Lakhdar Boumediene

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lakhdar Boumediene in 2001

Lakhdar Boumediene ( Arabic لخضر بومدين) (Born April 27, 1966 in Ain Soltgane , Saida , Algeria ) is a former inmate of the prison camp of the US Naval Base Guantanamo in Cuba , where he apparently served seven and a half years innocently. He became known u. a. by the precedent Boumediene v. Bush , in which he was a plaintiff. Today he lives with his family in Provence (France).

background

As an employee of the Red Crescent aid organization , Boumediene moved from Algeria to Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1997 . He became head of humanitarian aid in Sarajevo and was responsible for children orphaned by the war. In 1998 he became a Bosnian citizen. The US suspected that he was planning an attack on the US embassy. Official assistance was sought from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Boumediene was arrested in October 2001 with five other suspects. In the absence of any evidence of these attack plans, the suspects were released by the Bosnian Supreme Court in January 2002. Immediately after their release, however, under pressure from the USA, these men were handed over to American soldiers and flown to Guantanamo. This group was subsequently referred to as the "Algerian Six".

In the summer of 2003, undercover investigations were carried out by the German Military Counter-Intelligence Service (MAD). An officer questioned relatives of the detainees pretending to be a journalist. The MAD came to the conclusion that there were “indeed indications of a possible unjustified arrest and an at least highly dubious deportation”. Despite the officer's recommendation to take further steps and lodge a protest with the US, nothing of the sort apparently happened. Instead, according to the Defense Ministry, the report was deleted from the Bundeswehr's IT system. The Federal Intelligence Service said it did not receive the report.

captivity

On January 20, 2002, Boumediene was one of the first prisoners to arrive in Guantanamo. No charges were brought, nor was he given the reason for his detention. According to himself and his lawyers, he was interrogated more than 100 times, beaten and not allowed to sleep for days. He also had to remain in painful positions for hours. To protest the detention, Boumediene went on a hunger strike , which was countered by force-feeding .

History and procedure

The Boumediene v. Bush is the third case in which the United States Supreme Court has dealt with the rights of so-called unlawful combatants in the US prison camp in Cuba.

Following the terrorist attacks in September 2001 , President George W. Bush issued a military ordinance that allows foreigners to be detained indefinitely and without charge. The prisoners should be denied access to the ordinary courts.

Nevertheless, an application for a custody review reached the Supreme Court and was found in the Rasul v. Bush is negotiating. The court found that the detainees must at least have the opportunity to have their detention reviewed by a neutral authority. In response to this ruling, the Department of Defense established military commissions to undertake this task. Congress passed the law on the treatment of detained persons ( Detainee Treatment Act ), which governs the rights of prisoners.

In June 2006, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, through the Supreme Court, found that the Anti-Terrorism Act , as well as the Detainee Treatment Act , did not give Congress the power to establish military commissions in place of ordinary courts. The lack of legitimation of the executive by the legislature was effectively criticized here. In response to this ruling, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act a little later , which essentially formulated previous practice in a law.

Boumediene also submitted an application for a detention test ( writ of habeas corpus ). His request to be heard by an ordinary court went through all instances. Since the Military Commissions Act 2006 barred him from further steps, his application was rejected by the competent federal court due to a lack of jurisdiction. The Court of Appeals also confirmed this assessment. The only alternative was to petition the Supreme Court, which accepted a review of the case via Certiorari (wit of certiorari). In the Boumediene v. Bush , constitutional aspects have now been examined. The Supreme Court laid in December 2007 in a landmark decision that:

  • The right to a test of detention ( privilege of the writ of habeas corpus ) is part of the constitution. With an excursus on the historical development of the term it was shown that the habeas corpus has developed into a right of freedom. In the constitution, this is reflected in the so-called suspension clause . The examination must be carried out by a federal court or an adequate alternative.
  • The USA does not have any sovereignty over Guantanamo, but habeas corpus law is not rigidly bound to the limits of formal sovereignty. Guantanamo is under the exclusive control of the USA, so the constitution applies here as well . The wording in the constitution includes foreigners.
  • According to the constitution, the right to habeas corpus can only be suspended in the event of invasion or rebellion. The court could not recognize this condition.
  • The Military Commissions Act designated a military commission to replace a federal trial. A revision was planned only before the Court of Appeals , which was only allowed to check whether the military commission complied with the legal procedural requirements. This alternative procedure was judged to be insufficient by the court. The further elaboration of a procedure that takes into account the interests of the executive branch and those of the prisoners was left to the federal courts.

The Military Commissions Act was thus overturned and Lakhdar Boumediene was free to submit to a judicial review in a district court . Five months later, his case was reviewed by Federal Judge Richard J. Leon in Washington. After the court hearing, the court ruled that Boumediene and four of the men arrested with him should be released immediately as there was no evidence of their guilt.

Discharge

He was released on May 15, 2009. However, Boumediene was unable to return to Algeria because he was seen there as threatened. France agreed to take in Lakhdar Boumediene and his fellow prisoner Saber Lahmar. Today he lives with his family in Provence .

See also

Web links

Wikisource: Boumediene v. Bush  - sources and full texts (English)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The man whose fate is upsetting Guantanamo. In: Spiegel Online . June 13, 2008, accessed February 3, 2012 .
  2. ↑ a b c My nightmare Guantanamo. In: Spiegel Online . January 11, 2012, accessed February 3, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Stefan Reinecke : The officer posed as a journalist. In: taz . February 18, 2006, accessed February 17, 2012 .
  4. ↑ Harald Neuber: Determine, build, fight. In: Telepolis . January 20, 2006, accessed February 17, 2012 .
  5. ↑ Algerian Six: Secret report disappeared. World.Content.News, January 21, 2006, accessed February 17, 2012 .
  6. ↑ Force- feeding In Guantánamo, March 13, 2009. Amnesty International
  7. ↑ Decision of February 20, 2007 (PDF; 163 kB) United States Court of Appeals
  8. ^ Frank Meyer: On the case law of the US Supreme Court on the right to judicial review of an internment as an "enemy combatant" in Guantánamo . (PDF; 486 kB) Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law
  9. ↑ Boumediene et al. v. Bush, President of the United States, et al. (PDF; 662 kB) Supreme Court
  10. ↑ Scientific analysis of the decision of the US Supreme Court in the Boumediene v. Bush (PDF; 113 kB) zis-online.com
  11. ^ Amnesty Report 2010
personal data
SURNAME Boumediene, Lakhdar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Algerian prisoner in Guantánamo
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Ain Soltgane Saeda , Algeria