Former Guantanamo detainee sues US government for torture News
Former Guantanamo detainee sues US government for torture

[JURIST] Former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Adel Hassan Hamad [advocacy website] filed suit [complaint, PDF] in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] Wednesday against the US government and more than a dozen government officials. Hamad, a Sudanese aid worker captured in Pakistan in 2002, claims he was tortured during his time at Guantanamo Bay. A lawyer for Hamad claimed in 2007 that he was not guilty of any crimes [JURIST op-ed] and that the government had obstructed lawyers' attempts to clear his name. It is unclear how much compensation Hamad is seeking.

Hamad was among a group of former detainees who announced in Sudan [JURIST report] in 2008 that they planned to sue the US government in US courts. The US government released Hamad [JURIST report] in 2007. Earlier that year, Hamad's lawyers filed an affidavit signed by an unnamed Army officer accusing the government of bias [JURIST report] in its treatment of detainees.