Stanford Law Clinic Announces Journalist Held by U.S. Department of Defense in Bagram, Afghanistan Has Been Released

Business Wire, Sept 23, 2008

STANFORD, Calif. -- The International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) of Stanford Law School's Mills Legal Clinic, acting as co-counsel with the global humanitarian organization, the International Justice Network, announced today that the U.S. Department of Defense has released Jawed "JoJo" Ahmad, a 22-year-old Canadian Television (CTV) journalist who had been held without charge in military custody at the detention facility at the United States Air Base in Bagram, Afghanistan since October 2007.

"I am free from hell and today is my victory," said Jawed Ahmad. "After 11 months of being held in cell that was a like a grave, I want to tell the world the story of my detention and I hope that the stories of others held at Bagram will also see the light of day."

"This is a personal victory for JoJo Ahmad, and a critical victory for freedom of speech," said Ahmad's lawyer, Barbara Olshansky, a visiting professor who directs the International Human Rights Clinic at Stanford Law School, and litigation director at the International Justice Network, which filed a lawsuit in June 2008 seeking his immediate release. "This journalist was seized while he was doing his job. He was held virtually incommunicado without charge and without access to a lawyer or a fair process by which he could challenge his designation and detention. Neither his family nor his lawyers were provided with the most basic information about his condition. This just shouldn't happen, especially when the treatment is at the hands of the world's most powerful democracy," Olshansky added.

The suit, Ahmad v. Bush, was filed as a petition for a writ of habeas corpus and as a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia against President of the United States George Bush and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. The suit asked the court to use its authority to compel the President and the U.S. military to establish a lawful basis for Ahmad's detention or to release him immediately. The detention facility in Bagram, Afghanistan is under the undisputed exclusive jurisdiction and control of the U.S. military.

Ahmad, an Afghan civilian, was working as a journalist for CTV, one of Canada's largest private broadcasters, and was designated an "enemy combatant" without basis. Little information was provided by the military to his immediate family or his employer. CTV reported that it made inquiries to NATO, the Canadian military, and the U.S. military on Ahmad's behalf without result. The non-profit advocacy group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, also made inquiries on Ahmad's behalf.

According to Tina Monshipour Foster, the executive director of the International Justice Network, Ahmad is but one of many confirmed cases of foreign journalists who have been and continue to be detained by the U.S. government as part of "the war on terror." In April this year, the United States released Bilal Hussein, a Pulitzer-Prize-winning photographer for the Associated Press, after two years of military imprisonment without charge in Iraq. In May, Al Jazeera cameraman Sami Al Haj was released after five years of detention without charge at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The illegal seizure and detention of journalists in conflict zones not only deprives innocent people of their freedom," said Foster, "but also deprives the public of accurate information about what is happening in those regions."

"Much work still remains to be done to assist the thousands of people who have been illegally seized and detained in U.S.-controlled prisons around the world as well as those who have been returned home after suffering torture and abuse and are having difficulty handling the toll that such treatment has taken on them," Olshansky noted.

About Barbara Olshansky

Barbara Olshansky, a leading voice in international human rights and humanitarian law, is the Leah Kaplan Visiting Professor in Human Rights. She joined Stanford in 2007 to teach international law and to establish and direct the International Human Rights Clinic's in-country clinical program in Namibia. Professor Olshansky is known for her groundbreaking work on the 2004 Rasul v. Bush case, in which the Supreme Court of the United States overruled a lower court ruling and found that American courts have jurisdiction over claims brought by Guantanamo detainees who are foreign nationals. She is also the co-author of several books, including Against War with Iraq and Democracy Detained: Secret, Unconstitutional Practices in the U.S. War on Terror.

About the Mills Legal Clinic

Stanford Law School offers a variety of clinics that litigate in specialized fields, including environmental protection, immigrants' rights, community law, cyberlaw, educational advocacy, and international human rights. The clinics provide pro bono representation and operate cohesively as a single law firm, the Mills Legal Clinic of Stanford Law School. The Mills Legal Clinic provides students an opportunity to apply classroom theory to real client situations and to develop a lifelong commitment to public service values.