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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-lawyer-says-case-should-be-put-hold-supreme-court">middleeasteye.net</a>
<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Guantanamo: Lawyer says case should be put on hold at Supreme Court</h1>October 27, 2021</div>
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<p>Abu Zubaydah's lawyer says it will take 'some time' to know what
information US government will allow him to testify on regarding his
treatment by CIA</p>
<p><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/article_page/public/images-story/guantanamo%20camp%20delta%202013%20afp.jpeg?itok=2EzpVcak" alt="" style="margin-right: 0px;" width="452" height="254">
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<p>During his nearly two decades in captivity, Abu Zubaydah has never been charged or tried (AFP/File photo)</p>
<p><span>Published date:</span> 27 October 2021 18:21 UTC
<span>| </span>
<span>Last update:</span> <span id="gmail-date-updatedago">2 days 4 hours </span> ago </p>
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<div><p>A lawyer for one of <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.middleeasteye.net/topics/guantanamo" target="_blank">Guantanamo Bay's</a>
"forever prisoners" says the Supreme Court should wait to decide on a
case involving his client until it's clear what the Biden administration
will let him say about his torture at the hands of the CIA.</p>
<p>In a letter to the court sent on Monday, the lawyer for Abu Zubaydah said that while the <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.middleeasteye.net/countries/us" target="_blank">US</a>
government has agreed to let him testify about his treatment, any
testimony he gives would be subject to review by the government, making
it unclear what information the Guantanamo detainee would be able to
provide.</p>
<p>The US government "makes no commitments about how much, if any, of
Abu Zubaydah’s declaration will be shared with the Polish prosecutor,
and does not say whether Abu Zubaydah will be allowed to specify when he
was tortured, an issue that was central at oral argument," David Klein,
Abu Zubaydah's lawyer, said in his <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-827/197445/20211025123903253_AZ%202021.10.25%20Letter%20to%20Mr.%20Harris%204872-4094-1312%20v.1.pdf" target="_blank">letter</a>.</p>
<p>Klein also noted that the government team in charge of reviewing the
testimony solicits input from the CIA, meaning that "the Government will
allow Abu Zubaydah to submit a written declaration about his treatment
at the hands of the CIA so long as the CIA authorizes it".</p>
<div>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-us-tells-supreme-court-forever-prisoner-can-testify" target="_blank"><img src="https://www.middleeasteye.net/sites/default/files/styles/read_more/public/images/guantanamo%20AFP.jpg?itok=oqPnPKq1" alt="" width="400" height="250">
</a></p><p>Guantanamo: US tells Supreme Court 'forever prisoner' can testify</p>
<p><a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-us-tells-supreme-court-forever-prisoner-can-testify" target="_blank">Read More »</a>
</p></div>
<p>Earlier this month, the US Supreme Court <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/guantanamo-bay-cia-torture-programme-supreme-court-hearing" target="_blank">heard oral arguments</a>
in the case between the US government and Abu Zubaydah, who is seeking
to subpoena James Elmer Mitchell and John Jessen, two former CIA
contractors, for information regarding his alleged torture in Poland,
which would assist a Polish investigation into the matter.</p>
<p>During the arguments, Justice Neil Gorsuch asked if the government
would allow Abu Zubaydah, rather than the contractors, to provide the
information to Polish officials about his treatment. Abu Zubaydah's
lawyers had said the government was preventing him from doing so.</p>
<p>The Biden administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, acting Solicitor General Brian Fletcher, then <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/supreme-court-rule-whether-guantanamo-prisoner-can-subpoena-information-black-sites" target="_blank">filed a letter</a>
saying the administration would let Abu Zubaydah provide information to
Polish officials. But he added that any declaration would still be
subject to a "security review", meaning it could be redacted.</p>
<p>Klein sounded sceptical in his own letter to the court, saying that
it is "theoretically possible the Government's new position will lead to
a declaration" that can help Polish officials, but when Guantanamo
prisoners "have attempted in the past to describe their torture to the
outside world ... the Government has sometimes redacted virtually every
word".</p>
<p>The Guantanamo detainee's lawyer said it would take "some time" to
learn what information Abu Zubaydah would be able to provide in his
testimony.</p>
<p>He said lawyers would first need to meet with Abu Zubaydah and
prepare a declaration, then have it go through the redaction process.
Klein urged the court to set a "reasonable deadline" for that process to
take place.</p>
<p>Once a redacted version is approved, "the parties would return to the
Court and address the impact of the declaration, if any, on the issues
before the Court".</p>
<h3>'Waterboarded 83 times'</h3>
<p>Abu Zubaydah, whose given name is Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn, is a Palestinian who was born and raised in <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.middleeasteye.net/countries/saudi-arabia" target="_blank">Saudi Arabia</a>. He was captured in a US-Pakistani raid in Faisalabad, <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/www.middleeasteye.net/countries/pakistan" target="_blank">Pakistan</a>, in 2002.</p>
<p>At the time of his capture, the CIA, along with then-President George
W Bush, publicly claimed that he was a top-level al-Qaeda leader with
direct connections to Osama bin Laden.</p>
<p>According to a Senate Intelligence Committee report, he was
interrogated using techniques that amounted to torture, including being
waterboarded 83 times in one month, hung naked from a ceiling, and
deprived of sleep for 11 straight days.</p>
<p>But in 2006, the CIA conceded that Abu Zubaydah was never a senior
member of al-Qaeda because he was never a member of the armed group, to
begin with.</p>
<p>During his nearly two decades in captivity, he has never been charged or tried.</p>
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