Arrested November 2001
Pakistan ISN 722 | Citizenship Syrian | |
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Charge(s) No charge, held in extrajudicial detention Status granted asylum in Uruguay, current location: Medical Union of Uruguay Detained at Guantanamo Bay detention camp | ||
Jihad Ahmed Mujstafa Diyab also known as Abu Wa'el Dhiab was born in Lebanon. He was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camp, in Cuba until he was released to Uruguay. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 722. Dhiab was one of the longest Guantanamo hunger strikers. There were fears he would die in custody when his weight dropped to dangerously low levels.
Contents
- Wife
- Official status reviews
- Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
- Habeas corpus petition
- Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
- References
He was granted asylum by Uruguay and on December 7, 2014, he was released to Uruguay.
On June 18, 2016, it was reported that his location was unknown and there was speculation that he had found a way to travel to Brazil, despite not having travel documents.
On June 27, 2016 he went to the Uruguayan Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. He asked the Uruguayan government to help him go to Turkey to be with his family and stated he did not want to return to Uruguay.
On July 1, 2016, a representative for the Colombia-based Avianca Airlines in São Paulo, Brazil confirmed that an alert had been issued to internal employees asking employees to be on the lookout and report any sightings of Dhiab.
On September 9, 2016 it was reported that Dhiab was on a hunger strike, at his apartment in Montevideo, Uruguay and that his health was deteriorating. A Uruguayan official stated they were trying to find "another country to take Dhiab".
On September 14, 2016 a doctor in Uruguay stated that Abu Wa'el Dhiab "was unconscious" and had slipped into a coma due to a prolonged hunger strike and that it was hard to tell if "it was reversible".He was given medical treatment, came out of the coma, then continued his hunger strike.
Wife
His wife, Yusra al-Hussein, was apprehended and held in extrajudicial detention in Syria in July 2008. Amnesty International reports she was released on July 22, 2009. Amnesty suspects she was taken into custody for trying to contact human rights groups for help lobbying for Diyab's release from Guantanamo.
Official status reviews
Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal on 2004-09-25. The memo listed nine allegations:
The Summary of Evidence memos prepared for his 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 Administrative Review Board hearings have been published. Among the allegations he faced were:
Habeas corpus petition
Diyab had a writ of habeas corpus petition filed on his behalf. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed. On June 12, 2008 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Boumediene v. Bush, that the Military Commissions Act could not remove the right for Guantanamo captives to access the US Federal Court system. And all previous Guantanamo captives' habeas petitions were eligible to be re-instated. The judges considering the captives' habeas petitions would be considering whether the evidence used to compile the allegations the men and boys were enemy combatants justified a classification of "enemy combatant".
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On April 25, 2011, whistleblower organization WikiLeaks published formerly secret assessments drafted by Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts. His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was drafted on April 21, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant He recommended