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Aziz Abdul Naji | |
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Born | (1975-05-04) May 4, 1975 (age 49) Batna, Algeria |
Citizenship | Algeria |
Detained at | Guantanamo |
ISN | 744 |
Charge(s) | No charge |
Status | Transferred to Algeria against his will; currently under judicially supervised release |
Abdul Aziz Naji is an Algerian citizen who was held without charges in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention campinCuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 744. American intelligence analysts report that he was born on May 4, 1975, in Batna, Algeria.
Naji arrived at Guantanamo on August 5, 2002, and was repatriated to Algeria, against his will, in July 2010.[2][3][4][5]
The Obama administration transferred Abdul Aziz Naji to Algeria in July 2010. Naji argued that he would face a high risk to be tortured in Algeria when he would be forced to return to that country but he lost his case before the Supreme Court. Human Rights Watch has heavily criticized the Obama administration for their decision.[6][7]
On July 25, 2010, he was indicted by the government of Algeria and placed under judicial supervision though it is not known what he had been charged with or what the supervision entailed.[8]
Abdul Aziz Naji asserts he was in Pakistan as an aid worker, performing zakat—charitable work.[9] He described losing a leg to a land mine while performing charitable service near embattled Kashmir. He lost his leg prior to al Qaeda's attack on the US, and spent a year in medical rehabilitation in Pakistan. His capture came shortly after his release from the hospital during a trip to Peshawar, where he was to meet a marriage broker.
No charges have ever been brought against Mr. Naji by the US government.[9] On May 20, 2009, he was cleared for transfer by the Guantanamo Review Task Force established by President Obama's Executive Order of January 22, 2009.
Abdul Aziz Naji had a habeas corpus appeal initiated on his behalf in 2005.[9][10]
On July 15, 2008, Kristine A. Huskey filed a "NOTICE OF PETITIONERS’ REQUEST FOR 30-DAYS NOTICE OF TRANSFER" on behalf of these captives whose names are not on any of the official lists.[11]
His most recent attorneys are Ellen Lubell and Doris Tennant, of Newton, Massachusetts. Lubell and Tennant appealed to Newton's city council to follow the example of neighboring Amherst and offer sanctuary to their client.
In an email, dated July 23, 2010, Bill Quigley, Legal Director of Center for Constitutional Rights, states that Abdul Aziz Naji, had gone missing after the US sent him back to Algeria against his will and that Abdul Aziz Naji did not want to return to Algeria because he feared persecution from both the Algerian government and militant anti-government forces. Mr. Naji had applied for political asylum in Switzerland, and his application was proceeding through the Swiss courts.
Naji was convicted on January 16, 2012, of “belonging to a terrorist group abroad”.[5][12] Naji had asserted he had been a charity worker in Afghanistan—not a fighter. According to the human rights group Reprieve the prosecution didn't introduce new evidence against him, only introducing the untested allegations from Guantanamo.
In June 2013, the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation reported that Abdul Aziz Naji had requested asylum in Switzerland, in 2009.[13] Switzerland's Federal Migration Office turned down his asylum request. His lawyer appealed to Switzerland's Federal Administrative Court, which ruled, on December 10, 2009, that the justifications for turning down the asylum request were vague and inadequate. They ruled that the decision on his asylum request would have to be re-done.
In June 2013, the Federal Migration Office responded to queries as to why it had not reviewed Abdul Aziz Naji's request.[13] They wrote:
The Reprieve charity said in a Tuesday statement that Algerian authorities convicted Abdel Aziz Naji with no evidence and that he is now languishing in a prison without adequate medical care.
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A former Guantanamo detainee who was transferred to his native Algeria earlier this month has been indicted, the Algiers prosecutor's office said Monday. Aziz Abdul Naji was also placed under judicial supervision Sunday, the office said in a statement, though it did not say what he had been charged with or what the supervision entailed.[permanent dead link]
The UK action charity Reprieve, whose attorneys represent over a dozen prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, reports that former Guantánamo prisoner, Algerian citizen Abdul Aziz Naji, has been sentenced to three years in prison in Algeria. Reprieve says the charges were "of past membership in an extremist group overseas - a charge derived from the unsubstantiated accusations the US administration made against him in 2002."
In a ruling on December 10, 2009, the court found the Migration Office did not guarantee him the right to be heard, a violation of federal law. The reasons for rejecting the asylum request were too vague, the court said. The Migration Office's decision was not a convincing and credible argument demonstrating that it was not in the interest of Switzerland to grant asylum.
Controversies surrounding people captured during the War on Terror
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