Geneva, 09 January, 2025.- UN experts* today called on the United States to immediately release Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Husayn (known as Abu Zubaydah), who remains detained for almost 20 years without charge at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and naval station.
Following the 11 September 2001 attacks on the United States, Abu Zubaydah was captured in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan. Abu Zubaydah was then transferred to CIA custody and subsequently held at multiple secret ‘black’ sites in several countries, where there is evidence that he was tortured. He has been held at the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, without any charge ever been formally pressed against him.
“We are exceptionally requesting a Presidential pardon for Mr. Abu Zubaydah, owing to his treatment while in detention and the lack of due process since he was first detained,” the experts said. “His immediate release and relocation to a third safe country are long overdue.”
“Mr. Abu Zubaydah suffers serious health conditions, including from injuries sustained during torture that are allegedly exacerbated by the denial of medical attention. In addition, lawyer-client communication has been seriously impeded,” they said.
The case has been examined by various international and regional human rights mechanisms, which have all established that Mr. Abu Zubaydah has suffered multiple human rights violations in the context of the United States’ rendition and secret detention programme.
“In addition to his liberation, we request that Mr. Abu Zubaydah is accorded an enforceable right to compensation and other measures of reparation, in accordance with international law,” the experts said.
They underlined the profound psychological and physical trauma of torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and enforced disappearance that Abu Zubaydah has endured and reiterated their call for the United States of America to immediately release and relocate him to a safe third country.
“We recall the principle of joint responsibility that applies to States when more than one of them was involved in the perpetration of a human rights violation,” the experts said. “Accordingly, we call on States to proactively offer their territory for the prompt relocation of Mr. Abu Zubaydah.”
The experts previously expressed specific and direct concerns regarding the continued detention of individuals at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba – now 14 men, in varying stages of legal proceedings and some with related allegations of ongoing human rights abuse.