US resists immediate release for Guantanamo hunger striker

Missouri Before brunette on Friday, President Barack Obama’s Justice Department is coming to to either hinder or agree to a legal action ask for to no cost a Guantanamo Bay captive weighing 74 pounds (33.six kilograms) after an eight-year cravings achieve. A Justice Department statement says the filing is sealed because it deals with a detainee’s medical issues and a public version will be made available later.

Administration officials have been wrestling for months over the case of Tariq Ba Odah, 36 years old, who has been held without charge at Guantanamo since 2002. He has been cleared for transfer back to his homeland but no prisoners are being sent to Yemen because of instability there.

Lawyers for Ba Odah have filed a petition seeking his immediate release on health grounds.

“It is a transparent attempt to hide the fact that the Obama administration’s interagency process for closing Guantanamo is an incoherent mess”, said Farah, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights.

“All the president has to decide is whether to exercise his discretion not to contest the motion and release Mr. Ba Odah so that he does not die”, Fara said.

Obama has said he is determined to close the camp, which has been condemned internationally because of the harsh treatment of detainees, but Republicans in Congress have passed laws preventing him from transferring any inmates to U.S. soil.