected of activating Ressam.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service
(CSIS) put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks but lacked any grounds to arrest him. According to a classified report of German intelligence, "there is not only no evidence of any involvement by Ould Slahi in the planning and preparation of the attacks, but also no indication that Ressam and Ould Slahi knew each other." Slahi left Canada to return to Mauritania on January 21, 2000.
Slahi worked at various companies in Mauritania as an electrical engineer from May 2000 until the end of September 2001. On September 29, he was again detained by the Mauritanian authorities for questioning. He cooperated with the authorities several times though November 2001. The last time he went in for questioning was November 20, 2001. He was interrogated by both Mauritanian officials and the FBI for seven days, and then extraordinarily rendered to Jordan. An Amnesty International report describes his rendition and treatment there.
On July 19, 2002, Slahi was transferred to the detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan and then flown to Guantanamo Bay detention camp on August 4, 2002.
Memos summarizing meetings held on October 9, 2003 and February 2, 2004 between General Geoffrey Miller
and Vincent Cassard of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity." Canadian security officials interviewed Slahi in February 2003.
Lt. Col V. Stuart Couch
, a Marine Corps
lawyer appointed as Slahi's prosecutor, withdrew from the case in May 2004. Couch believed that Slahi "had blood on his hands", but stated that he "could no longer continue the case in good conscience" because of the alleged torture which tainted all confessions Slahi had made.
The Wall Street Journal published a letter Slahi wrote to his lawyers on November 9, 2006. In the letter, Slahi claims that all the confessions of crimes were the result of torture. He also laughed at being asked to recount "everything" that he had said during interrogations, joking that it was "like asking Charlie Sheen
how many women he dated".
Slahi, along with Tariq al-Sawah, "have become two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo. Today, they are housed in a little fenced-in compound at the military prison, where they live a life of relative privilege -- gardening, writing and painting -- separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."
Before submitting briefs in the habeas case, the U.S. government dropped all allegations that Slahi had participated in the Millennium Plot and that he knew about the September 11th attacks before they happened.
interrogation on May 22, 2003.
His FBI interrogator warned him "this was our last session; he told me that I was not going to enjoy the time to come.". The interrogation techniques used on Slahi now started to include isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation.
Slahi was repeatedly subjected to the use of an interrogation technique, in the summer of 2003, that the Schmidt-Furlow Report stated had been prohibited by the Secretary of Defense on December 2, 2002.
Slahi's lawyers have threatened to sue Jordanian, Mauritanian and US officials over his torture.
on July 14, 2005. The Military Commissions Act of 2006
mandated that Guantánamo detainees were no longer entitled access to the US Federal Court system, so all outstanding habeas petitions were stayed. In June 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush
that the MCA of 2006 could not remove detainees' right of access to the Federal Courts. All previous habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. On July 16, 2008, Sylvia Royce filed a status report on the progress of Slahi's previous petitions. The report states that Slahi's habeas petition had been dismissed on April 5, 2007 and a motion to reinstate was filed on June 23, 2008.
Slahi was the 34th detainee whose release was ordered by reviewing his habeas petition. The unclassified decision was filed on April 9, 2010.
Referring to the government's claim that Slahi gave "purposeful and material support" to al Qaeda, Judge Robertson wrote:
Judge Robertson then addressed the other government claim, that Slahi was "part of" al Qaeda at the time of his capture. He stated the law wasn't as clear in this instance, "neither Al-Bihani nor any other case provides a brightline test for determining who was and who was not 'part of' al-Qaida at the time of capture. The decision, in other words, depends on the sufficiency of the evidence." In regard to Slahi's case, Judge Robertson wrote, "The question of when a detainee must have been a 'part of' al-Qaida to be detainable is at the center of this case, because it is clear that Salahi was at one point a sworn al-Qaida member." (p. 6) Judge Robinson also discusses other factors in his decision, including which side had the burden of proof and the reliability of coerced or hearsay testimony.(pp. 7–12) In conclusion, Judge Robertson stated:
appealed through the Canadian Justice system for the release of classified documents about these two former Canadian residents.
Both men were interviewed by Canadian security officials before leaving Canada for Afghanistan. Their lawyers argued that the notes from the Canadian interviews would have been relied on by the Americans, when building their own dossiers against the two men. They had requested the Canadian evidence in order to make their case for their freedom in the US Justice system.
