About the Case
MFIA represents ProPublica journalist Ray Bonner in an effort to release government records about the capture and torture of the Guantanamo detainee known as Abu Zubaydah.
Abu Zubaydah is the first individual alleged to have been subjected to torture by the CIA in the aftermath of 9/11, with the direct approval of high-ranking government officials. After four-and-a-half years in the CIA’s secret prison network he was transferred to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2006 and has been held there without charge ever since.” Zubaydah’s capture, treatment and continued confinement have been the subject of numerous investigations and reports, including by international tribunals, human rights groups, and the U.S. Senate.
After the Supreme Court’s 2008 ruling in Boumediene v. Bush, his lawyers filed a habeas petition challenging his continued detention.
Virtually the entire docket was initially sealed from public view. The Clinic intervened on behalf of Mr. Bonner to assert the public’s First Amendment right of access to court dockets. The Court ordered the release of some redacted documents, and the Clinic subsequently moved the Court to conduct its own review of the government’s redactions. We now await a decision on that motion.