Adel Hassan Hamad
Adel Hassan Hamad | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1958 Port Sudan, Sudan |
| Occupation(s) | Hospital administrator, health professional |
| Known for | Former detainee at Guantanamo Bay detention camp |
Adel Hassan Hamad is a Sudanese national who was held at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp located in Cuba. Born in 1958 in Port Sudan, Sudan, he was detained without formal charges and eventually returned to Sudan on December 12, 2007.
Legal Representation: The Defense of Guantanamo Detainee 940
William Teesdale, a public defender based in Portland, Oregon, spearheaded the legal defense efforts for Adel and several other detainees. In May 2005, the government provided a factual return that included a dissenting military officer’s critique of Adel’s designation as an Enemy Combatant, labeling the classification as "unconscionable."
Teesdale pursued investigations in Afghanistan to locate witnesses who could attest to Adel’s innocence, submitting this material in support of a motion for summary judgment. However, following the enactment of the Military Commissions Act of 2006 signed by President George W. Bush, federal courts’ authority over detainee habeas corpus petitions was curtailed, resulting in the suspension of all such cases pending further judicial clarification.
Habeas Corpus Proceedings
On October 5, 2007, attorneys representing Adel Hassan Hamad presented an affidavit from a U.S. Army reservist and prosecutor affiliated with OARDEC. This officer criticized the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process, describing its training as "minimal" and the procedures as "not well defined." He had been involved in 49 such Tribunals.
According to CBS News, this unnamed Major participated in meetings with the admiral overseeing OARDEC concerning six instances where initial Tribunal decisions that found detainees innocent were later overturned by subsequent Tribunals. The Major reportedly submitted a dissenting opinion in Hamad’s case, condemning his detention as "unconscionable" due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
The Major also pointed out conflicts arising from inconsistent Tribunal outcomes related to Uyghur captives in Guantanamo, where similar detainee cases received divergent rulings.
James R. Crisfield, serving as the Legal Advisor responsible for reviewing Tribunal decisions for legal adequacy, defended the process. He asserted that despite the dissenting opinion highlighting inadequate evidence, the applied standard—preponderance of evidence alongside a presumption favoring government-provided information—was satisfied, thereby supporting reasonable conclusions that detainees qualified as enemy combatants.
Repatriation
Adel Hassan Hamad, together with fellow Sudanese detainee Salim Mahmud Adam, was returned to Sudan on December 13, 2007.
Litigation
On May 14, 2008, Pakistan's Daily Times reported that both Salim Mahmud Adam and Adel Hasan Hamad intended to initiate legal action against the U.S. government regarding their detention. Both men had been cleared as non-enemy combatants by a 2004 Combatant Status Review Tribunal and officially exonerated by a military court in September 2007.
In April 2010, Hamad filed a federal lawsuit in Seattle targeting the government and individuals involved in his detention. His case included an affidavit from Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former chief of staff to Secretary of State Colin Powell, who testified that senior U.S. officials—including George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and Donald Rumsfeld—were aware that numerous detainees were innocent but maintained their detention for political motives.
Family
Following Hamad's detention, a daughter was born who tragically passed away before his release, a consequence of inadequate medical treatment.
See also
Further reading
- Steven T. Wax, Kafka Comes to America, Other Press, 2008
External links
- Wikileaks’ assessment of Adel Hassan Hamad’s detention at Guantanamo
- video
- Former Sudanese Guantánamo detainees call for release and reparations Andy Worthington
- Ex-Guantánamo detainee urges U.S. to reconsider its foundational principles
- projecthamad.org – The narrative of Adel Hamad emphasizing Habeas Corpus