JURIST - Paper Chase: Federal appeals court rejects Guantanamo detainee information release request

[JURIST] The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit [official website] ruled [opinion, PDF] Wednesday that governmental interests in the protection of sensitive information supersede a detainee's request for its disclosure. The decision overturns the district court's earlier finding in favor of Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Djamel Ameziane [advocacy materials], who claims to have been subjected to torture [AP report] and is seeking release. In a heavily redacted opinion, the court found that insufficient deference had been paid to the government's assertions that releasing the materials would compromise national security and foreign policy interests.

Ameziane is also awaiting the outcome of a complaint filed against the US [JURIST report] in August 2008 before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) [official website], which alleges that he has been tortured, given inadequate medical treatment and denied other basic rights. The complaint contends that Ameziane's treatment violates conditions of the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man [materials] and that he has been denied timely review of his habeas corpus petition by the US, despite the US Supreme Court ruling in Boumediene v. Bush [opinion text; JURIST report] that detainees have the right to bring such petitions.