Jihad Ahmed Mustafa Dhiab also known as Abu Wa'el Dhiab
was born in
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. He was held in
extrajudicial detention
Administrative detention is arrest and detention of individuals by the state without trial. A number of jurisdictions claim that it is done for security reasons. Many countries claim to use administrative detention as a means to combat terrorism ...
in the United States'
Guantanamo Bay detention camp, 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 ...
until he was released to
Uruguay
Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...
.
[
]
His Guantanamo
Internment Serial Number An Internment Serial Number (ISN) is an identification number assigned to captives who come under control of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) during armed conflicts.
History
On March 3, 2006, in compliance with a court order from ...
was 722. Dhiab was one of the
Guantanamo hunger strikers.
[
He, along with five other Guantanamo prisoners, was granted ]asylum
Asylum may refer to:
Types of asylum
* Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome
* Benevolent Asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute
* Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea
...
by Uruguay in exchange for a trade agreement to allow Uruguay to sell oranges to the US. On December 7, 2014, he was released to Uruguay.
Capture
Dhiab was captured in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2002, and taken to the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, 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 ...
. While U.S. officials stated that he had links to militants, he was never charged. Dhiab spent 12 years at the facility, where he went on hunger strikes to protest his detention.[
]
Wife
His wife, Yusra al-Hussein, was apprehended and held in extrajudicial detention in Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
in July 2008.[
]
Amnesty International reports she was released on July 22, 2009.[
]
Official status reviews
Originally the Bush
Bush commonly refers to:
* Shrub, a small or medium woody plant
Bush, Bushes, or the bush may also refer to:
People
* Bush (surname), including any of several people with that name
**Bush family, a prominent American family that includes:
*** ...
Presidency
A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...
asserted that captives apprehended in the ''"war on terror
The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campaign are militant ...
"'' were not covered by the Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[
]
In 2004 the United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
ruled, in '' Rasul v. Bush'', that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to:
Current departments of defence
* Department of Defence (Australia)
* Department of National Defence (Canada)
* Department of Defence (Ireland)
* Department of National Defense (Philipp ...
set up the .
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal
The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) 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 estab ...
on 2004-09-25.[
]
The memo listed nine allegations:
The Summary of Evidence memos prepared for his 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Administrative Review Board
The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta in the United States Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The purpose of the Board is to re ...
hearings have been published.[
Among the allegations he faced were:
* that he had hosted ]Abu Musab Al Zarqawi
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi ( ar, أَبُو مُصْعَبٍ ٱلزَّرْقَاوِيُّ, ', ''Father of Musab, from Zarqa''; ; October 30, 1966 – June 7, 2006), born Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh (, '), was a Jordanian jihadist who ran a ...
to stay in his house;
* that he was an expert forger;
* that he was a member of Asbat Al Ansar;
* that he had wanted to attend the Khalden training camp
The Khalden training camp (also transliterated ''Khaldan'') was one of the
oldest and best-known military training camps in Afghanistan. It was located in the mountains of eastern Paktia Province, near to Tora Bora.
While some reporters repeat ...
, but attended the Khandahar airport camp instead;
* some senior al Qaida
Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 3 ...
members resented his assumption that he could attend an al Qaida camp without being vetted;
* some senior al Qaida members were suspicious of him because of his ties to takfiri
''Takfiri'' ( ar, تَكْفِيرِيّ, ' lit. "excommunicational") is an Arabic and Islamic term denoting a Muslim who excommunicates one of his/her coreligionists, i.e. who accuses another Muslim of being an apostate. Since according to t ...
s;
Habeas corpus petition
Dhiab had a writ of 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 ...
petition filed on his behalf.[
]
The Military Commissions Act of 2006
The 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. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of ...
mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.
On June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in ''Boumediene v. Bush
''Boumediene v. Bush'', 553 U.S. 723 (2008), 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 ...
'', that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives
The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...
to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated.
The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks
WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...
published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ha ...
analysts.[
]
His Joint Task Force Guantanamo
Joint Task Force Guantanamo (JTF-GTMO) is a U.S. military joint task force based at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Guantánamo Bay, Cuba on the southeastern end of the base. JTF-GTMO falls under US Southern Command. Since January 2002 the command ha ...
assessment was drafted on April 21, 2008.[
]
Hunger strike lawsuit
In 2009 the U.S. government cleared Dhiab for release. He was ultimately released in December 2014.[ During the interim years, Dhiab protested his continued detention by going on ]hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke a feeling of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most ...
