| Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 14, 1967 Al Jesera, Algeria |
| Detained at | Guantanamo |
| ISN | 310 |
| Status | Still held in Guantanamo |
Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane is an Algerian citizen, and former resident of Canada, who is currently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1]
Joint Task Force Guantanamo analysts report that he was born on April 14, 1967, in Al Jesera, Algeria.
With the assistance of a legal team led by Burlington, Vermont attorney Robert D. Rachlin, Ameziane launched a writ of habeas corpus, Civil Action No. 05-392.[2] Rachlin has said: "There's nothing here that shows that he so much as held a firearm or did anything against the United States -- he's one of those guys who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. There's nothing more here than guilt by association.[1]"
As of August 18, 2011, Djamel Saiid Ali Amezian has been held at Guantanamo for 9.5 years.[3]
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In mid-July Canadian courts compelled the Canadian government to make available tapes made of the interrogration of Canadian youth Omar Khadr by Canadian security officials in 2004.[4] On July 27 Michelle Shephard, writing in the Toronto Star, reporting that other Canadian security officials had interviewed Ahcene Zemiri, Djamel Ameziane and Mohamedou Ould Slahi, three other Guantanamo captives who had lived in Canada.[4]
A writ of habeas corpus, Djamel Said Ali Ameziane v. George Walker Bush, was submitted on Djamel Said Ali Ameziane's behalf.[5]
The Globe and Mail suggested that Ameziane's Tunisian contact could have been Raouf Hannachi.[1]
Michelle Shephard, writing in the Toronto Star speculated on the possibility Djamel might be transferred to Canada.[6] Shephard wrote that Djamel might be the unexpected beneficiary of the 2002 Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement:
Signed in December 2002, a little-publicized Article 9 of the controversial accord allows the U.S. to send up to 200 migrants to Canada each year. At the time it was signed, it pertained mainly to Haitian and Cuban migrants taken from ships intercepted at sea and housed in Guantanamo.
Shephard's article also addressed the 2005 allegation that Djamel attendance at the Al Salaam Mosque in Montreal justified his continued detention, and the 2006 allegation attendance at the Al Umah Mosque in Montreal justified his continued detention.[6] Djamel's lawyer, Wells Dixon said Djamel acknowledged attending a variety of mosques during the five years he lived in MOntreal in the 1990s, but he could no longer remember their names. Dixon challenged whether simple attendance at a mosque was a valid justification for alleging ties to terrorism.
On August 22, 2008 the Canadian Press reported that Ameziane claimed he had been subjected to a form of water torture.[7] Wells Dixon, one of his lawyers, reported that: "...guards at the base placed a water hose between his nose and mouth and ran it for several minutes." The Canadian Press quoted from a letter Ameziane wrote:
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On 22 October 2008 a coalition of organizations including Montreal's Anglican Dioscese, and human rights groups such as Amnesty International issued a press release about their plans to sponsor Djamel's request for admittance to Canada as a refugee.[8][9][10]
On February 10, 2009, CBC News confirmed that was among the five Guantanamos captive to have a refugee sponsoring group working on his behalf.[11] The other four men were Maassoum Abdah Mouhammad, a Syrian Kurd, and Hassan Anvar and two other Uyghur captives from Guantanamo.
On April 17, 2009, the Anglican Journal quoted human rights workers and church officials about the delay in Ameziane's repatriation.[12] Janet Dench of the Canadian Council for Refugees speculated that Ameziane's repatriation had been stalled by the new reviews of the Guantanamo captives ordered by United States President Barack Obama.
“No one has formally and officially said that it is waiting for the U.S. to do their internal review but … Once they’ve done the reviews, then they’ll be starting to think about ‘how do we find solutions for all of the people in Guantánamo and how do we involve these different other countries that might play a role?'”
Barry Clarke, Bishop of the Anglican diocese of Montreal, which is helping to sponsor Ameziane, wrote about how he responded to Canadians critical of the Church's initiative on Ameziane's behalf.[12] He called Ameziane's captivity in Guantanamo "an injustice". He acknowledged that he couldn't guarantee that Ameziane was not tied to terrorism. But he said his workers, and other human rights groups, had looked into his background. The article quoted the conclusions of the Center for Constitutional Rights:
“As a foreigner in a land soon torn apart by conflict, he was an easy target for corrupt local police who captured him while he was trying to cross the border into Pakistan. Mr. Ameziane was then sold to U.S. military forces for a bounty.”
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