A letter received from the Center for Constitutional Rights

Today, I am leaving Guantánamo with a heavy heart.

Earlier this week I delivered the news to CCR client Tariq Ba Odah, who has been on hunger strike since 2007, that the Justice Department opposed our effort to obtain a court order granting his release on medical grounds. Even though he is cleared for release—and weighs roughly 75 pounds—the government chooses to continue force-feeding Tariq in order to keep him alive, so that it can prolong his indefinite detention rather than give him his freedom.

When I met Tariq on Tuesday morning, he had just returned from being tube-fed. He insisted on standing to greet me and CCR’s Ibraham Qatabi, but was unsteady on his feet. Veins protruded from his outstretched arm as he shook our hands. Last Friday's decision is more than a setback to his legal case. The administration’s position is punitive and senseless and a matter of potentially grave consequences for Tariq.

But because of your support there was some light in this dark moment. I shared with Tariq photographs from vigils and protests outside of the Department of Justice and the White House, where his portrait adorned a giant banner held by allies; Facebook posts and Tweets, through which you helped share the story of his struggle; and dozens of articles that have reopened and intensified the public debate around Guantánamo's closure.

Tariq was almost speechless, visibly moved by the expression of solidarity. “Wonderful” was the word he kept repeating.

The struggle for Tariq and so many others continues. Here with me this week is CCR Senior Managing Attorney Shayana Kadidal. On Tuesday, as I was meeting with Tariq, Shayana urged a Periodic Review Board (PRB) at Guantánamo to recommend that Mohammed Kamin be cleared for release. CCR recently took on this case as part of our effort to assist prisoners in the “indefinite detention” category get cleared through the administrative process.

It is because of your support that our clients know that CCR will continue to fight for justice and bring their stories out of the prison until they are released.

On behalf of us all, thank you,

Omar Farah
Center for Constitutional Rights Staff Attorney