Salahi v. Obama

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of Petitioner – Appellee Mohamedou Ould Salahi urging affirmance of the district court’s decision granting habeas petitioner’s plea for release from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station, Cuba.

Brief filed: 06/16/2010

Documents

Salahi v. Obama

District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals; Case No. 10-5087

Argument(s)

Mr. Salahi, detained by the United States since November 2001 on suspicion of involvement in the failed “Millennium Plot” to bomb the Los Angeles International Airport, has been subjected to repeated torture and other mistreatment as part of a sustained program of highly coercive interrogation. His coerced statements, therefore, cannot provide a basis for detention as a matter of law because they are unreliable, as the district court correctly determined. Furthermore, because Mr. Salahi’s original statements were obtained through torture, his subsequent statements lie in the shadow of that torture and coercion, are equally unreliable, and therefore cannot be used to sustain his detention.

Author(s)

David R. Berz, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Washington, DC; Gregory Silbert, Jennifer H. Wu, Ritu Pancholy, Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, New York, NY; and Michael W. Price, NACDL, Washington, DC.