The

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and superv ...

acknowledges holding approximately one dozen Algerian detainees in Guantanamo. However an Algerian government press release, on August 21, 2016, said that they had been tracking 28 Algerian captives. Both US and Algerian governments agreed just two captives remained in US custody. A total of 778 detainees have been held in the

Guantanamo Bay detention camp The Guantanamo Bay detention camp, also known as GTMO ( ), GITMO ( ), or simply Guantanamo Bay, is a United States military prison within Naval Station Guantanamo Bay (NSGB), on the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. It was established in 2002 by p ...

s, in

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

since the camps opened on January 11, 2002. The camp population peaked in early 2004 at approximately 660 before numerous detainees were released. Only nineteen new captives, all "

high value detainees Extrajudicial prisoners of the United States, in the context of the early twenty-first century War on Terrorism, refers to foreign nationals the United States detains outside of the legal process required within United States legal jurisdiction. ...

," have been transferred there since the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...

's ruling in ''

Rasul v. Bush ''Rasul v. Bush'', 542 U.S. 466 (2004), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court in which the Court held that foreign nationals held in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could petition federal courts for writs of ''habeas corp ...

'' (2004), which said that detainees had the ''

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...

'' right to challenge their detention before an impartial tribunal. On March 3, 2008, an Algerian delegation visited Guantanamo. At that time DOD reported seventeen Algerian nationals remaining in Guantanamo.

Release negotiations

On June 23, 2008, the Algerian newspaper ''

El Khabar ''Elkhabar'' () is a daily newspaper in Algeria published seven days a week in the tabloid format. It is one of the most widely read Algerian newspapers. ''El Khabar''′s web service publishes selected news in Arabic and French, with a minor ...

'' quoted Farouk Ksentini, the head of Algeria's Advisory Human Rights Commission, about negotiations over the Guantanamo detainees' repatriation. According to ''Al Khabar,'' Ksentini reported that the US had insisted on unacceptable conditions unacceptable to Algeria for transfer of the detainees to their country of origin. The article stated that Sandra Hodgkinson,

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs The Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs (DASD-DA) is a political appointment created by United States President George W. Bush. The appointee has responsibility for captives apprehended during the "war on terror". ''The New Y ...

, had not been telling "the entire truth". The Department of Defense announced on July 2, 2008, that it had repatriated two Algerians. The department withheld the Algerians' identities without explanation. On July 3, 2008

Carol Rosenberg Carol Rosenberg is a senior journalist at ''The New York Times.'' Long a military-affairs reporter at the ''Miami Herald'', from January 2002 into 2019 she reported on the operation of the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, at its nav ...

of the ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...

'' reported that the two repatriated Algerians were Mustafa Hamlily and Abdul Raham Hourari. The Department of Defense announced on August 30, 2013, that it had repatriated two additional Algerians, who were identified as Nabil Hadjarab and Mutij Sayyab. This would bring the total number of remaining detainees at Guantanamo to 164.

Algerian detainees in Guantanamo

Algerian Six

Guantanamo also contains six citizens of

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

who were born in Algeria, who are known as the "

Algerian Six The Algerian Six were six Algerian men, who gained citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War, five of whom will continue to hold a dual Algerian and Bosnian citizenship, and who were imprisoned without charges at Guantanamo Ba ...

Repatriation

The Department of Defense has acknowledged repatriating seven Algerians: Abdul Raham Houari, Mohammed Abd Al Al Qadir, Sameur Abdenour, Mustafa Ahmed Hamlily,

Fethi Boucetta Fethi Boucetta (aka ''Abu Mohammed'') is a citizen of Algeria, who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba. His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 718. The Department of Defense repo ...

Mammar Ameur The United States Department of Defense acknowledges holding approximately one dozen Algerian detainees in Guantanamo. However an Algerian government press release, on August 21, 2016, said that they had been tracking 28 Algerian captives. Both ...

, and Soufian Abar Huwari. The Department of Defense didn't reveal the men's names. On April 3, 2009, at the

G20 The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental forum comprising 19 sovereign countries, the European Union (EU), and the African Union (AU). It works to address major issues related to the global economy, such as international financial stabil ...

Summit in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

French President The president of France, officially the president of the French Republic (), is the executive head of state of France, and the commander-in-chief of the French Armed Forces. As the presidency is the supreme magistracy of the country, the pos ...

Nicolai Sarkozy indicated France would offer asylum to a former Guantanamo detainee.

References

External links

Two Algerian Torture Victims Are Freed from Guantánamo

Andy Worthington Andy Worthington is a British historian, investigative journalist, and film director. He has published three books, two on Stonehenge and one on the war on terror, been published in numerous publications and directed documentary films. Art ...

25.1.2010 *
UN experts warn against sending detainees at torture-riskObama and US Courts Repatriate Algerian from Guantánamo Against His Will; May Be Complicit in Torture

21.7.2010 {{DEFAULTSORT:Algerian Detainees In Guantanamo * Lists of Guantanamo Bay detainees by nationality Algeria–United States relations