Seeking Asylum
In March 2005, attorneys for Qassim challenged his continued detention by filing a Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in federal district court in Washington DC in the case of Qassim v. Bush. In December Judge James Robertson reviewed the detention of Qassim and A'Del Abdu al-Hakim. Robertson declared that their "indefinite imprisonment at Guantanamo Bay is unlawful," but also ruled on separation of powers grounds that he did not have the power to order their release into the United States. Qassim and Hakim immediately appealed.
A February 18, 2006 article in the Washington Times reported that Abu Bakker Qassim and A'Del Abdu al-Hakim had received military training in Afghanistan. It said they were not classified as "illegal combatants" because they intended to go home and employ their training against the Chinese government. Some earlier reports had described them as economic refugees, who were slowly working their way to Turkey.
On April 17, 2006 the US Supreme Court rejected Qassim's request to hear his appeal. His appeal was scheduled to be heard by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on May 8, 2006.
Read more about this topic: Abu Bakker Qassim
Famous quotes containing the words seeking and/or asylum:
“There is something servile in the habit of seeking after a law which we may obey. We may study the laws of matter at and for our convenience, but a successful life knows no law.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The most threatened group in human societies as in animal societies is the unmated male: the unmated male is more likely to wind up in prison or in an asylum or dead than his mated counterpart. He is less likely to be promoted at work and he is considered a poor credit risk.”
—Germaine Greer (b. 1939)