Center for Constitutional Rights client endured nearly 23 years of detention without charge

Biden administration should transfer remaining uncharged men and finally end system of indefinite detention at Guantanamo 

January 6, 2025, New York – Center for Constitutional Rights client Sharqawi Al Hajj, 51, was flown to Oman this week after spending nearly 21 years in the prison at Guantánamo and more than two years in CIA sites. He was part of a transfer of a group of 11Yemenis cleared for release, bringing the Guantánamo population to 15 men, six of whom are uncharged, including three men also cleared for transfer. 

Never charged with a crime, Al Hajj suffered treatment a district court described as “patent … physical and psychological coercion” in CIA sites prior to his transfer to Guantánamo in 2004. At Guantánamo, he waged prolonged hunger strikes to protest his indefinite detention, which led to repeated hospitalizations. After he collapsed in his cell and was hospitalized in 2017, an outside medical expert opinion found him to be in danger of “total bodily collapse.” He attempted to hurt himself multiple times in moments of desperation. 

“Our thoughts are with Mr. Al Hajj as he transitions to the free world after almost 23 years in captivity. His release is hopeful for him and for us. We are grateful to Oman and to the individuals in the administration who made this transfer happen, and to the many people over the years whose work and advocacy paved the way for this moment,” said Pardiss Kebriaei, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights who represents Mr. Al Hajj.   

In June 2021, the U.S. government cleared Mr. Al Hajj for release through the Periodic Review Board (PRB) process. The ten other men who were flown to Oman had also been approved for transfer. Such approval requires a unanimous determination by all relevant U.S. military, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies that the person does not pose a significant security threat.

Mr. Al Hajj is one of 119 victims named in the Senate intelligence committee report on the CIA torture program. Before being sent to Guantánamo in 2004, as detailed in unclassified court documents, he was incarcerated in a CIA “dark site” in Jordan, another in Afgahnistan, and in Bagram Air Force Base, dubbed “Gitmo East” due to the mistreatment of men detained there. His detention in Afghanistan is part of an effort at the International Criminal Court for investigation into war crimes in that country, including by the United States.

In 2018, Mr. Al Hajj joined a habeas petition with ten other men detained at Guantánamo, which argued that their prolonged, indefinite detention violated the Due Process Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force. He discussed the petition and the reasons for it in a piece published in Newsweek. “I have tried to show that all I want is to forget this nightmare,” he wrote.

Today’s transfer of 11 men out of Guantánamo was the largest under President Biden, who pledged to close the prison. Of the 15 men who now remain, six have never been charged. Three of those men are also cleared for release and awaiting transfer, including Center for Constitutional Rights client Guled Hassan Duran, and three others are awaiting clearance Nine men are in the military commissions system, only two of whom have been sentenced.

“It is remarkable that the prison population at Guantánamo is down to 15 people. We urge the administration to press forward in transferring the remaining uncharged men, including Center for Constitutional Rights client Guleed Hassan Duran, allow resolution of the remaining charged cases through mutually-acceptable pleas, and stand down in opposing habeas cases for anyone who is uncharged but will be left at Guantanamo, ” said Ms. Kebriaei.

The Center for Constitutional Rights has led the legal battle over Guantánamo for 23 years – representing clients in two Supreme Court cases and organizing and coordinating hundreds of pro bono lawyers across the country, ensuring that nearly all the men detained at Guantánamo have had the option of legal representation. Among other Guantánamo cases, the Center has represented the families of men who died at Guantánamo, men who have been released and are seeking justice in international courts, and men who were charged before the military commissions.