Originally the BushPresidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention.[3]
In 2004 the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.
Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants
Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:[7]
Ridah Bin Saleh Bin Mabrouk Al Yazidi was listed as one of the captives who the Wittes team unable to identify as presently cleared for release or transfer.[7]
Ridah Bin Saleh Bin Mabrouk Al Yazidi was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of the Taliban."[7]
Ridah Bin Saleh Bin Mabrouk Al Yazidi was listed as one of the captives who was an "al Qaeda operative".[7]
Ridah Bin Saleh Bin Mabrouk Al Yazidi was listed as one of the "82 detainees made no statement to CSRT or ARB tribunals or made statements that do not bear materially on the military’s allegations against them."[7]
179 captives who had habeas petitions files on their behalf had a dossier of unclassified documents from their Combatant Status Review Tribunals published.[10] But Al Yazidi's documents were withheld. The Bush administration did not offer an explanation as to why his documents were withheld.
The Military Commissions Act of 2006 mandated that Guantanamo captives were no longer entitled to access the US civil justice system, so all outstanding habeas corpus petitions were stayed.
Al Yazidi's counsel have submitted requests to re-instate his habeas petition.
On July 7, 2008, Brent N. Rushforth filed a "PETITIONER’S UNOPPOSED MOTION TO ENTER PROTECTIVE ORDER"' on behalf of Ridah Bin Saleh Al Yazidi.[9][11][12]
Formerly secret Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment
On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States PresidentBarack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo.[16][17][18][19]
He put in place a new review system composed of officials from six departments, where the OARDEC reviews were conducted entirely by the Department of Defense. When it reported back, a year later, the Joint Review Task Force classified some individuals as too dangerous to be transferred from Guantanamo, even though there was no evidence to justify laying charges against them. On April 9, 2013, that document was made public after a Freedom of Information Act request.[20]
Al Yazidi was one of the 126 individuals approved for transfer.[21]
Status during the Donald Trump administration
Observers noted that President Barack Obama's administration made a push to transfer as many individuals from Guantanamo, as possible, during his last year.[22] The Washington Post reported that Ridah Bin Saleh Al Yazidi was one of the five individuals who had been cleared for release, who remained in Guantanamo when Donald Trump was inaugurated. During the election campaign Trump had promised that, once he took power, no one would ever leave detention at Guantanamo, that he would bring more individuals to be detained there. The Washington Post reported that Obama administration officials had gotten a country to accept Al Yazidi, but he declined their hospitality.
Release
Al Yazidi was transferred to Tunisia on December 30, 2024.[23]
^ ab"U.S. military reviews 'enemy combatant' use". USA Today. 2007-10-11. Archived from the original on 2007-10-23. Critics called it an overdue acknowledgment that the so-called Combatant Status Review Tribunals are unfairly geared toward labeling detainees the enemy, even when they pose little danger. Simply redoing the tribunals won't fix the problem, they said, because the system still allows coerced evidence and denies detainees legal representation.
^Andy Worthington (2012-10-25). "Who Are the 55 Cleared Guantánamo Prisoners on the List Released by the Obama Administration?". Retrieved 2015-02-19. I have already discussed at length the profound injustice of holding Shawali Khan and Abdul Ghani, in articles here and here, and noted how their cases discredit America, as Khan, against whom no evidence of wrongdoing exists, nevertheless had his habeas corpus petition denied, and Ghani, a thoroughly insignificant scrap metal merchant, was put forward for a trial by military commission — a war crimes trial — under President Bush.
^
Julie Tate, Missy Ryan (2017-01-22). "The Trump era has stranded these five men at Guantanamo Bay". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2017-01-22. Another of the five is Rida bin Saleh al Yazidi, a 51-year-old Tunisian who military officials believed lived in Italy and was later captured in Pakistan. He was taken to Guantánamo in Jan. 2002. Officials said they had identified a country that was willing to accept him, but Yazidi rejected a proposal to be resettled there.