Justice Edmond Blanchard
ruled that since the men weren't Canadian citizens, and their connection to Canada was "tenuous", the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
didn't apply to them.
Slahi is married to a Canadian, and had once been granted permanent residence status in Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada
had ruled that the Canadian government should publish classified documents the Americans had shared about Canadian citizen Omar Khadr.
Nathan Whitling
, one of their Canadian lawyers, predicted that their American habeas corpus cases will be heard before a planned appeal of Blanchard's ruling.
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...
n who has been detained at Guantánamo Bay detention camp since August 4, 2002. He is being held under the authority of AUMF
Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists
The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists , one of two resolutions commonly known as "AUMF" , was a joint resolution passed by the United States Congress on September 14, 2001, authorizing the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the attacks on...
alleged by the US government to be "part of" al Qaeda at the time of his arrest but he won his habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
case and Judge Robertson concluded that: "his association with al-Qaeda ended after 1992, [and], even though he remained in contact thereafter with people he knew to be al-Qaeda members, he did nothing for al-Qaeda after that time." (p. 3)
Slahi traveled to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
in December 1990 “to support the mujahideen”. (p. 4) He trained in an al Qaeda camp and swore bayat to al Qaeda in March 1991. Slahi returned to Germany soon after and then traveled to Afghanistan again for three months in early 1992. Slahi alleges that he "severed all ties with ... al-Qaeda" at that time. The U.S. government maintains that Slahi "recruited for al-Qaeda and provided it with other support" since then. (p. 5)
Slahi was detained in Mauritania on November 20, 2001 and questioned for seven days by Mauritanian officers and by the FBI. Then the CIA rendered him to Jordan
Jordan
Jordan , officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan , Al-Mamlaka al-Urduniyya al-Hashemiyya) is a kingdom on the East Bank of the River Jordan. The country borders Saudi Arabia to the east and south-east, Iraq to the north-east, Syria to the north and the West Bank and Israel to the west, sharing...
for eight months where he claims that he was tortured. After being flown to Afghanistan and held for two weeks, Slahi was transferred to the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
on August 4, 2002.
Slahi faces no criminal charges. Lt. Col Stuart Couch
Stuart Couch
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Marine Corps.-Reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001:...
refused to prosecute Slahi in a Military Commission
Guantanamo military commission
The Guantanamo military commissions are military tribunals created by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 for prosecuting detainees held in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps.- History :...
after concluding that in 2003, "Slahi's incriminating statements -- the core of the government's case -- had been taken through torture, rendering them inadmissible under U.S. and international law."
Slahi challenged the lawfulness of his detention and Judge James Robertson
James Robertson (judge)
James Robertson is a United States federal judge serving on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Robertson graduated from Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio, and received a B.A. from Princeton University in 1959. He served in the United States...
granted a writ of habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
, ordering Slahi to be released on March 22, 2010. In his unclassified opinion, Judge Robertson wrote: "Associations alone are not enough, of course, to make detention lawful." (p. 29) The Department of Justice appealed the decision, which was heard on September 17, 2010. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the ruling and remanded the case to the District Court on November 5, 2010 for further factual findings. (p. 16)
Germany
Slahi moved from Mauritania to Germany in 1988 on a scholarship with the Carl Duisberg Society and earned an engineering degree from the University of DuisburgUniversity of Duisburg-Essen
The University Duisburg-Essen is a public university in Duisburg and Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and a member of the new founded University Alliance Metropolis Ruhr....
. In December 1990, Slahi went to Afghanistan to support the mujahideen
Mujahideen
Mujahideen are Muslims who struggle in the path of God. The word is from the same Arabic triliteral as jihad .Mujahideen is also transliterated from Arabic as mujahedin, mujahedeen, mudžahedin, mudžahidin, mujahidīn, mujaheddīn and more.-Origin of the concept:The beginnings of Jihad are traced...
against the communist central government. He trained for six weeks at al-Farouq
Al Farouq training camp
The Al Farouq training camp, also known as "the airport camp", was an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp near Kandahar, Afghanistan. Camp attendees received small-arms training, map-reading, orientation, explosives training, and other training....
