Since\u00a0the age of 23,\u00a0Tariq Ba-Odah has been detained at the U.S. prison facility at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo Bay. Never charged with a crime, Ba-Odah went\u00a0on hunger strike eight years ago to\u00a0protest his\u00a0indefinite detention, as well as the brutal treatment he is alleged to have suffered at the hands of his captors.<\/p>\n
Now a 36-year-old man, Ba-Odah weighs less than 75 pounds.\u00a0Despite having been cleared for release by a multi-agency review board in 2009, he remains behind bars with his\u00a0release still a subject of\u00a0legal wrangling by the Obama administration. In response to his rapidly deteriorating physical\u00a0condition,\u00a0his lawyers recently\u00a0filed a petition\u00a0for habeas corpus, citing\u00a0the U.S. government\u2019s legal obligations to free seriously\u00a0ill prisoners.<\/p>\n
Last week, Justice Department lawyers asked for an extension in the deadline to respond to his habeas filing. A New York Times<\/em>\u00a0article<\/a>\u00a0published at the time cited an interagency conflict between the State Department and Department of Defense as contributing to Ba-Odah\u2019s continued legal predicament. An article<\/a> published Monday by\u00a0the\u00a0Daily Beast<\/em>, citing anonymous White House sources, purported to explain\u00a0the nature of this\u00a0dispute\u00a0further, suggesting that Defense Secretary Ash Carter is refusing\u00a0to sign release orders for the 52 Gitmo prisoners who have been cleared for repatriation or resettlement, not wanting to take responsibility for their possible future actions.<\/p>\n Both the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense\u00a0declined to comment to The Intercept<\/em> on the specifics of Ba-Odah\u2019s case, while the DoD stated, \u201cWe are taking all practicable steps to reduce the detainee population at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo. \u2026 Unfortunately, this process can be slowed unnecessarily by\u00a0burdensome legislative provisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Omar Farah, a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which is representing Ba-Odah, says that the responsibility for his continued incarceration lies with President Obama. \u201cFor so long the president has complained that Congress has tied his hands on Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo, but this is a case where he could directly and unilaterally instruct the Department of Justice\u00a0to not contest Ba-Odah\u2019s habeas petition and he has refused to do it,\u201d Farah says. \u201cWe will know how serious Obama is on Friday when the Department of Justice either agrees not to contest Ba-Odah\u2019s case, or fights on Obama\u2019s behalf to hold him at Guant\u00c3\u00a1namo even longer despite his desperate condition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n