Rasul v. Rumsfeld
Encyclopedia
Plaintiffs Shafiq Rasul
, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed
, and Jamal Al-Harith
, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, are suing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command. The plaintiffs each seek compensatory damages for torture and arbitrary detention while being held at Guantánamo.
,” and Jamal Al-Harith, a Manchester based web designer—are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights
, a legal and educational organization devoted to the protection of human rights both in the United States and abroad, and the law firm of Baach Robinson & Lewis.
According to their own report, Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed had traveled to Afghanistan
from Pakistan
to do humanitarian relief work in the wake of September 11, while Al-Harith had gone to Pakistan
for a religious retreat. Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed were captured by an Uzbek warlord and then transferred to U.S. custody in Afghanistan. Al-Harith was captured by the Taliban in Pakistan under the accusation that he was a British spy, and ended up in U.S. custody after the fall of the Taliban.
None of the plaintiffs had ever taken up arms against the United States
, nor been a member of a terrorist group. For more than two years they were imprisoned without charge in Guantánamo by the United States. During their time there they, “were subjected to repeated beatings, sleep deprivation, extremes of hot and cold, forced nakedness, death threats, interrogations at gun point, menacing with unmuzzled dogs, and religious and racial harassment.” In March 2004 they were released and returned to Britain
. No charges were ever brought against them.
Shafiq Rasul was also the lead plaintiff in Rasul v. Bush
. In this landmark case for detainee rights, the Supreme Court
ruled that the detainees in Guantánamo, and foreign nationals in general, have the right to judicial review of their detentions by the U.S. court system.
Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed were all featured in the The Road to Guantánamo
, a documentary about the three’s trip that started when they left Tipton to attend a wedding in Pakistan, and resulted in their capture by the Northern Alliance
, and subsequent imprisonment in Camp Delta
in Guantánamo.
, and senior military officers who are responsible for the treatment of Guantánamo detainees had approved interrogation techniques that were known to violate U.S. and international law. The alleged practices include torture
; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; prolonged arbitrary detention; cruel and unusual punishment; preventing the exercise and expression of religious beliefs, and denial of liberties without due process
. These are seen to be in violation of the Alien Tort Statute
(ATS), the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions
, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
(RFRA).
"This is the first case demanding accountability from the government officials who condoned and perpetrated torture and abuse at Guantanamo," said CCR attorney Emi Maclean. "Our courts need to show the world - and the U.S. government - that it takes the documented abuse of detainees in U.S. custody seriously."
Shafiq Rasul
Shafiq Rasul is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86....
, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed
Ruhal Ahmed
Ruhal Ahmed is a British citizen. He was detained without trial for over two years by the United States government, first in Afghanistan, and then in Camp Delta, the United States prison for people it describes as suspects in its "War on Terror", at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, Cuba...
, and Jamal Al-Harith
Jamal Udeen Al-Harith
Jamal Udeen Al-Harith is a British citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention as a suspected terrorist in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba for two and a half years.Al-Harith's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 490....
, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, are suing former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld is an American politician and businessman. Rumsfeld served as the 13th Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and as the 21st Secretary of Defense from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He is both the youngest and the oldest person to...
. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command. The plaintiffs each seek compensatory damages for torture and arbitrary detention while being held at Guantánamo.
Plaintiffs
The four Britons—Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed, also known as the “Tipton ThreeTipton Three
The Tipton Three is the collective name given to three men from Tipton, England, who were held in extrajudicial detention by the United States government for two years in Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba. Ruhal Ahmed was born on March 11, 1981;...
,” and Jamal Al-Harith, a Manchester based web designer—are represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Constitutional Rights
Al Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
, a legal and educational organization devoted to the protection of human rights both in the United States and abroad, and the law firm of Baach Robinson & Lewis.
According to their own report, Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed had 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...
from Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
to do humanitarian relief work in the wake of September 11, while Al-Harith had gone to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
for a religious retreat. Rasul, Iqbal, and Ahmed were captured by an Uzbek warlord and then transferred to U.S. custody in Afghanistan. Al-Harith was captured by the Taliban in Pakistan under the accusation that he was a British spy, and ended up in U.S. custody after the fall of the Taliban.
None of the plaintiffs had ever taken up arms against the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, nor been a member of a terrorist group. For more than two years they were imprisoned without charge in Guantánamo by the United States. During their time there they, “were subjected to repeated beatings, sleep deprivation, extremes of hot and cold, forced nakedness, death threats, interrogations at gun point, menacing with unmuzzled dogs, and religious and racial harassment.” In March 2004 they were released and returned to Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. No charges were ever brought against them.
Shafiq Rasul was also the lead plaintiff in Rasul v. Bush
Rasul v. Bush
Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 , is a landmark United States Supreme Court decision establishing that the U.S. court system has the authority to decide whether foreign nationals held in Guantanamo Bay were wrongfully imprisoned...
