The
United States Department of Defense
The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...
acknowledges holding approximately one dozen Algerian detainees in Guantanamo.
[
]
However an Algerian government press release, on August 21, 2016, said that they had been tracking 28 Algerian captives.
[ Both US and Algerian governments agreed just two captives remained in US custody.
A total of 778 detainees have been held in the ]Guantanamo Bay detention camp
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 ...
s, 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 ...
since the camps opened on January 11, 2002.[
The camp population peaked in early 2004 at approximately 660 before numerous detainees were released. Only nineteen new captives, all "]high value detainees
Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the early twenty-first century War on Terrorism, refers to foreign nationals the United States detains outside of the legal process required within United States legal jurisdiction. ...
," have been transferred there since 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 ...
's ruling in ''Rasul v. Bush
''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corpus ...
'' (2004), which said that detainees had the ''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 ...
'' right to challenge their detention before an impartial tribunal.
On March 3, 2008 an Algerian delegation visited Guantanamo.[
] At that time DOD reported seventeen Algerian nationals remaining in Guantanamo.
Release negotiations
On June 23, 2008 the Algerian newspaper ''El Khabar
''Elkhabar'' ( ar, الخبر, , The News) is a daily newspaper in Algeria published seven days a week in the tabloid format. It is one of the most widely read Algerian newspapers.
''El Khabar''′s web service publishes selected news in Arabic ...
'' quoted Farouk Ksentini
Farooq (also transliterated as Farouk, Faruqi, Farook, Faruk, Faroeq, Faruq, or Farouq, Farooqi, Faruque or Farooqui; ar, فاروق, Fārūq) is a common Arabic given and family name. ''Al-Fārūq'' literally means "the one who distinguishes b ...
, the head of Algeria's Advisory Human Rights Commission, about negotiations over the Guantanamo detainees' repatriation.[
] According to ''Al Khabar,'' Ksentini reported that the US had insisted on unacceptable conditions unacceptable to Algeria for transfer of the detainees to their country of origin. The article stated that Sandra Hodgkinson
Sandra Hodgkinson is an American lawyer and officer in the United States Navy Reserve. She currently serves as senior vice president for strategic planning and chief of staff at DRS Technologies and Leonardo North America, headquartered in Arlingt ...
, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs (DASD-DA) is a political appointment created by United States President George W. Bush. The appointee has responsibility for captives apprehended during the "war on terror". ''The New Yo ...
, had not been telling "the entire truth".
The Department of Defense announced on July 2, 2008 that it had repatriated two Algerians.[
] The Department withheld the Algerians' identities without explanation.
On July 3, 2008 Carol Rosenberg
Carol Rosenberg is a senior journalist at ''The New York Times.'' Long a military-affairs reporter at the ''Miami Herald'', from January 2002 into 2019 she reported on the operation of the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, at its nav ...
of the ''Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...
'' reported that the two repatriated Algerians were Mustafa Hamlily and Abdul Raham Hourari.
Algerian detainees in Guantanamo
Algerian Six
Guantanamo also contains six citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina
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 H ...
who were born in Algeria, who are known as the
" Algerian Six".
Repatriation
The Department of Defense has acknowledged repatriating seven Algerians:
Abdul Raham Houari,
Mohammed Abd Al Al Qadir
The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding approximately one dozen Algerian detainees in Guantanamo.
However an Algerian government press release, on August 21, 2016, said that they had been tracking 28 Algerian captives. Both US ...
,
Sameur Abdenour,
Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily,
Fethi Boucetta,
Mammar Ameur
The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding approximately one dozen Algerian detainees in Guantanamo.
However an Algerian government press release, on August 21, 2016, said that they had been tracking 28 Algerian captives. Both US ...
, and
Soufian Abar Huwari.
The Department of Defense didn't reveal the men's names.
On April 3, 2009, at the G20
The G20 or Group of Twenty is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 countries and the European Union (EU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stability, climate change mitigation, ...
Summit in Strausburg, French President
The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (french: Président de la République française), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is ...
Nicolai Sarkozy indicated France would offer asylum to a former Guantanamo detainee.
References
External links
Two Algerian Torture Victims Are Freed from Guantánamo
Andy Worthington
Andy Worthington is a British historian, investigative journalist, and film director.
He has published three books, two on Stonehenge and one on the war on terror, been published in numerous publications and directed documentary films. Artic ...
25.1.2010
*
UN experts warn against sending detainees at torture-riskObama and US Courts Repatriate Algerian from Guantánamo Against His Will; May Be Complicit in Torture
Andy Worthington
Andy Worthington is a British historian, investigative journalist, and film director.
He has published three books, two on Stonehenge and one on the war on terror, been published in numerous publications and directed documentary films. Artic ...
21.7.2010
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algerian Detainees In Guantanamo
*
Lists of Guantanamo Bay detainees by nationality
Algeria–United States relations