, an al Qaeda-run training camp near Khost. At the end of his training in March 1991, he swore bayat to al Qaeda and was given the kunya "Abu Musab." He then returned to Germany to continue his studies. In January 1992, he again traveled to Afghanistan to fight in support the mujahideen. He was assigned to a mortar battery in Gardez. In March, the Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah
Mohammad Najibullah Ahmadzai , originally merely Najibullah, was the fourth and last President of the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. He is also considered the second President of the Republic of Afghanistan.-Early years:Najibullah was born in August 1947 to the Ahmadzai...
regime fell and Slahi returned to Germany. (p. 12) In hearings in Guantanamo, Slahi has stated that he did travel to Afghanistan twice, attended the al Farouq training camp in 1990 and fought against the Afghan central government in 1992, but that those actions do not make him an enemy combatant against the United States. (pp. 2–4) (pp. 4–6)
Slahi graduated from the university (renamed Gerhard Mercator University in 1994) with a degree in electrical engineering in 1995. He began seeking an unlimited visa and work permit to remain in Germany and as well as landed immigrant status in Canada during 1996. (p. 12) Slahi obtained landed immigrant status in Canada in September 1998.
Slahi's cousin and former brother-in-law is Mahfouz Ould al-Walid, also known as Abu Hafs al-Mauritania. Al-Walid is alleged to be one of the spiritual advisers to Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
and a high-ranking leader of al Qaeda. (p. 21) While al-Walid was in the Sudan, he asked Slahi to help him get money to his family in Mauritania twice, about $4,000 in December 1997 and again $4,000 in December 1998. About this, the District Court stated: "the government relies on nothing but Salahi's uncorroborated, coerced statements to conclude that the money transfers were done on behalf of and in support of al-Qaida." (p. 26) In 1998, Slahi was heard by U.S. intelligence talking to al-Walid on a satellite phone
Satellite phone
A satellite telephone, satellite phone, or satphone is a type of mobile phone that connects to orbiting satellites instead of terrestrial cell sites...
traced to bin Laden. (p. 12)
The 9/11 Commission Report
9/11 Commission Report
The 9/11 Commission Report, formally named Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, is the official report of the events leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks...
stated that in 1999, Slahi advised three members of the Hamburg Cell
Hamburg cell
The Hamburg cell was, according to U.S. and German intelligence agencies, a group of radical Islamists based in Hamburg, Germany that included students who eventually came to be key operatives in the 9/11 attacks...
to travel to Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
to obtain training before waging jihad in Chechnya
Chechnya
The Chechen Republic , commonly referred to as Chechnya , also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, sometimes referred to as Ichkeria , is a federal subject of Russia . It is located in the southeastern part of Europe in the Northern Caucasus mountains. The capital of the republic is the city of Grozny...
. However, the habeas court found only that Slahi "provided lodging for three men for one night at his home in Germany [in November 1999], that one of them was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, and that there was discussion of jihad and Afghanistan." (p. 19)
Canada
Slahi moved to MontrealMontreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on November 26, 1999 because German immigration
German immigration
German immigration may refer to:* Immigration to Germany** Expulsion of Germans after World War II* Immigration from Germany:*:Category:German diaspora** German American** German Australian** German-Brazilian...
wouldn't prolong his visa. Since he was a hafidh, he was asked to lead Ramadan
Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, which lasts 29 or 30 days. It is the Islamic month of fasting, in which participating Muslims refrain from eating, drinking, smoking and sex during daylight hours and is intended to teach Muslims about patience, spirituality, humility and...
prayers for a large Muslim mosque by its Imam. (p. 14) Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam
Ahmed Ressam is an Algerian al-Qaeda member who lived in Montreal, Canada.He was convicted of attempting to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve 1999, as part of the foiled 2000 millennium attack plots...
, who was caught with explosives crossing the Canadian border in December 1999 as part of the 2000 Millennium Plot, was also a member of the same mosque. Since Slahi's name was known to U.S. intelligence, he became suspected of activating Ressam.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service
Canadian Security Intelligence Service
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service is Canada's national intelligence service. It is responsible for collecting, analyzing, reporting and disseminating intelligence on threats to Canada's national security, and conducting operations, covert and overt, within Canada and abroad.Its...
(CSIS) put Slahi under surveillance for several weeks but lacked any grounds to arrest him. According to a classified report of German intelligence, "there is not only no evidence of any involvement by Ould Slahi in the planning and preparation of the attacks, but also no indication that Ressam and Ould Slahi knew each other." Slahi left Canada to return to Mauritania on January 21, 2000.
