You have commented 338 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Home Front: WoT
Two Guantanamo prisoners refuse release to Algeria
2013-12-01
[Pak Daily Times] Two Algerian detainees at Guantanamo Bay are fighting efforts by US President Barack Obama
Why can't I just eat my waffle?...
's administration to transfer them to their homeland, fearing abuse, a lawyer said Friday.
A completely reasonable fear given the current Algerian government, and not one that would stop me from sending these two hard boys home...
Attorney Robert Kirsch said he had pressed the Pentagon and State Department, along with the Algerian Embassy in Washington, to avoid the men's "imminent" repatriation set to take place as early as this weekend.

Without confirming when and where a detainee transfer may take place, a Pentagon front man said: "We carefully ensure that every transfer we carry out is consistent with the US government's humane treatment policy and standards."

"Consistent with the Convention Against Torture and our own commitment to human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
, the United States is firm in its commitment to not transfer detainees to countries where we believe they would face torture," front man Todd Breasseale told AFP.

"The United States takes seriously all credible claims of mistreatment and fears of persecution and carefully evaluates them in advance of any decision to transfer a detainee."

Belkacem Bensayah and Djamel Ameziane's protests over their pending transfer, however, is complicating Obama's efforts to meet his vow to shutter the US detention center in Cuba, where 164 "war on terror" suspects still linger nearly 12 years after it was opened.

US politicians are currently debating whether to lift restrictions on detainee transfers.

Bensayah and Ameziane have long been opposed to returning to their homeland, the only country authorized by US law to accept its nationals tossed in the calaboose
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
at Guantanamo, according to Kirsch, who represents Bensayah.

Ameziane, who lived in Austria and Canada, has asked to return to America's northern neighbor since president George W. Bush's administration cleared him for release in 2007.

Ameziane's lead attorney Wells Dixon said that he "cannot confirm or deny" reports that his client is about to be transferred.

"But I can confirm as a general matter that Djamel fears persecution in Algeria and does not want to return there," Dixon told AFP via e-mail. "He would like to be resettled in Europe or Canada, where he has viable resettlement opportunities."
Posted by:Fred

#4  and not one that would stop me from sending these two hard boys home...

Furthermore, it's a good reason to transfer them.
Posted by: gorb   2013-12-01 21:38  

#3  But they will throw you a party, when you get home to Algeria! Really, its a case of how you going to keep them gown on the farm once they have seen Gay Parie
Posted by: Au Auric   2013-12-01 14:27  

#2  How about say, umm... Athens then? With a small stipdend?
Posted by: Shipman   2013-12-01 12:02  

#1  Why doesn't Attorney Robert Kirsch accompany them, to be sure they're properly feted and treated?
Posted by: Frank G   2013-12-01 10:35  

00:00