Mustafa Ait Idir (sometimes written as Ait Idr; born July 9, 1970) is an individual formerly held in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, 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 ...

. Ait Idir was born in

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, but moved to

Bosnia 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 ...

, married a Bosnian woman, and became a Bosnian citizen. Idir was arrested on October 18, 2001, on suspicion of participating in a conspiracy to bomb the United States Embassy. After their release following their acquittal, the six men were captured on January 17, 2002, by American forces, who transferred them to Guantanamo Bay. Ait Idr has alleged brutal treatment there. He claims that guards beat him when he was shackled, and bent back his fingers, breaking them. During another alleged beating, guards threw him onto a gravel path, where one guard jumped on him, with his full weight, causing a

stroke Stroke is a medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to a part of the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemor ...

that left part of his face paralyzed. On December 16, 2008, Ait Idir was one of three prisoners released to Bosnia after he was found innocent.

Combatant Status Review

Ait Idir was among the 60% of prisoners who participated in the tribunal hearings. A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee. The memo accused him of the following:documents (.pdf)
from Mustafa Ait Idr's ''Combatant Status Review Tribunal'' – 53 pagesSummary of Evidence (.pdf)
from Mustafa Ait Idr's ''

Combatant Status Review Tribunal The Combatant Status Review Tribunals (CSRT) were a set of tribunals for confirming whether detainees held by the United States at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp had been correctly designated as " enemy combatants". The CSRTs were establi ...

'' – page 42 of 53

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

-based Judge Joyce Hens Green extensively quoted a transcript from Idir's

when she decided that the Guantanamo tribunals violated the US Constitution.

Administrative Review Board

Detainees whose

labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual

Administrative Review Board The Administrative Review Board is a United States military body that conducts an annual review of the detainees held by the United States in Camp Delta at the United States Navy base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The purpose o ...

hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee might pose if released or transferred, and whether there were other factors that warranted his continued detention. Ait Idir participated in his Administrative Review Board hearing. Summarized transcript (.pdf) from Mustafa Ait Idr's ''

hearing'' – page 208

Suing the US Government

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' reported on April 14, 2005, that Idir's lawyers initiated legal steps to sue the U.S. government to get the videotapes of the incidents with the Initial Reaction Force where he was injured. The IRF is supposed to videotape all of its interventions.

Thomas P. Sullivan's testimony before the US Senate Judiciary Committee

Thomas P. Sullivan is a lawyer who volunteered to serve as a ''

pro bono ( English: 'for the public good'), usually shortened to , is a Latin phrase for professional work undertaken voluntarily and without payment. The term traditionally referred to provision of legal services by legal professionals for people who a ...

'' attorney for several Guantanamo captives. On September 25, 2006, he testified before the

United States Senate Judiciary Committee The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally known as the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nom ...

, expressing his concerns about the bill that was to become the Military Commissions Act. Sullivan's testimony quoted a long passage from Idr's Combatant Status Review Tribunal. : Sullivan also reminded the Judiciary Committee that US District Court Judge Joyce Hens Green, who had been appointed to oversee the Guantanamo habeas cases following the Supreme Court's decision in Rasul, cited Mr. Idir's hearing as an example of the fundamental unfairness of the CSRT process. See 355 F. Supp. 2d 443 (D.D.C. 2005)."

Release

On December 16, 2008, Mustafa Idir, Boudella al Hajj and Mohammed Nechle were released to Bosnia. According to ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet daily newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964. As the only Australian daily newspaper distributed nationally, its readership of b ...

'', Idir told the '' Dnevni Avaz'': : On March 3, 2009, '' El Khabar'' reported that the Bush administration forced Idir and the other two men to sign undertakings that they would not sue the US government for their kidnapping, before they would be released.

References

External links

Who are the Guantanamo detainees, Mustafa Ait Idir and five others
''

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

''
Algerians, freed from Guantanamo, still paying the price
McClatchyDC
Report on Torture, Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment of Prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. (Ait Idir)

UC Davis The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Davis, California, United States. It is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University ...

Center for the Study of Human Rights in the Americas
Habeas Works: Federal Courts’ Proven Capacity to Handle Guantánamo Cases
, from Human Rights First (June 2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ait Idir, Mustafa Algerian emigrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina Algerian extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Bosnia and Herzegovina extrajudicial prisoners of the United States Living people Guantanamo detainees known to have been released 1970 births People from Algiers People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States Combatant Status Review Tribunals Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Algerian descent