Guantanamo documents
Case 1:05-cv-01509-RMU Document 154 Filed 08/18/2008
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
JOINT STATUS REPORT
Pursuant to the Court’s August 12, 2008 Order, undersigned counsel for petitioners and respondents in the above-captioned cases jointly state as follows:
Petitioner’s Name, ISN, and Status
Attached hereto as Exhibit 1 is a chart listing the agreed-upon name of each petitioner, petitioner’s ISN number, the name of each petitioner as listed in petitioner’s habeas petition, the date of petitioner’s capture, and the date petitioner was approved for transfer either for release or for possible detention, investigation, and/or prosecution as the receiving government deems appropriate under its own laws.
Status Of Next-Friend Authorizations
a. Petitioners’ Position
The chart attached herewith as Exhibit 2 sets forth the name of each Petitioner’s Next Friend and the date of his Next Friend Authorization. As each Petition was filed pursuant to a valid Next Friend Authorization, we have not addressed the ability of the Court to proceed with these cases without such authorization. Respondents have not advised whether they intend to contest the validity of Petitioners’ Next Friend Authorizations. To the extent Respondents raise a challenge to these authorizations now or in the future, Petitioners reserve the right to respond accordingly in subsequent briefing.
b. Respondents’ Position
The habeas corpus petitions in these cases were filed in 2005 by putative “next friends” on behalf of the seventeen Uighur petitioners currently seeking relief. With the exception of petitioner Edham Mamet (ISN 102), whose brother is serving as his next-friend, the other sixteen petitions are brought by two former Guantanamo Bay detainees purporting to act as a “next friend.” Because the petitioners seeking relief have not filed direct authorizations with this Court, it is unknown whether they consent to this matter proceeding. Accordingly, petitioners’ counsel should be required to file a direct authorization from each of the petitioners.
To that end, on July 29, 2008, Judge Hogan issued an order requiring petitioners’ counsel in most of the Guantanamo Bay habeas cases to file signed authorizations from the petitioners within sixty days (or ninety days for petitions filed on or after May 19, 2008). See In re Guantanamo Bay Detainee Litigation, July 29, 2008 Order (Misc. No. 08-442) at 2 (dkt. no. 210). In the alternative, Judge Hogan ordered petitioners’ counsel to file a declaration stating that petitioners directly authorized counsel to pursue the action and to explain why counsel was unable to secure a signed authorization. Id. Judge Hogan’s July 29 Order was entered in all of the above-captioned cases except Razakah v. Bush, 05-CV-2370. To ensure consistency among the consolidated Uighur cases and to assure the Court that the petitioners on whose behalf relief is being sought in fact desire legal representation, this Court should extend the portion of Judge Hogan’s July Order requiring the filing of a direct authorization to the petitioners in Razakah.
In the event any of the petitioners do not file the required direct authorizations or declarations by September 29, 2008, proceedings in those cases should cease and the cases should be dismissed for lack of proper next friend standing. See Whitmore v. Arkansas, 495 U.S. 149 (1990).
Respondents’ Efforts To Resettle Petitioners
Submitted separately herewith as Exhibit 3 is the classified declaration of former Ambassador Pierre-Richard Prosper, Ambassador At Large For War Crimes Issues, filed in August 2005 in Qassim v. Bush, 05-CV-497 (JR). The declaration describes the Department of State’s efforts to pursue resettlement options for the Uighur petitioners as of August 2005. The full submission cannot be filed on the public record because it contains classified information. The full submission will be filed with the Court under seal through the Court Security Office, pursuant to the protective orders entered in the above-captioned cases. Respondents will also provide a copy of the submission in its entirety to petitioners’ counsel at the secure work facility for habeas counsel. A redacted copy of the declaration is attached hereto for filing on the public record.