Lakhdar Boumediene
Lakhdar Boumediene | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 27, 1966 Algeria |
| Occupation | Humanitarian worker |
| Known for | Plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush (2008) |
Lakhdar Boumediene (; born April 27, 1966) is an Algerian-born individual who acquired citizenship in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was held at the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba beginning in January 2002.
Boumediene served as the principal plaintiff in the significant U.S. Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush (2008), which established that detainees at Guantanamo and other foreign nationals possess the legal right to submit habeas corpus petitions within U.S. federal courts.
Alongside four other members of the Algerian Six, he was freed on May 15, 2009, after a federal judge determined that the Bush administration had insufficient evidence to justify their indefinite detention as "enemy combatants." Presently, Boumediene lives in Provence, France, with his spouse and children.
Background
Originally from Algeria, Boumediene was engaged in humanitarian work, including with the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates. He moved with his family to Bosnia, where he directed aid efforts for children impacted by the Yugoslav Wars and obtained Bosnian citizenship in 1998.
In October 2001, amid heightened intelligence alerts concerning al-Qaeda threats against the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnian authorities arrested six Algerian-born residents—among them Boumediene—suspected of terrorist affiliations. All were employed by charitable or non-profit organizations. By January 2002, Bosnia's Supreme Court found no grounds for their detention and ordered their release. Nevertheless, U.S. forces immediately apprehended them and transferred them without charges to Guantánamo Bay detention camp.
In 2004, this group, known as the Algerian Six, initiated a habeas corpus lawsuit against the U.S. government with assistance from the Center for Constitutional Rights and law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Hunger strike and force-feeding
During his time at Guantánamo, Boumediene engaged in a hunger strike lasting two years to protest his indefinite detention without cause. He was subjected to force-feeding twice daily through nasal feeding tubes. His attorney, Stephen Oleskey, detailed the process: Boumediene was tightly secured in a chair; due to a broken nose, feeding tubes were inserted on the opposite side, occasionally entering his lungs instead of his stomach. While wearing a mask that prevented him from speaking, he endured what has been characterized as torture.
US Supreme Court Decision
In the October 2008 case of Boumediene v. Bush, the United States Supreme Court determined that detainees and other foreign nationals possess the constitutional right to submit habeas corpus petitions within federal courts.
Subsequently, on November 20, 2008, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon mandated the release of Lakhdar Boumediene along with four members of the Algerian Six, citing a lack of sufficient evidence. The sixth individual, Bensayah Belkacem, was initially recommended for continued detention but was ultimately freed.
Transfer to France
Lakhdar Boumediene was relocated to France on May 15, 2009, where he had family connections. His relatives later joined him in settling down in the Provence region. Despite resettlement, he has encountered difficulties securing employment due to the extended period of his incarceration.
In an interview with RFI France in January 2020, Boumediene revealed that he had not traveled outside France for ten years, attributing this to persistent legal uncertainties stemming from U.S. policies concerning former detainees at Guantánamo.
Appeal to President Biden
An open letter authored by Boumediene and six other ex-Guantánamo detainees was published on January 29, 2021, in the New York Review of Books. The letter called upon President Joe Biden to take action in closing the Guantánamo Bay detention facility.
See also
- Hunger strike
- Algerian Six
- Murat Kurnaz, German national held at Guantánamo for five years before release
External links
- Former Detainee Discusses Battle for Vindication
- Interview with Recently Freed Guantánamo Inmate on ABC News
- Documentation on Torture and Inhumane Treatment of Guantánamo Prisoners (Boumediene)
- Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo Captives After Seven Years by Andy Worthington, November 25, 2008
- Unclassified Opinion by Judge Leon
- Combatant Status Review Tribunal Evidence Summary - Lakhdar Boumediene (U.S. Department of Defense, September 21, 2004)
- Pages with script errors
- Articles with short description
- Articles with hCards
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1966 births
- Living people
- Algerian emigrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Guantanamo detainees known to have been released
- Victims of human rights abuses
- People from Saïda Province
- People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States
- Combatant Status Review Tribunals
- Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Algerian descent
- Bosnia and Herzegovina extrajudicial prisoners of the United States
- Algerian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States