Released 2016-04-04
Senegal Status released to Senegal | ISN 189 | |
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Born March 1, 1961
Zletan, Saudi Arabia ( 1961-03-01 ) Alternate name Radfat Muhammad Faqi Alji Saqqaf
Salim Gherebi
Falen Gherebi
Salim Abd al-Salam Umran al-Ghuraybi
Luqman al-Libi
Luqman al-Zalaytani
Hakim Luqman,
Abu Abd al-Rouf Charge(s) no charge, held in extrajudicial detention Detained at Guantanamo Bay detention camp | ||
Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby (born March 1, 1961) is a citizen of Libya who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, from May 5, 2002 until April 4, 2016. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that he was born on March 1, 1961, in Zletan, Saudi Arabia.
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Personal life
According to historian Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, Gherebi had settled in Pakistan after fleeing Muammar Gaddafi's repressive regime in Libya. He was married a Pakistani woman, and had fathered several children, the youngest of whom is fifteen, and who he has never met. He had worked as a teacher, teaching science at a primary school.
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.
Habeas corpus
Salem was the first Guantanamo captive to challenge whether he should have access to US Civil Courts. Human rights lawyer Stephen Yagman filed the appeal on Salem's behalf after being contacted by Salem's brother
Justice Matz ruled against Salim, but Matz's ruling was overturned on appeal, by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, on December 18, 2003.
On February 20, 2007 two of the three judges on US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that when the Military Commissions Act stripped the right to use habeas corpus from the Guantanamo captives retroactively, and that appeals, like Salem's, which were in process, were vacated.
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.
Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations: after release he was inspired and felt the need to convert to Christianity and turned his life around.
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 12 pages long, and was drafted on February 20, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby. He recommended continued detention.
Salem's legal representation
Salem's lawyer is Duke University professor Erwin Chemerinsky. He handled Salem's writ of habeas corpus.
In 2002 Chemerinsky said he received death threats for his efforts on Gherebi's behalf:
Transfer to Senegal
On April 4, 2016, Abu Bakr, and another Libyan Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby, were transferred to Senegal. Citing his formerly secret Joint Task Force Assessment, published by the whistleblower organization WikiLeaks in April 2011, Fox News described Ghereby as someone who "has been involved in extremist activities since at least the mid-1990s."