. In this landmark case for detainee rights, the Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...
ruled that the detainees in Guantánamo, and foreign nationals in general, have the right to judicial review of their detentions by the U.S. court system.
Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed were all featured in the The Road to Guantánamo
The Road to Guantanamo
The Road to Guantanamo, alternatively The Road to Guantánamo, is a British 2006 docudrama directed by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross about the incarceration of three British detainees at a detainment camp in Guantánamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba...
, a documentary about the three’s trip that started when they left Tipton to attend a wedding in Pakistan, and resulted in their capture by the Northern Alliance
Northern Alliance
The Afghan Northern Alliance is a military-political umbrella organization created by the Islamic State of Afghanistan in 1996.Northern Alliance may also refer to:*Northern Alliance , a Canadian white supremacist group...
, and subsequent imprisonment in Camp Delta
Camp Delta
Camp Delta is a permanent detainment camp at Guantanamo Bay that replaced the temporary facilities of Camp X-Ray. Its first facilities were built between February 27 and mid-April 2002 by Navy Seabees, Marine Engineers, and workers from Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root...
in Guantánamo.
Charges
The plaintiffs charge that Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of StaffJoint Chiefs of Staff
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is a body of senior uniformed leaders in the United States Department of Defense who advise the Secretary of Defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the President on military matters...
, and senior military officers who are responsible for the treatment of Guantánamo detainees had approved interrogation techniques that were known to violate U.S. and international law. The alleged practices include torture
Torture
Torture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
; cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; prolonged arbitrary detention; cruel and unusual punishment; preventing the exercise and expression of religious beliefs, and denial of liberties without due process
Due process
Due process is the legal code that the state must venerate all of the legal rights that are owed to a person under the principle. Due process balances the power of the state law of the land and thus protects individual persons from it...
. These are seen to be in violation of the Alien Tort Statute
Alien Tort Statute
The Alien Tort Statute ) is a section of the United States Code that reads: "The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." This statute is notable for allowing...
(ATS), the Fifth and Eighth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the Geneva Conventions
Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for the humanitarian treatment of the victims of war...
, and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act
Religious Freedom Restoration Act
The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, Pub. L. No. 103-141, 107 Stat. 1488 , codified at through , is a 1993 United States federal law aimed at preventing laws that substantially burden a person's free exercise of their religion. The bill was introduced by Howard McKeon of California and...
(RFRA).
"This is the first case demanding accountability from the government officials who condoned and perpetrated torture and abuse at Guantanamo," said CCR attorney Emi Maclean. "Our courts need to show the world - and the U.S. government - that it takes the documented abuse of detainees in U.S. custody seriously."
Timeline
- October 2001: Jamal Al-Harith travels to Pakistan and is turned over to the Taliban.
- November 2001: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed are arrested.
- January 14, 2002: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Rhuhel Ahmed were flown to Cuba.
- March 2004: Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith are released from Guantánamo Bay and returned to Britain.
- October 27, 2004: Rasul v. Rumsfeld was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by the Center for Constitutional RightsCenter for Constitutional RightsAl Odah v. United States:Al Odah is the latest in a series of habeas corpus petitions on behalf of people imprisoned at the Guantanamo Bay detention center. The case challenges the Military Commissions system’s suitability as a habeas corpus substitute and the legality, in general, of detention at...
and Baach Robinson & Lewis law firm on behalf of Shafiq Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Rhuhel Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith. - March 16, 2005: Defendants filed a motion to dismiss the case based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
- February 6, 2006: D.C. District Court issued a memorandum opinion dismissing both the plaintiffs’ international law and constitutional claims. As administrative remedies had not been exhausted, the international law claims were not ripe. Since the defendants were acting within the scope of their employment, they receive qualified immunityQualified immunityQualified immunity is a doctrine in U.S. federal law that arises in cases brought against state officials under 42 U.S.C Section 1983 and against federal officials under Bivens v. Six Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388 . Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability for the...
for the constitutional claims. - May 8, 2006: D.C. District Court issued a memorandum opinion denying the defendants’ motion to dismiss the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) claim, indicating that Guantánamo is subject to the RFRA. In his ruling District Judge Ricardo Urbina addresses the scope of RFRA by saying, "Flushing the Koran down the toilet and forcing Muslims to shave their beards falls comfortably within the conduct prohibited from government action."
- January 11, 2008: Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the case reversing the decision made by the district court that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act is applicable to Guantánamo, and affirming the dismissal by the district court of the constitutional and international law claims. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was deemed inapplicable as detainees were ruled not be “persons” for purposes of U.S. law, and claims under the Geneva Conventions and the Alien Tort Statute were dismissed as defendants were immune since, “torture is a foreseeable consequence of the military’s detention of suspected enemy combatants,” and they could not have known that the detainees had constitutional rights.
- December 15, 2008: the U.S. Supreme Court granted the plaintiffs' petition for certiorari, vacated the judgment and remanded the case to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for further consideration in light of Boumediene v. BushBoumediene v. BushBoumediene 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...