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Lawyer for ex-Gitmo detainee says his client is being used as “political football”
This follows a recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to either deport the two ex-Gitmo detainees or rectify their stay in Ghana.
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Speaking in a broadcast interview Friday, George Clark said his client, Mahmud Umar Muhammad Bin Atef, is worried about the development.
According to him, his client’s worry stems from a recent Supreme Court ruling ordering the government to either deport the two ex-Gitmo detainees or rectify their stay in Ghana.
He stressed that the change of power in both Ghana and the USA “certainly doesn’t help, and it is unfortunate that it appears to me that he is being used as a political football when he has nothing to do with that.”
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“To put that change on a specific person or a specific deal that the prior government made seems to be inappropriate, and that is what it seems to be happening.”
“I am sure that he is worried about that. Repatriating him to Yemen would be contrary to international law because of the armed conflict in Yemen, so I don’t think that is going to happen,” the lawyer added.
Clark said his client is trying to “live a regular life” in Ghana but the Akufo-Addo administration has restricted his movement.
He said “that has negative connotations for him, in being able to work and be productive and things like that. It is a complicated situation for him.”
READ ALSO: Ex-Gitmo detainee marries in Ghana
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Clark also disclosed that Atef has gotten married, saying that the marriage ceremony occurred while he was in Ghana.
“I think it was contracted while he was in Ghana but I don’t believe the woman is from Ghana.”
Meanwhile, the government has indicated that the two ex-Guantanamo Bay detainees have behaved well since the erstwhile John Mahama administration accepted to host them.
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