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Legalbrief   |   your legal news hub Sunday 01 September 2024

Can first freed Guantanamo Bay detainee claim compensation?

The first military detainee cleared of accusations of being an ‘enemy combatant’ is about to be freed.

But after three years in detention, is he entitled to any compensation, asks a Legal Times report. ‘I wouldn\'t think so,’ Secretary of the Navy, Gordon England, who administers the review process, is quoted as saying. But attorneys for detainees held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay feel differently. They say that the federal government may be forced to pay. And even those who believe the law does not require the government to dole out money say it might be the right thing to do. ‘If he was unlawfully incarcerated for all this time, I think he has some pretty strong legal arguments available to him,’ says Barbara Olshansky, assistant litigation director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights, which represents more than 50 detainees in military custody. Full report in the Legal Times