UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
ABU WA' EL (JIHAD) DHIAB,
Petitioner,
v. Civil Action-No. 05-1457 (GK)
BARACK H. OBAMA, et al.
Respondents.
MEMORANDUM OPINION
Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 2 4 and Local
Rule of Civil Procedure 7 (j), Hearst Corporation, Inc., ABC,
Inc., Associated Press, Bloomberg L. P., CBS Broadcasting, Inc.,
The Contently Foundation, Dow Jones & Company, Inc., First Look
Media, Inc., Guardian US, The McClatchy Company, National Public
Radio, Inc., The New York Times Company, Reuters America LLC,
Tribune Publishing Company, LLC, USA TODAY, and The Washington
Post ("Press Applicants" or "Intervenors") seek to intervene and
to unseal twenty-eight videotapes that have been entered into
the record of the above captioned matter.
Before filing their Motion to Intervene and to Unseal
Videotape Evidence, Intervenors conferred with counsel for
Petitioner Abu Wa'el (Jihad) Dhiab ("Petitioner" or "Dhiab") and
with the Government ("the Government'' or "Respondents") .
Petitioner consents to the intervention and does not oppose
unsealing the videotapes. Intervenors' Mot. at 1 [Dkt. No. 263].
The Government does not object to Press Applicants' Motion to
Intervene, but the Government opposes unsealing the videotapes.
Intervenors' Mot. at 1; Resp'ts' Opp'n at 2.
Upon consideration of Intervenors' Motion to Intervene and
to Unseal Videotape Evidence, Respondents' Opposition to Press
Applicants' Motion to Unseal Videotape Evidence, Intervenors'
Reply, and the entire record herein, and for the reasons stated
below, Intervenors' Motion to Intervene is hereby granted and
Intervenors' Motion to Unseal is hereby granted, with
modifications.
I. BACKGROUND
A. Factual Background
Wa' el (Jihad) Dhiab, a citizen of Syria, has been held by
the United States Government in a detention facility at the
United States Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba since as early
1
as 2002. [Dkt. No. 1]. In 2009, the Guantanamo Review Task
Force cleared Mr. Dhiab for release from his ongoing detention
at Guantanamo Bay. [Dkt. No. 175]. To this day, he remains
imprisoned there. In protest of his indefinite detention, Mr.
Dhiab has been on a long-term hunger strike. [Dkt. No. 175].
Petitioner alleges that the "precise date" of his transfer
to Guantanamo Bay is "unknown to [his] counsel, but known to
Respondents." [Dkt. No. 1 at ~ 23].
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On April 9, 2013, the Government notified Mr. Dhiab's
counsel that, in response to his on-going hunger strike, it had
begun to feed Mr. Dhiab nasogastrically against his will. [Dkt.
No. 17 5] . Mr. Dhiab continues to undergo enteral feeding when
the Government deems it necessary. Alka Pradhan Decl. at