Al-Anazi v. Bush

• Decision Date: 21 April 2005
• Docket Number: Civ.A. No. 05-0345(JDB).
• Citation: 370 F.Supp.2d 188
• Parties: Abdulla Thani Faris AL-ANAZI, et al., Petitioners, v. George W. BUSH, et al., Respondents.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Columbia

370 F.Supp.2d 188

Abdulla Thani Faris AL-ANAZI, et al., Petitioners, v. George W. BUSH, et al., Respondents.

Civ.A. No. 05-0345(JDB).

United States District Court, District of Columbia.

April 21, 2005.

David A. Hickerson, Weil, Gotshal & Manges, L.L.P., Washington, DC, for petitioners.

Terry Marcus Henry, U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division, Washington, DC, for respondents.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

BATES, District Judge.

Petitioners Abdulla Thani Faris Al-Anazi, Adel Egla Hussan Al-Nussairi, N.A.O.,¹ Abdulaziz Sa'ad Oshan, and Ibrahim Suleiman Al-Rubaish (collectively the "petitioners") have filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus challenging the legality of their detention by the United States at the United States Naval Station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba ("Guantanamo"). Presently before the Court is petitioners' motion for a preliminary injunction pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 65 and the All Writs Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1651, which as it has evolved now seeks an order requiring respondents to provide petitioners' counsel with 30-days' notice of any proposed transfer of petitioners from Guantanamo to any location outside of the United States. For the reasons that follow, the Court denies petitioners' motion.²

BACKGROUND

I. Procedural History

Petitioners have been detained by the United States at Guantanamo for approximately the last three years. On February 17, 2005, they filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in this Court seeking, among other forms of relief, their release from the custody of the United States. This petition is similar to many others filed by Guantanamo detainees in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia both before and since the Supreme Court held in Rasul v. Bush, ___ U.S. ___, ___, 124 S.Ct. 2686, 2698, 159 L.Ed.2d 548 (2004), that the federal habeas statute "confers on the District Court jurisdiction to hear petitioners' habeas corpus challenges to the legality of their detention at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base."

Late last year, eleven petitions advancing the claims of several dozen detainees were consolidated for further proceedings before Judge Joyce Hens Green, including a petition assigned to this judge, O.K. v. Bush, No. 04-CV-1136. On January 31, 2005, Judge Green granted in part and denied in part the government's motion to dismiss, holding that the Guantanamo detainees before her possessed constitutional and other legal grounds to challenge their detention. See In re Guantanamo Detainee Cases, 355 F.Supp.2d 443, 481 (D.D.C.2005). Almost simultaneously, on January 19, 2005, Judge Richard Leon of this Court granted the government's motion to dismiss the habeas petitions of two other Guantanamo detainees, concluding that there was no constitutional or other basis to challenge their detention. See Khalid v. Bush, 355 F.Supp.2d 311, 314 (D.D.C.2005). Those cases have been consolidated on appeal before the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. On February 3, 2005, Judge Green issued a stay in the eleven consolidated cases pending the appeal.

II. Transfers From Guantanamo

On March 17, 2005, petitioners filed a motion for preliminary injunction. Although originally framed as an attempt to enjoin respondents from effectuating the transfer of petitioners from Guantanamo, the motion is now confined to the alternative request that respondents provide 30-days' notice (once a transfer has been decided) before a transfer actually occurs. The motion appears to have been prompted by a number of newspaper articles recently published about the transfer of detainees. Petitioners rely most heavily on an article in the March 11, 2005, edition of the New York Times reporting that the Pentagon is seeking to enlist the assistance of other departments in the United States government "in a plan to cut by more than half the population at its detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in part by transferring hundreds of suspected terrorists to prisons in Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan and Yemen, according to senior administration officials." Douglas Jehl, Pentagon Seeks to Shift Inmates from Cuba Base, N.Y. Times, Mar. 11, 2005, at A1.

