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Federal judge dismisses Guantanamo detainee wrongful death suit

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] A judge for the US District Court for the District of Columbia ruled Tuesday that claims of unlawful treatment and wrongful death brought on behalf of two former Guantanamo Bay detainees are barred by the Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA). The two men, Yasser Al-Zahrani and Salah Ali Abdullah Ahmed Al-Salami, were among three detainees who allegedly hanged themselves in their cells in July 2006. The claim was brought against former US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and more than 100 military officers and personnel under the Alien Tort Claims Act, which provides that district courts have original jurisdiction to hear claims for torts "committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States." The defendants moved to dismiss the suit based on section 7 of the MCA, which removes the ability of federal courts to hear challenges to the treatment of aliens who have been "properly detained" as enemy combatants. In the ruling, US District Judge Ellen Huvelle found that since the two men had been properly detained, the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case. In January, the UK-based human rights group Reprieve accused the Obama administration of suppressing information relating to the investigation of the suicides and urged further inquiries. The statement came after former guards at the prison told Harper's Magazine that the three detainees experienced intense interrogations in a remote area of the base just hours before the apparent suicide. According to the article, military personnel were instructed by a commanding officer that the media would be told that the deaths were suicides. The Obama administration issued a statement indicating that it took the matter seriously and found no evidence of wrongdoing during its investigation. A 2008 investigation conducted by the US Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) concluded that the cause of death was suicide.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on February 17, 2010 (boomark / email).