, in response to which the government subjected Dhiab to forced cell extractions and force-feeding
Force-feeding is the practice of feeding a human or animal against their will. The term ''gavage'' (, , ) refers to supplying a substance by means of a small plastic feeding tube passed through the nose ( nasogastric) or mouth (orogastric) into ...
techniques.[
In 2013, Dhiab, represented by Alka Pradhan and the human rights organization Reprieve, sought an injunction in the ]United States District Court for the District of Columbia
The United States District Court for the District of Columbia (in case citations, D.D.C.) is a federal district court in the District of Columbia. It also occasionally handles (jointly with the United States District Court for the District ...
to stop the government from force-feeding him.[ In October 2014, District Judge ]Gladys Kessler
Gladys Kessler (born January 22, 1938) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Education and career
After receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University ...
determined that she had no jurisdiction over confinement conditions at Guantanamo. After the rejected that theory, Dhiab again sought an injunction to stop the force feedings.[ In November 2014, District Judge Kessler again denied Dhiab relief.
However, in the course of discovery, the government disclosed that it had recorded itself force-feeding Dhiab and classified the videotapes as "SECRET".][ Sixteen news organizations intervened seeking access to the tapes of Dhiab being force-fed.][ In October 2014, District Judge Kessler ordered the tapes unsealed.
The D.C. Circuit, in an unsigned opinion joined by Chief Circuit Judge ]Merrick Garland
Merrick Brian Garland (born November 13, 1952) is an American lawyer and jurist serving since March 2021 as the 86th United States attorney general. He previously served as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of ...
, determined it did not yet have jurisdiction over the interlocutory order but encouraged the district court to consider additional declarations made by the government. In December 2015, District Judge Kessler again ordered the tapes to be redacted and unsealed.
In March 2017, the D.C. Circuit ordered that the tapes remain secret, with the panel unanimously voting to reverse but with each of the three judges providing different reasons in separate opinions. Senior Judge A. Raymond Randolph
Arthur Raymond Randolph (born November 1, 1943) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to the Court in 1990 and assumed senior status on November 1, 200 ...
argued that the press has no right to access classified court filings made by prisoners petitioning for ''habeas corpus'' and that the lower court clearly erred by not deferring to declarations by Rear Admirals Kyle Cozad
Kyle James Cozad (born 1962) is a retired United States Navy rear admiral who was the former Chief of Naval Education and Training from 2017 to 2020.
He was the commander of Joint Task Force Guantanamo from July 2014 to June 2015.
Education
Rai ...
and Richard W. Butler asserting a national security threat.[ Judge ]Judith W. Rogers
Judith Ann Wilson Rogers (born July 27, 1939) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Education and career
Born in New York City, Rogers received an Artium Baccalaureus ...
argued that the First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution prevents the government from making laws that regulate an establishment of religion, or that prohibit the free exercise of religion, or abridge the freedom of speech, the ...
provides the public a qualified right to access prisoners' court filings but agreed that the government had identified a national security interest justifying secrecy.[ Senior Judge ]Stephen F. Williams
Stephen Fain Williams (September 23, 1936 – August 7, 2020) was a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit until his death from complications of COVID-19 on August 7, 2020.
Early l ...
also agreed that national security justified secrecy but questioned if the government could logically keep all Guantanamo filings secret.[
]
Release and post-release activities
On December 7, 2014, he was released to Uruguay where he, and two other former Guantanamo detainees, struggled to adjust.
On June 18, 2016, it was reported that his location was unknown.[
On July 1, 2016, a representative for the Colombia-based Avianca Airlines in São Paulo, Brazil confirmed that an alert had been issued to internal employees asking employees to be on the lookout and report any sightings of Dhiab.
He went to the Uruguayan Embassy in ]Caracas, Venezuela
Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...
and asked the Uruguayan government to help him go to Turkey to be with his family and stated he did not want to return to Uruguay. He was arrested in Caracas, Venezuela on July 26, 2016.
Unhappy with his circumstances, Dhiab said he would go on a hunger strike. On September 9, 2016, it was reported that Dhiab was on a hunger strike at his apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay and that his health was deteriorating. An Uruguayan official stated they were trying to find "another country to take Dhiab". On September 14, 2016, a doctor in Uruguay stated that Abu Wa'el Dhiab "was unconscious" and had slipped into a coma due to a prolonged hunger strike and that it was hard to tell if "it was reversible". He was given medical treatment, came out of the coma, then continued his hunger strike.
On December 17, 2016, he was deported to Uruguay from South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
after trying to enter this country as a tourist.
On July 24, 2017, he was once again deported to Uruguay from Morocco. He entered Morocco with a false Tunisian passport, once more he stated that he wanted to join his family in Turkey.
In early 2018, a business owner made allegations against Dhiab saying he was associated with ISIS
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kin ...
. and Dhiab made accusations in return the business owner had stolen property from him valued at US$35,000.
In June 2018, he again left Uruguay for Turkey and it was unclear if Turkey had deported him.
References
External links
Who Are the Remaining Prisoners in Guantánamo? Part Seven: Captured in Pakistan (3 of 3)
Andy Worthington, October 13, 2010
Guantánamo Docket files
from ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dhiab, Jihad Ahmed Mustafa
Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
Detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp
1971 births
Living people
Lebanese extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
Lebanese expatriates in Uruguay