Petitioners also cite articles discussing an alleged practice known as "rendition." Under this procedure, the Central Intelligence Agency ("CIA") allegedly transfers foreign nationals from one country to another, where the receiving governments are expected to carry out the will of the United States. In one article, a former detainee alleged that prior to being moved to Guantanamo, he had been transferred to Egypt and questioned there by United States officials. See Megan K. Stack and Bob Drogin, Detainee Says U.S. Handed Him Over for Torture, L.A. Times, Jan. 13, 2005, at A1. Petitioners also cite an article discussing the case of a Syrian-born Canadian citizen who alleged that he was detained by the United States at Kennedy Airport immediately following September 11, 2001, and then transported to Syria, where he was interrogated and tortured before being released and returned to Canada. See Pet'rs' Mem. ¶ 7; Douglas Jehl and David Johnson, Rule Change Lets CIA Freely Send Suspects Abroad, N.Y. Times, Mar. 6, 2005, at A1. Petitioners concede that none of these incidents involve the transfer of detainees out of Guantanamo. See Transcript of Motions Hearing ("Tr.") at 12:20-13:5 (April 13, 2005). Even the New York Times article on which they place the greatest weight notes the distinction between Guantanamo transfers and CIA rendition:

Unlike the Pentagon, the C.I.A. was authorized by President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks to transfer prisoners from one foreign country to another without case-by-case approval from other government departments. Former intelligence officials said that the C.I.A. has carried out 100 to 150 such transfers, known as renditions, since Sept. 11. By contrast, the transfers carried out by the Pentagon are subject to strict rules requiring intraagency approval. Officials said that the transfers do not constitute renditions under the Pentagon's definition, because the government that accept the prisoners are not expected to carry out the will of the United States.

Id.

In response to petitioners' claims, respondents have submitted to the Court declarations from two high-ranking Department of Defense and Department of State officials describing the procedures that govern the detention and transfer of Guantanamo detainees. See Decl. of Matthew C. Waxman ("Waxman Decl."); Second Decl. of Matthew C. Waxman ("Second Waxman Decl."); Decl. of Pierre-Richard Prosper ("Prosper Decl."). The officials state that the United States has no interest in detaining the 540 foreign nationals presently at Guantanamo any longer than necessary, and that the Department of Defense ("DOD") therefore conducts at least an annual review of whether each detainee merits continued detention. Waxman Decl. ¶ 3.

The officials further explain that when detention is no longer deemed necessary, the DOD may transfer the detainee to the control of another country with the understanding that the country will release the individual. Id. Where the "appropriate conditions" exist, the DOD will also transfer detainees "to the control of other governments for investigation and possible prosecution and continued detention when those governments are willing to accept responsibility for ensuring, consistent with their laws, that the detainees will not continue to pose a threat to the United States and its allies." Id. Such governments can include the government of a detainee's home country, or a country other than the detainee's home country that may have law enforcement or prosecution interest in the detainee. Id.

As of April 13, 2005, two hundred and fourteen (214) detainees had been transferred from Guantanamo. Id.; Second Waxman Decl. ¶ 2. Of those, one hundred forty-nine (149) were transferred for release and sixty-five (65) were transferred for continued custody. Waxman Decl. ¶ 4; Second Waxman Decl. ¶ 2.³ Each of the 65 detainees transferred for custody has been transferred to his home government. Id. ¶ 4. Most of those 65 have subsequently been released as well. Id. ¶ 5. Respondents also indicated at the April 13, 2005 motions hearing that some detainees transferred for release have in fact been detained by their home governments. In the cases where a detainee is transferred for continued detention by the detainee's home government, DOD "does not ask or direct the receiving government to detain the individual on behalf of the United States," and "the detainees are no longer subject to the control of the United States once they are transferred." Id.

Once a transfer is proposed, DOD consults other interested parties in the United States government, and in particular the Department of State. Id. ¶ 6. The Department of State is responsible for initiating discussions with the foreign government regarding transfer. Prosper Decl. ¶ 6. The purpose of these discussions is to learn the measures that the foreign government will take to ensure the detainee does not pose a continuing threat to the United States or its allies, and to receive appropriate assurances regarding the transfer. Id. The necessary assurances include assurances that the detainee will be humanely treated in accordance with international obligations. Id. If the foreign government is a party to the relevant treaties, i.e., the Torture Convention, the Department of State will pursue further assurances. Id.

Decisions regarding assurances from a foreign government are made on a case-by-case basis, considering the particular circumstances of the transfer, country, and individual involved and concerns regarding possible torture and persecution. Id. ¶ 7. The essential question in evaluating the assurances regarding treatment of a detainee proposed for transfer is whether the Department of State officials "believe it is more likely than not that the individual will be...