Mauritania 2000-2001
During his trip home, Slahi was arrested in Senegal at the request of American authorities and questioned about the Millennium plot. He was then transferred to Mauritania to be interrogated by local authorities and FBI agents. After three weeks in custody, during which Slahi was accused of being involved in the Millennium Plot, he was released.Slahi worked at various companies in Mauritania as an electrical engineer from May 2000 until the end of September 2001. On September 29, he was again detained by the Mauritanian authorities for questioning. He cooperated with the authorities several times though November 2001. The last time he went in for questioning was November 20, 2001. He was interrogated by both Mauritanian officials and the FBI for seven days, and then extraordinarily rendered to Jordan. An Amnesty International report describes his rendition and treatment there.
On July 19, 2002, Slahi was transferred to the detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan and then flown to Guantanamo Bay detention camp on August 4, 2002.
Guantánamo Bay detention
Slahi was assigned detainee ID number 760 and was initially held in Camp Delta. In September 2003, he was moved to Camp Echo.Memos summarizing meetings held on October 9, 2003 and February 2, 2004 between General Geoffrey Miller
Geoffrey Miller (general)
Geoffrey D. Miller is a retired United States Army Major General who commanded the US detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Iraq. Detention facilities in Iraq under his command included Abu Ghraib prison, Camp Cropper and Camp Bucca. He is also famous for training soldiers in "improved...
and Vincent Cassard of the International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva, Switzerland. States parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005, have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and...
(ICRC) acknowledged that camp authorities were not permitting the ICRC to have access to Slahi, due to "military necessity." Canadian security officials interviewed Slahi in February 2003.
Lt. Col V. Stuart Couch
Stuart Couch
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Couch is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Marine Corps.-Reaction to the attacks of September 11, 2001:...
, a Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
lawyer appointed as Slahi's prosecutor, withdrew from the case in May 2004. Couch believed that Slahi "had blood on his hands", but stated that he "could no longer continue the case in good conscience" because of the alleged torture which tainted all confessions Slahi had made.
The Wall Street Journal published a letter Slahi wrote to his lawyers on November 9, 2006. In the letter, Slahi claims that all the confessions of crimes were the result of torture. He also laughed at being asked to recount "everything" that he had said during interrogations, joking that it was "like asking Charlie Sheen
Charlie Sheen
Carlos Irwin Estevez , better known by his stage name Charlie Sheen, is an American film and television actor. He is the youngest son of actor Martin Sheen....
how many women he dated".
Slahi, along with Tariq al-Sawah, "have become two of the most significant informants ever to be held at Guantanamo. Today, they are housed in a little fenced-in compound at the military prison, where they live a life of relative privilege -- gardening, writing and painting -- separated from other detainees in a cocoon designed to reward and protect."
Before submitting briefs in the habeas case, the U.S. government dropped all allegations that Slahi had participated in the Millennium Plot and that he knew about the September 11th attacks before they happened.
Allegations of torture
According to the Wall Street Journal, Slahi had his last Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
interrogation on May 22, 2003.
His FBI interrogator warned him "this was our last session; he told me that I was not going to enjoy the time to come.". The interrogation techniques used on Slahi now started to include isolation, temperature extremes, beatings and sexual humiliation.
Schmidt-Furlow Report
The Wall Street Journal paraphrases an incident described in the Schmidt-Furlow Report:- On July 17, 2003, a masked interrogator told Mr. Slahi he had dreamed of watching detainees dig a grave.... The interrogator said he saw 'a plain, pine casket with [Mr. Slahi's] identification number painted in orange lowered into the ground.'
Slahi was repeatedly subjected to the use of an interrogation technique, in the summer of 2003, that the Schmidt-Furlow Report stated had been prohibited by the Secretary of Defense on December 2, 2002.
| date | page number |
notes |
| July 3, 2003 | 21 |
|
| July 17, 2003 | 24 |
|
| July 20, 2003 | 24-25 |
|
| August 2, 2003 | 26 |
|
| August 2, 2003 | 25 |
|
| Summer 2003 | 22 |
|
| Summer 2003 | 22-23 |
|
| August 2003 | 23 |
|
| August 2, 2003 | 23 |
|
Slahi's lawyers have threatened to sue Jordanian, Mauritanian and US officials over his torture.
