© Witness Against TortureMembers of Witness Against Torture hold a banner of Tariq ba Odah during a vigil outside the White House in June 2015.
Ba Odah has been held at Guantanamo since 2002. He has never been charged with a crime. He began a peaceful hunger strike in 2007, and in 2009 he was cleared for release - as soon as Yemen became more stable or the government could find someplace else for him to go.
He is still waiting, now down to 74 pounds - a "chronic, life-threatening and potentially irreversible" condition, according to his lawyers.
Ba Odah's petition to be released due to his failing and irreversible health condition revolves around two statutes: Article 110 of the Third Geneva Convention, and Section 3-12 of Army Regulations 190-8. The Geneva Convention mandates that prisoners of war be repatriated to their own country if their physical or mental condition is "gravely diminished" and is not likely to recover in one year. The Army regulations clause controls the repatriation of sick or wounded enemy prisoners of war, requiring a neutral doctor and direct repatriation in cases of serious injury or illness.
In a memorandum in August, the government argued that the Army regulations do not apply, because Ba Odah is not a prisoner of war, and because his failing health is self-inflicted. But it did not address whether Ba Odah should qualify for medical repatriation under the Geneva Conventions, arguing instead that the court has no power to decide whether or not it does apply.
"When it comes to the most important legal question in the case, the brief is strangely silent," writes Marty Lederman, a professor at Georgetown Law, in a blog post about the case.
Omar Farah, Ba Odah's attorney, described the government's argument as a "Bush-era end-run around the Geneva Conventions."
I find the situation appalling, embarrassing, and sadistic.
(Note: I mention only the situation, not our great POTUS. I'd never say anything derogatory about him.
I know that ism't tolerated around here.)