Ahmed Abdul Qader

Originally the Bush Presidency asserted that captives apprehended in the "war on terror" were not covered by the Geneva Conventions, and could be held indefinitely, without charge, and without an open and transparent review of the justifications for their detention. In 2004, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in Rasul v. Bush, that Guantanamo captives were entitled to being informed of the allegations justifying their detention, and were entitled to try to refute them. Office for the Administrative Review of Detained Enemy Combatants s were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. According to their study: • Ahmed Abdul Qader was listed as one of the captives who "The military alleges ... are associated with both Al Qaeda and the Taliban." A 13-page Joint Task Force Guantanamo detainee assessment was drafted about him on May 20, 2008. It was signed by camp commandant Rear Admiral David M Thomas Jr. who recommended continued detention. Guantanamo Review Task Force On January 21, 2009, the day he was inaugurated, United States President Barack Obama issued three Executive orders related to the detention of individuals in Guantanamo. He established a task force to re-review the status of all the remaining captives. Where the OARDEC officials reviewing the status of the captives were all "field grade" officers in the US military (Commanders, naval Captains, Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels) the officials seconded to the task force were drawn from not only the Department of Defense, but also from five other agencies, including the Departments of State, Justice, Homeland Security. President Obama gave the task force a year, and it recommended the release of Qader and 54 other individuals. ==Transfer to Estonia==

He was accepted as a refugee by Estonia on January 14, 2015. The government decided to offer an invitation to Qader on October 9, 2014. The invitation told him he would be allowed to apply for asylum status. Estonia had been in discussions to accept individuals formerly held in Guantanamo, for years. The Baltic Times reported, on August 29, 2009, that Estonia was prepared to accept multiple individuals. However, on October 12, 2010, Russia Today reported that Foreign Minister Urmas Paet, informed the Estonian legislature that Estonian law barred accepting the former captives. In 2011, the whistleblower site WikiLeaks published formerly secret diplomatic cables that stated the USA had offered to pay Estonia 62600 euros for every captive Estonia took. ==Third party comments==

On December 24, 2014, Linda Greenhouse, a long-time commentator on the United States Supreme Court, writing in The New York Times, wrote about Ahmed Abdul habeas corpus petition, and comments made by more senior judges on his case. Sara Davidson, writing in the New Yorker magazine and Wells Bennett, writing for Lawfare, both commented on his case, following his transfer to Estonia. ==Alleged disappearance==

On June 28, 2015, Mark Mackinnon, reporting from Tallinn, for The Globe and Mail, reported that Akhmed Abdul Qader had "disappeared". On July 7, 2015, an article in Postimees stated, that: "Up to now, the man has not been outside the country." ==New York Times interview==

On July 29, 2016, Charlie Savage of The New York Times, profiled Qader after an extensive interview. According to Savage, Qader reported 'terrible anxiety problems'. He reported that Qader was too anxious to travel, and sometimes could not leave his apartment. He described feeling anxious to go anywhere, for fear that, coincidentally, there is an explosion nearby, and his proximity makes him the prime suspect. The Estonian government provides Qader with a studio apartment, a stipend, language lessons, health care, and a coach to help him adjust to life in Estonia. ==References==