Habeas corpus proceedings
Slahi had habeas corpus petitions submitted on his behalf. In response, the Department of Defense published 27 pages of unclassified documents from his CSRTCombatant 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 July 14, 2005. The 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...
mandated that Guantánamo detainees were no longer entitled access to the US Federal Court system, so all outstanding habeas petitions were stayed. In June 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush
Boumediene 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...
that the MCA of 2006 could not remove detainees' right of access to the Federal Courts. All previous habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. On July 16, 2008, Sylvia Royce filed a status report on the progress of Slahi's previous petitions. The report states that Slahi's habeas petition had been dismissed on April 5, 2007 and a motion to reinstate was filed on June 23, 2008.
Release order
US District Court Judge James Robertson granted the writ of habeas corpus and ordered Slahi's release on March 22, 2010. Robertson's ruling was criticized by several GOP politicians.Slahi was the 34th detainee whose release was ordered by reviewing his habeas petition. The unclassified decision was filed on April 9, 2010.
Referring to the government's claim that Slahi gave "purposeful and material support" to al Qaeda, Judge Robertson wrote:
- Salahi may very well have been an al-Qaida sympathizer, and the evidence does show that he provided some support to al-Qaida, or to people he knew to be al-Qaida. Such support was sporadic, however, and, at the time of his capture, non-existent. In any event, what the standard approved in Al-Bihani actually covers is "those who purposefully and materially supported such forces in hostilities against U.S. Coalition partners." 530 F.3d at 872 (emphasis added). The evidence in this record cannot possibly be stretched far enough to fit that test. (p. 5)
Judge Robertson then addressed the other government claim, that Slahi was "part of" al Qaeda at the time of his capture. He stated the law wasn't as clear in this instance, "neither Al-Bihani nor any other case provides a brightline test for determining who was and who was not 'part of' al-Qaida at the time of capture. The decision, in other words, depends on the sufficiency of the evidence." In regard to Slahi's case, Judge Robertson wrote, "The question of when a detainee must have been a 'part of' al-Qaida to be detainable is at the center of this case, because it is clear that Salahi was at one point a sworn al-Qaida member." (p. 6) Judge Robinson also discusses other factors in his decision, including which side had the burden of proof and the reliability of coerced or hearsay testimony.(pp. 7–12) In conclusion, Judge Robertson stated:
- The government had to adduce evidence - which is different from intelligence - showing that it was more likely than not that Salahi was "part of" al-Qaida. To do so, it had to show that the support Salahi undoubtedly did provide from time to time was provided within al-Qaida's command structure. The government has not done so. (p. 31)
Appeal
The Department of Justice appealed the decision. Oral arguments were heard on September 17, 2010 by a three-judge panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. In oral arguments, Judge David Tatel questioned whether swearing bayat in 1991 is evidence of actions against the United States. "When he swore bayat, the United States and al-Qaida had a common goal. Both the United States and al-Qaida were opposing a communist government of Afghanistan." The panel discussed sending the case back to the District Court or over-ruling the decision based on other recent D.C. Circuit rulings on the criteria that justify detention. On November 5, 2010, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the decision and remanded the case to the D.C. District Court for further factual findings.Appeal for the release of evidence through the Canadian Justice System
Mohamedou Slahi and Ahcene ZemiriAhcene Zemiri
Hassan Zumiri is an Algerian citizen who spent eight years in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.-Interrogated by Canadian Security officials in Guantanamo:...
appealed through the Canadian Justice system for the release of classified documents about these two former Canadian residents.
Both men were interviewed by Canadian security officials before leaving Canada for Afghanistan. Their lawyers argued that the notes from the Canadian interviews would have been relied on by the Americans, when building their own dossiers against the two men. They had requested the Canadian evidence in order to make their case for their freedom in the US Justice system.
Justice Edmond Blanchard
Edmond Blanchard
Edmond P. Blanchard, QC is a Canadian jurist and former politician.Blanchard studied at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree in 1975 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1978...
ruled that since the men weren't Canadian citizens, and their connection to Canada was "tenuous", the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms
The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...
didn't apply to them.
Slahi is married to a Canadian, and had once been granted permanent residence status in Canada.
The Supreme Court of Canada
Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...
had ruled that the Canadian government should publish classified documents the Americans had shared about Canadian citizen Omar Khadr.
Nathan Whitling
Nathan Whitling
A Canadian attorney from Edmonton, Alberta, Nathan Whitling became widely known for his defense of Omar Khadr who was held in the American Guantanamo Bay detention camps.-References:...
, one of their Canadian lawyers, predicted that their American habeas corpus cases will be heard before a planned appeal of Blanchard's ruling.