USA: Who are the Guantánamo Detainees? Case Sheet 12: Ethiopian national/UK resident: Benyam Mohammed al Habashi

Index Number: AMR 51/152/2005
Date Published: 20 September 2005
Categories: Americas, USA

Benyam Mohammed al-Habashi was born in Ethiopia. He sought asylum in the UK, where he converted to Islam and attempted to conquer his drug addiction. In 2002 he was arrested at Karachi airport; he was not using his own passport. He was handed over to US officials and eventually transferred to Guantánamo Bay where he remains, held without charge or trial by the US military. Among other things, this document urges that all the Guantánamo detainees are given fair trials or released and that the USA to halt "extraordinary rendition" to countries where detainees are at risk of torture.