To: Ashton Carter, Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense
Secretary of Defense Carter: Release Mohamedou Slahi
Mohamedou Slahi has been unlawfully imprisoned by the U.S. government for 14 years without ever being charged with a crime. Assuming a positive outcome in Slahi’s Periodic Review Board hearing, we call on you to:
1. Immediately certify to Congress that Mohamedou will be released.
2. Ensure that Mohamedou is quickly transferred out of Guantánamo Bay so he can restart his life as a free man.
Why is this important?
Mohamedou Slahi has been unlawfully imprisoned for 14 years by the U.S. government. Thirteen of those years have been at Guantánamo Bay prison, where he was subjected to gruesome torture.
The U.S. has never charged Slahi with a crime.
The U.S. government's justifications for holding Slahi fail because he has never taken part in any hostilities against the United States. And he poses no threat to the United States.
A former chief military prosecutor in the Guantánamo military commissions, Colonel Morris Davis, has said he couldn’t find any crime with which to charge Slahi.
In 2010, a federal judge ordered Slahi’s release, rejecting the government's arguments since evidence was tainted by torture and coercion or was otherwise not credible. But the government appealed.
The U.S. is currently holding him indefinitely despite his innocence.
Soon Slahi will have the Periodic Review Board hearing he should have had four years ago, where he can prove he’s not a threat to the United States.
Will you urge the Department of Defense to free Slahi?