Hadj Boudella is a citizen of
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
who was wrongfully detained for over six years in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
.
[
]
He was born in
Algeria
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, map_caption =
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, capital = Algiers
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, relig ...
, moved to
Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and He ...
, married
Nađa Dizdarević Nađa Dizdarević ( Bosnian, in Cyrillic: Нађа Диздаревић) is a Bosnian citizen. She is known for the efforts she made to draw the world's attention to the extrajudicial capture and detention of her husband, Hadj Boudella.
Boudell ...
a Bosnian woman, and became a Bosnian citizen. Boudella, and five associates of his, who were also Algerian-born Bosnians were arrested by Bosnian authorities. Local
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
intelligence
Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...
officials said they detected "
chatter" that implicated the six in a conspiracy to bomb the US embassy in Bosnia.
He won his
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
and
US District Court Judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
Richard J. Leon
Richard J. Leon (born December 3, 1949) is a Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Early life and education
Leon was born in South Natick, Massachusetts, in 1949. He is the son of ...
wrote that there was no evidence that Boudella intended to travel to Afghanistan to take up arms against
US forces
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
. Judge Leon declared Boudella's detention as unlawful and ordered his release in November 2008. He was released from Guantanamo and returned to his family in Bosnia on December 16, 2008.
Wife hunger strike
In June 2005, Boudella's wife,
Nađa Dizdarević Nađa Dizdarević ( Bosnian, in Cyrillic: Нађа Диздаревић) is a Bosnian citizen. She is known for the efforts she made to draw the world's attention to the extrajudicial capture and detention of her husband, Hadj Boudella.
Boudell ...
, started the first of several hunger strikes to protest her husbands detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She said she would end her hunger strike only when she received written confirmation from Bosnia's presidency it would address the issue with Washington.
Release
On December 16, 2008, Hadj Boudella,
Mustafa Idr, and
Mohammed Nechle were released to Bosnia.
[
][
]
On March 3, 2009, ''
El Khabar'' reported that the Bush administration forced Idr and the other two men to sign undertakings that they would not sue the US government for their kidnapping, before they would be released.
See also
*
Algerian Six
The Algerian Six were six Algerian men, who gained citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War, five of whom will continue to hold a dual Algerian and Bosnian citizenship, and who were imprisoned without charges at Guantanamo Bay ...
References
External links
Washington Post: At Guantanamo, caught in a legal trapNPR: listening in on detainee hearingsCITY ON THE HILL OR PRISON ON THE BAY? THE MISTAKES OF GUANTANAMO AND THE DECLINE OF AMERICA’S IMAGEScandal of six held in Guantanamo even after Bush plot claim is droppedAfter 7 Years, Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo Kidnap Victims
Andy Worthington November 25, 2008
Judge Leon’s unclassified opinion
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudella, Hadj
Living people
1965 births
Algerian emigrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States
Combatant Status Review Tribunals
Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Algerian descent