Fadi Al Maqaleh is one of the many "unlawful enemy combatants" being detained by the U.S. military at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan. He seeks to challenge his detention in a U.S. court, but recently the Obama administration argued that he cannot. Adopting one of the Bush administration's controversial terrorist detention policies, President Obama's Justice Department told a federal court that it had no power to hear the case.
This case is tremendously important, because Bagram Airbase is one of the most crucial logistical bases in Afghanistan. Much of the military's supplies for the region are transported through Bagram, including weapons, equipment, and food. The airbase, nearly 4,000 acres, 40 miles north of Kabul, is also a vitally important detention facility, holding over 600 detainees, more than double the number held at the Guantánamo Bay Detention Camp. Most of these detainees are Afghans who were captured on the battlefield there, and it is expected that the number of Bagram detainees will increase as President Obama boosts military efforts in Afghanistan.
The Bagram detainees have been designated "unlawful enemy combatants" by the U.S. military. As such, they do not have the same rights to challenge their detention as prisoners of war have under the Geneva Conventions. One of the most contentious policies of the Bush administration involved its indefinite detention of suspected terrorists--without charges. In a series of legal battles, the prior administration argued that unlawful enemy combatants have no right to challenge their detention in federal court.
Meanwhile, as Guantánamo litigation escalated in recent years, the Bush administration largely stopped moving prisoners there, leaving Bagram the favored alternative. Towards the end of President Bush's term, human rights groups began referring to Bagram as the "other Gitmo." Hina Shamsi of the ACLU said the "Bush administration is not content to limit its regime of illegal detention to Guantánamo, and has tried to foist it on Afghanistan."
In 2006, Al Maqaleh, a Yemini citizen, filed a habeas petition in the D.C. district court from the Bagram Airbase. (In a habeas action, a person being imprisoned by the government can come into court to challenge his detention.) He is one of four Bagram detainees who have asked a federal judge to set them free. Al Maqaleh claims he has been there since 2003. He also maintains that he was not apprehended on the battlefield and is not an enemy combatant. The Bush administration argued that the court must dismiss Al Maqaleh's habeas petition because he has no legal right, under any statute or the Constitution, to enter federal court and make a case that he should be released. In other words, the military's determination that he is a suspected terrorist worthy of imprisonment is the final word; it cannot be challenged in court.
Judge Bates of the D.C. district court held a hearing in early January. Shortly thereafter, President Obama took office and in his first week issued a bold executive order to close Guantánamo, but did not specify what to do with the detainees. In light of this development, the judge thought that President Obama had "indicat[ed] significant changes to the government's approach" to terrorist detention. Therefore, he invited President Obama's legal team to alter or modify the government's position, because a "different approach could impact the Court's analysis" of the case.
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