Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby | |
---|---|
Born | [1] Zliten, Libya | March 1, 1961
Released | 4 April 2016 Senegal |
Died | April 12, 2023 Libya | (aged 62)
Detained at | Guantanamo |
Other name(s) |
|
ISN | 189 |
Charge(s) | no charge, held in extrajudicial detention |
Status | released to Senegal |
Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby (1 March 1961 – 12 April 2023) was a citizen of Libya who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, from 5 May 2002, until 4 April 2016. [2] [3] [4] Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that he was born on 1 March 1961, in Zliten, Libya. [5]
According to historian Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, Gherebi had settled in Pakistan after fleeing Muammar Gaddafi's repressive regime in Libya. [6] He was married to a Pakistani woman, and had fathered several children. He had worked as a teacher, teaching science at a primary school.[ citation needed]
Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the " war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. [7] In 2004, the United States Supreme Court 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.[ citation needed]
Salem was the first Guantanamo captive to challenge whether he should have access to US Civil Courts. [8] Human rights lawyer Stephen Yagman filed the appeal on Salem's behalf after being contacted by Salem's brother.[ citation needed]
Justice Matz ruled against Salem but Matz's ruling was overturned on appeal by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, on 18 December 2003. [9]
On 20 February 2007, two of the three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the Military Commissions Act stripped the right to use habeas corpus from the Guantanamo captives retroactively and appeals, including Salem's, which were in process, were vacated. [10]
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants. [7] [13]
Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations: [14]
On 25 April 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. [15] [16] His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was 12 pages long, and was drafted on February 20, 2008. [17] It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby. He recommended continued detention.
Salem's lawyer was Duke University professor Erwin Chemerinsky. He handled Salem's writ of habeas corpus. In 2002, Chemerinsky said he received death threats for his efforts on Gherebi's behalf: [8]
On 4 April 2016, Abu Bakr, and another Libyan Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby, were transferred to Senegal. [3] [4] Citing his formerly secret Joint Task Force Assessment, published by the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks in April 2011, Fox News described Ghereby as someone who "has been involved in extremist activities since at least the mid-1990s." [18]
On 12 April 2023, Ghereby died in Libya after suffering from motor neurone disease. [19]
The United States military has transferred two Libyan detainees to Senegal from its wartime prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, government officials said on Monday, the first time Senegal has resettled a Guantánamo prisoner.
Human Rights First today praised the transfer of two Guantanamo Bay detainees to Senegal, but notes that the pace of the transfers must increase if the facility is to close by the end of President Obama's term in office. The organization also praised Senegal for the humanitarian gesture in accepting the detainees.
Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
The Daily Telegraph, along with other newspapers including The Washington Post, today exposes America's own analysis of almost ten years of controversial interrogations on the world's most dangerous terrorists. This newspaper has been shown thousands of pages of top-secret files obtained by the WikiLeaks website.
The transfer of Ghereby and Umar reduces the Guantanamo detainee population to 89, according to the Department of Defense. They are part of the Obama administration's long-running and controversial effort to reduce the prison population and ultimately close the camp.