Guantánamo Bay
Lawyers from the US Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) have filed a petition for a “status conference” in the habeas corpus case of Somali prisoner Guled Hassan Duran, who has been held at Guantánamo since 2006 after being detained in secret CIA torture facilities since 2004. He filed the habeas case, to know the reasons he is being held, in 2016, and the case is pending various motions later filed on the disclosure of evidence. A year ago, the periodic review board cleared Duran for release, however current US laws block the transfer of any prisoners to Somalia, a country currently being frequently bombed by US drones. No safe third country has yet been found for him and such transfers are unlikely under the system in place under President Joe Biden. At the same time, unresolved long-term health issues that cannot be adequately dealt with at Guantánamo are also causing him great suffering, including a recent period of hospitalisation. If granted, this would allow the parties (Duran’s lawyers and the US government) to discuss where the case is with a judge and what steps should be taken next.
Iraqi prisoner Abd Al-Hadi Al-Iraqi, who pleaded guilty to war crimes relating to attacks on US allied soldiers in Afghanistan in 2003 and 2004, underwent emergency surgery on his spine earlier this month, his sixth operation since 2017: “A neurosurgical team fixed screws, added titanium cages and removed rods inserted into Mr. Hadi’s back in a lengthy operation on Nov. 12, according to a court filing by a prison doctor. The prisoner required blood transfusions during the procedure and suffered an unintended tear in his spinal cord. The doctor described the tear as a “common complication” and said a neurosurgeon plugged it with a muscle graft, suture and seal.” His sentencing has been postponed until 2024 and any plans for him to serve his sentence elsewhere will have to include long-term medical provision, a growing issue for the remaining 35 prisoners. It is not known whether the surgery on 12 November was successful and whether he has regained feeling in his lower back.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/23/us/politics/guantanamo-prisoner-surgery.html
