Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby

Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby (1 March 1961 – 12 April 2023) was a citizen of Libya who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States' Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba, from 5 May 2002, until 4 April 2016.

Personal life According to historian Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files, Gherebi had settled in Pakistan after fleeing Muammar Gaddafi's repressive regime in Libya. In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them.

Habeas corpus Salem was the first Guantanamo captive to challenge whether he should have access to US Civil Courts. Human rights lawyer Stephen Yagman filed the appeal on Salem's behalf after being contacted by Salem's brother.

Justice Matz ruled against Salem but Matz's ruling was overturned on appeal by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, on 18 December 2003.

On 20 February 2007, two of the three judges on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that the Military Commissions Act stripped the right to use habeas corpus from the Guantanamo captives retroactively and appeals, including Salem's, which were in process, were vacated.

Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3x5 meter trailer where the captive sat with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.

Following the Supreme Court's ruling the Department of Defense set up the Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants.

Scholars at the Brookings Institution, led by Benjamin Wittes, listed the captives still held in Guantanamo in December 2008, according to whether their detention was justified by certain common allegations:

Salem Abdul Salem Ghereby was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are members of Al Qaeda." His Joint Task Force Guantanamo assessment was 12 pages long, and was drafted on February 20, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral Mark H. Buzby. He recommended continued detention.

Salem's legal representation Salem's lawyer was Duke University professor Erwin Chemerinsky. He handled Salem's writ of habeas corpus. In 2002, Chemerinsky said he received death threats for his efforts on Gherebi's behalf: