Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada
Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1978 Shebwa, Yemen |
| Occupation | Former detainee |
| Known for | Detention at Guantanamo Bay |
Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada is a Yemeni national who was previously held without formal charges at the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba. He was assigned detainee number 178. Analysts from the Joint Task Force Guantanamo estimated his birth year as 1978, originating from Shebwa, Yemen.
Baada was transferred to Guantanamo on February 9, 2002, where he remained detained for fourteen years. The Guantanamo Joint Task Force, created under President Barack Obama in January 2009, eventually approved him for release.
Having engaged in prolonged hunger strikes, by June 2015 Baada’s weight had fallen to , representing merely 56% of his target healthy weight. In September 2015, his attorney issued warnings about the critical risks to his life. That same month, an unnamed nation expressed willingness to accept him, contingent upon reviewing his medical records; however, the Pentagon declined to provide these citing privacy protections.
The spelling of Baada’s name varied across official Department of Defense records:
- Tarek Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada appeared on the second official detainee list published May 15, 2006.
- Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada was used in the Summary of Evidence documents for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal (October 13, 2004) and his first two annual Administrative Review Boards (June 21, 2005; March 3, 2006), as well as on four additional official detainee rosters.
- Tariq Ali Abdullah Ba Odah was the name on a renewed habeas corpus petition submitted July 18, 2008.
- Tariq Ali Abdallah Ahmad Ba’Awadha appeared on his JTF-GTMO detainee assessment.
Official status reviews
At the outset, the Bush administration maintained that individuals detained in the "war on terror" were not entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions, permitting indefinite detention without formal charges or transparent hearings. In 2004, the United States Supreme Court decided in Rasul v. Bush that detainees at Guantanamo must be informed of accusations against them and given an opportunity to challenge those claims.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following this Supreme Court decision, the Department of Defense established the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.
In December 2008, researchers at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, classified Guantanamo detainees according to military allegations:
- Baada was accused of traveling to Afghanistan for jihadist purposes.
- He allegedly received military or terrorist training within Afghanistan.
- He was reported to have been present at Tora Bora.
- He was designated as an al Qaeda operative.
- He was listed among 82 detainees who made no statements or whose statements did not materially address military allegations.
Summary of Evidence documents were prepared for Baada’s Combatant Status Review Tribunal (October 13, 2004) and his first two annual Administrative Review Boards (June 21, 2005; March 22, 2006).
Habeas corpus petition
A habeas corpus petition was filed on Baada’s behalf. In September 2007, the Department of Justice released unclassified records from Combatant Status Review Tribunals covering 179 detainees; however, Baada’s petition was not included.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 halted Guantanamo detainees’ access to U.S. civil courts by suspending all pending habeas corpus petitions. Nevertheless, on June 12, 2008, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Boumediene v. Bush that this Act could not eliminate detainees’ rights to seek federal judicial review, allowing habeas petitions to proceed once more. Subsequently, judges could evaluate whether sufficient evidence existed to justify enemy combatant status.
On July 16, 2008, attorney Julia Symon submitted an UNOPPOSED MOTION FOR EXPEDITED ENTRY OF PROTECTIVE ORDER concerning detainees Mohammed Abdullah Mohammed Ba Odah, Tariq Ali Abdullah Ba Odah, and Nasser Ali Abdullah Odah within Civil Action No. 06-cv-1668 (HHK).
On June 26, 2015, Courthouse News reported that Baada’s counsel, Omar Farah, urgently requested his transfer from Guantanamo due to critically low body weight. Medical professionals cautioned that his fragile condition could result in death from minor infections or related complications. His legal team referenced repatriation policies applicable to detainees with chronic illnesses to support their claim that he met criteria for release under such guidelines.
Previously Confidential Joint Task Force Guantanamo Evaluation
On April 25, 2011, the whistleblowing platform WikiLeaks released once-classified evaluations prepared by analysts from the Joint Task Force Guantanamo. Among these documents was a ten-page detainee evaluation dated January 13, 2008, endorsed by camp commander Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby, which advised maintaining Baada’s detention.
Guantanamo Review Task Force
On January 21, 2009, coinciding with his inauguration day, United States President Barack Obama signed three Executive orders addressing the situation of Guantanamo detainees. He created a review panel tasked with reassessing the status of all remaining prisoners. Unlike the initial OARDEC assessments conducted by US military officers at the field-grade level, this new task force was composed of representatives from the Departments of Defense, State, Justice, and Homeland Security. After a year-long review, the panel recommended releasing Baada along with 54 other detainees.
2016-04-16 Transfer
On April 16, 2016, Tareq Ali Abdullah Ahmed Baada, together with eight additional Yemeni detainees, was relocated from Guantanamo Bay to Saudi Arabia. This transfer took place just prior to President Obama's planned visit to Saudi Arabia and represented the first occasion on which Saudi Arabia accepted former detainees from Guantanamo. The relocation formed part of an expedited effort to close the detention center. Baada, who had been participating in a hunger strike since 2007 and suffered from serious health complications, had previously initiated legal action seeking release on medical grounds; however, while the government resisted his lawsuit, they proceeded with facilitating his transfer.