Former Guantanamo detainee sues US government for torture News
Former Guantanamo detainee sues US government for torture

[JURIST] Former Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] detainee Adel Hassan Hamad [advocacy website] filed suit [complaint, PDF] in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington [official website] Wednesday against the US government and more than a dozen government officials. Hamad, a Sudanese aid worker captured in Pakistan in 2002, claims he was tortured during his time at Guantanamo Bay. A lawyer for Hamad claimed in 2007 that he was not guilty of any crimes [JURIST op-ed] and that the government had obstructed lawyers' attempts to clear his name. It is unclear how much compensation Hamad is seeking.

Hamad was among a group of former detainees who announced in Sudan [JURIST report] in 2008 that they planned to sue the US government in US courts. The US government released Hamad [JURIST report] in 2007. Earlier that year, Hamad's lawyers filed an affidavit signed by an unnamed Army officer accusing the government of bias [JURIST report] in its treatment of detainees.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Egypt President Anwar Sadat visits Israel

On November 19, 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat visited Israel, becoming the first leader of an Arab nation to officially visit. Two years later, President Sadat became the first Arab leader to recognize Israel by signing the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty. Read President Sadat's address to the Israeli Knesset.

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On November 19, 1794, US Chief Justice John Jay and British foreign secretary Lord Grenville signed a treaty in Philadelphia under which British forces pulled out of the disputed Northwest Territory. Review the Jay Treaty.