Attorneys for a gravely sick Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who has been on hunger strike for eight and a half years, argue the United States government has “attacked” a federal court’s “Constitutional authority” by claiming “unchecked power” to continue detention and force-feeding. Tariq Ba Odah, a Yemeni prisoner and resident of

President Barack Obama’s administration would rather subject a gravely ill Guantanamo Bay prisoner to continuous abusive force-feedings, which amount to torture, than support his release from the military prison because he is sick.

Attorneys for Guantanamo Bay prisoner Mohammed Kamin asked the Periodic Review Board during a hearing to approve his release. Kamin is an Afghan who has been detained at the military prison for over eleven years. He is currently not charged with any crime, however, he is one of a number of forever prisoners, who President Barack Obama’s administration has designated for indefinite detention. In April 2008, Kamin was charged with “material support for terrorism.” A convening authority subsequently withdrew the charge against him 2009, and a federal court later ruled “material support” was not a valid offense triable by a military commission.

President Barack Obama’s administration opposes the release of a Guantanamo Bay prisoner, who has never been charged with a crime, weighs around 75 pounds, and is near death. But the administration does not want the public to know why exactly it opposes freeing this gravely ill man. Tariq Ba Odah,