By James Oliphant
Ahmed Belbacha is one Guantanamo detainee who wants to stay right where he is.
The Algerian national, who has been held at the U.S. Navy prison in Cuba as an enemy combatant, is trying to prevent the Pentagon from sending him home.
In court papers filed this week with the U.S. Supreme Court, Belbacha’s lawyers say that he will be subjected to abuse and torture not only from the Algerian government upon his return, but ironically, agents of Al Qaeda. (Belbacha, however, undoubtedly doesn’t find the situation nearly so ironic.)
“Mr. Belbacha’s fear of what might happen to him in Algeria is so great that he would prefer to endure the oppressive conditions in Guantanamo Bay until an asylum state can be found,” his lawyers say in a filing to the high court.
A detainee at Guantanamo. AP photoIn Algeria, Belbacha worked as an accountant for a government-owned oil company and had been recalled for military service, court documents say, which made him a target for Islamic militants seeking to topple the regime.
At the same time, his lawyers argue, his lengthy stay at Guantanamo has branded him a international terrorist in the eyes of the Algerian government, which is likely to imprison him or torture him upon his arrival.
Given those two unappealing options, he wants to stay put. And make no mistake, it’s not because he’s enjoying himself. Court documents say Belbacha is held in near-total isolation in an all-steel cell with all-steel fixtures and no natural light. He’s allowed two hours of exercise per day in small area with only a deflated football to toss around.
Although the Pentagon has classified Belbacha as an enemy combatant, he has been deemed to “not pose a continuing threat to the United States and his allies.” Hence, his one-way ticket to Algeria.
His lawyers argue that because the Supreme Court has chosen to review–in a case to be argued this fall–a 2006 law that strips federal courts of the power to hear detainees’ challenges to their imprisonment, Chief Justice John Roberts should temporarily block Belbacha’s transfer until the court has ruled in the case. Belbacha also has a pending asylum claim with the U.S.
In papers filed Thursday, the government argues that the high court has no authority to block Belbacha’s transfer to Algeria, contending that while the justices will be reviewing the Military Commissions Act, they won’t be addressing a provision that prevents courts from interfering with prisoner transfers to foreign states. The Supreme Court, it argues, can’t meddle in foreign affairs in such a manner.
The government also stresses that it does not “repatriate or transfer a detainee to a country where the United States believes it is more likely than not that the individual will be tortured.”
Belbacha’s lawyers fear that his transfer could take place within a matter of days.
