Lakhdar Boumediene

Lakhdar Boumediene (; born April 27, 1966) is an Algerian-born citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina who was held in military custody in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps in Cuba beginning in January 2002.

Boumediene was the lead plaintiff in Boumediene v. Bush (2008), a U.S. Supreme Court decision that Guantanamo detainees and other foreign nationals have the right to file writs of habeas corpus in U.S. federal courts.

He and four other of the Algerian Six plaintiffs were released from Guantánamo on May 15, 2009, after a US Federal judge found that "the Bush administration relied on insufficient evidence to imprison them indefinitely as 'enemy combatants.'" He lives in Provence, France, with his wife and children.

Background

Born and raised in Algeria, as an adult Boumediene worked for various humanitarian causes. He worked for the Red Crescent Society of the United Arab Emirates. It also had an office in Sarajevo and, at the request of his employer, Boumediene moved with his family to Bosnia, where he served as director of humanitarian aid for children who had lost relatives during the Yugoslav Wars. He became a Bosnian citizen in 1998. Twice a day he is strapped onto a chair at seven points. One side of his nose is broken, so they put it (the tube) in the other side ... Sometimes it goes to his lung instead of his stomach. He can't say anything because he has the mask on: that's torture.

US Supreme Court case In Boumediene v. Bush in October 2008, the US Supreme Court ruled in their favor, saying that the detainees and other foreign nationals had the right to file in federal courts under habeas corpus.

On November 20, 2008, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon ordered the release of Lakhdar Boumediene and four of the Algerian Six based on lack of sufficient evidence. The sixth detainee, Bensayah Belkacem, was recommended for continued detention, but his case was later reviewed. Belkacem was eventually released.

Release to France On May 15, 2009, Boumediene was transferred to France, where he has relatives. His wife and children have joined him and they have settled in Provence. He has had difficulty in getting employment, due to his lengthy imprisonment.

Open letter to President Biden

On January 29, 2021, the New York Review of Books published an open letter from Boumediene, and six other individuals who were formerly held in Guantanamo, to newly inaugurated President Biden, appealing to him to close the detention camp.