Since the Guantánamo Bay prison opened in 2002, the Center for Constitutional Rights has represented dozens of current and former prisoners. We have led the legal fight to preserve essential principles of our democracy and Constitution - human rights, the rule of law, due process, and habeas corpus - and reject the idea that the United States could capture nearly 800 Muslim men and render them to an offshore island beyond the law and public scrutiny. We work to hold those responsible for torture and war crimes accountable to not only bring a measure of justice to victims, but because it is an essential step to deter future government officials from committing serious human rights violations.
On January 11, 2020, the Guantánamo Bay prison will have been open for 18 years. There is now an entire generation that has only ever known a world in which the offshore prison exists. A prison built exclusively for Muslim men. A prison that detains people indefinitely without charge or a fair trial.
The prison has now spanned three administrations and five presidential terms. Both Presidents Bush and Obama collectively released over seven hundred prisoners and believed Guantánamo’s continued operation weakened our national security. However, Trump has been explicit about his desire to keep the prison open, and maintains the possibility of transferring new terror suspects to the island prison. Under the current administration, the future is even more uncertain for the forty “forever prisoners” who remain.
Within the U.S. and abroad, Guantánamo is a symbol of physical and psychological torture and the United States’ post-9/11 embrace of lawlessness and injustice. Now in its second decade, it also reflects the larger cruelty of the U.S. carceral society.
In 2018, CCR and co-counsel filed the first major challenge to Trump’s Guantánamo policies, in federal court in Washington, DC. This collective filing is on behalf of eleven prisoners who are detained without charge, all for more than a decade. In this court filing, we argue that the petitioners’ perpetual detentions violate the Constitution and the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) and are undergirded by the president’s executive hubris and anti-Muslim animus. We have asked the court to intervene on behalf of the men who have been deemed “forever prisoners.” In August, a district court judge issued a decision denying the motion on behalf of Abdul Razak Ali, and we have appealed that decision arguing that the Due Process clause of the Constitution applies at Guantánamo. The motion is currently pending for the other ten petitioners.
Key Filings and Policy Statements
- Motion for Order Granting Writ of Habeas Corpus (January 11, 2018) and CCR Press Release
- Court Order re: Scheduling the Trump Administration's Response (January 18, 2018) and CCR Press Statement
- Amicus Briefs: Muslim and Interfaith Groups, Due Process Scholars, Center for Victims of Torture
- January 30, 2018 Presidential Executive Order and CCR Press Statement
- Government Opposition to Motion (February 16, 2018)
- Reply Brief in Support of Motion for Order (March 9, 2018)
- CCR Press Statement on transfer of Al Darbi (May 2, 2018)
- Order Granting Oral Argument (May 15, 2018)
- Motion for Live Audio Access to Oral Argument (June 26, 2018); Government Opposition (July 2, 2018)
Resources
- Profiles for Sharqawi Al Hajj, Abdul Razak Ali
Select Media Coverage
- Editorial: Donald Trump vs. Guantánamo’s Forever Prisoners (New York Times)
- Op-ed by CCR Legal Director Baher Azmy, Trump’s anti-Muslim bigotry clarifies Guantanamo Bay’s awfulness (Slate)
- Op-ed by CCR client Sharqawi Al Hajj, Will I Die at Guantanamo Bay? 15 Years Without Charges, I Deserve Justice (Newsweek)
- Op-Ed by CCR Senior Staff Attorney Pardiss Kebriaei: My Client Has Spent More Than a Third of His Life Imprisoned in Guantánamo (The Nation)
- Op-ed by Advocacy Program Manager Aliya Hussain, 9/11’s Anniversary Means 17 Years Since the Guantánamo Prison Opened (Teen Vogue)