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US sends Guantanamo detainees into danger
The US government should not forcibly return detainees to places where they fear ill-treatment without providing them a fair legal process to contest their repatriation, Human Rights Watch said today. The Obama administration on January 6, 2011, transferred detainee Saeed Farhi bin Mohammed to his native Algeria despite his expressed fears of abuse in his homeland - the second forcible US return to that country in six months.
"A detainee who claims he faces danger upon his return should first be able to present those claims before a neutral arbiter," said Andrea Prasow, senior counterterrorism counsel at Human Rights Watch. "The US should not compound the unlawful detentions at Guantanamo by sending people back to places where they may be mistreated."
Mohammed, 49, has been detained for more than eight years in Guantanamo. A court ordered his release after he challenged his detention in federal court. Although he sought release from custody, he told his lawyers he did not want to return to Algeria under any circumstances because he feared persecution from the Algerian government and Islamist militants. Mohammed worked as an itinerant laborer in Britain, France, and Italy in the 1990s and moved to Afghanistan months before the 9/11 attacks. After the US invasion of Afghanistan, he fled to Pakistan where he was taken into custody and transferred to Guantanamo in 2002.
Rather than carry out forced returns, the Obama administration has resettled most Guantanamo detainees who fear persecution at home in safe third countries. However, in July 2010, the US transferred Algerian Aziz Abdul Naji to Algeria against his objections and without providing him an independent opportunity to contest his transfer. Mohammed's is the second forcible transfer to Algeria.