Hamad on Transfer List

Adel Hamad’s lawyers have been notified that Hamad and his landlord, Mammar, have been approved to leave Guantanamo. Some internet articles have already begun speculating about the effect that the YouTube video, Guantanamo Unclassified, may have had in securing his release. Of course, we hope that Project Hamad and Guantanamo Unclassified have helped expedite Hamad’s release, as these articles suggest, yet we believe it is premature to declare victory for a number of reasons.

1)Adel Hamad has not been released. Hamad’s counsel have known of the presence of a detainee transfer list for over a year. Each year, Adel Hamad, and other detainees receive a Combatant Status Review Tribunal (CSRT). When Hamad failed to have a CSRT last year his lawyers speculated that he could indeed be on this transfer list. Previously released detainees had also missed their CSRT’s prior to their release. Thus, most likely, Adel Hamad has been on a list to be transferred from Guantanamo for over a year yet still remains to this day behind bars and separated from his family. The fact that this list has been made public does not change the fact that he remains imprisoned without any timeline regarding his release.

2)The U.S. government, if and when they release Adel Hamad, are not reversing their decision that he is an enemy combatant nor that he could potentially pose a threat to the U.S. and its allies. This may be a face saving measure or a means to limit liability since the governement has produced no evidence to support their claims. Nevertheless, they may try to pressure the Sudanese government to prosecute him or detain him in Sudan.

3)The U.S. government explcitly stated in their letter to Hamad’s lawyers that they will not provide a timeline for Adel Hamad’s release. There is also no agreement in place with the Sudanese government regarding how or when he will be transferred.

4)The conditions that allow people to be detained indefinitely without charge remain. Regardless of how many detainees are released, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 continues to deny basic habeas corpus rights to detainees of the U.S. government, preventing access to the federal courts, and access to proper counsel. Detainees have spent 5 years in prison without being charged of a crime and without an impartial judge reviewing the merits of their case. The government wants to release these detainees as quietly as possible with no admission of wrongdoing, and without unclassifying them as “enemy combatants”. Meanwhile most of the home governments of these detainees (e.g. England, Canada) are releasing the detainees as free citizens because of the lack of credible evidence. We believe the U.S. government, at a very minimum, should either produce the evidence against the detainees or exonerate them of wrongdoing.

This is not the time to raise our arms in victory. On the contrary, it is time to step up our efforts to secure Adel Hamad’s release as a free man with a cleared name. Help us let the U.S. government know that people are watching during this crucial time, that we want Adel Hamad’s release expedited and, if no credible charges are going to be brought forth against him, that his status as an enemy combatant be officially removed.

Send your appeals to:

Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris
Commander Joint Task Force Guantánamo
Department of Defense
Joint Task Force Guantánamo
Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
APO AE 09360
Fax: +1 305 437 1241
Email: harrishb@jtfgtmo.southcom.mil
Salutation: Dear Rear Admiral

Brigadier General Cameron Crawford
Deputy Commander United States Southern Command
3511 NW 91st Ave., Miami, FL, 33172-1217
USA
Fax: +1 305 437 1077
Salutation: Dear Brigadier General
Email via: http://www.southcom.mil/home/

The Honorable Robert M. Gates
Secretary of Defence
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington DC 20301, USA
Fax: + 1 703 697 8339
Email via: http://www.defenselink.mil/faq/comment.asp
Salutation: Dear Secretary of Defense

Hopefully, with our continued efforts, Adel Hamad will be home with his family soon. And hopefully the conditions that allowed this to happen, that allowed our government to ignore the Geneva Conventions as well as suspend habeas corpus, namely the Military Commissions Act of 2006, will be repealed or found unconstitutional when litigation reaches the Supreme Court.

David

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