Mohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini - USA
© PrivateMohammed Mohammed Hassan Odaini remains detained in Guantánamo despite being cleared for release over two years ago. Mr. Odaini was detained in March 2002, along with several other Yemeni nationals, and sent to the detention camp at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. In June 2005, US authorities declared him suitable for release from Guantánamo. Yemeni authorities have stated that they are prepared to take him back, yet he continues to be unjustly detained. He has not been interrogated for nearly two years and the reason for his continued detention is unclear. His lawyer, Mark Falkoff, has stated "For all [Odaini] knows, he could be there for the rest of his life."
Mohammed Odaini was born in 1983 in Ta'iz, Yemen. He traveled to Pakistan in 2000 to study Islamic law at Salafi University in Faisalabad. In March 2002, Pakistani police raided a house in which he was having dinner with 14 other Yemeni nationals. All were handed over to US authorities and later transferred to the detention camp at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Odaini and many other Yemeni nationals remain detained in Guantánamo without charge or trial, despite having been cleared for release. The United States detention facilities at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have become emblematic of the gross human rights abuses perpetrated by the US Government in the name of fighting terrorism. At Guantánamo, the U.S. government sought to hold detainees in a place neither U.S. nor international law applied. But no one can be held outside of the law. All detainees held at Guantánamo must either be charged with crimes and given fair trials, or be released.
