Supreme Court Denies Appeal of Two Men Unlawfully Detained at Guantanamo

Previous posts have discussed the case of Adel Abdu Al-Hakim and Abu Bakker Qassim, two members of the Uighu ethnic minority in China who have been detained at Guantanamo Bay since January of 2002. In December of 2005, a Federal District Court in Washington ruled that the men's detention was unlawful since neither is an enemy combatant according to the United States military; the same court ruled that neither man could be released on the grounds that they both are not entitled to entry in the United States. Today, the Supreme Court turned down their appeal to be released in the United States without comment. A Federal Appeals Court is scheduled to hear an appeal of the District Court's ruling on May 8th. According to an Associated Press article, the lawyers of the men "filed a special appeal, asking justices to step in even while the case is pending before an appeals court."

Neither man wants to be returned to China, a place where U.S. officials say they are likely to be tortured. The State Department is currently looking for a place to resettle the two innocent men. The obvious question is, why not resettle them here in the United States? The U.S. government is, after all, responsible for robbing them of four years of freedom. Granting the men asylum in the United States seems to be the least the U.S. government could do to compensate them for their hardship.

Click here to read a Washington Post article that gives a good background to the case and others like it.

--JB