Hadj Boudella

Hadj Boudella is a citizen of Bosnia who was wrongfully detained for over six years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

He was born in Algeria, moved to Bosnia, married Nađa Dizdarević a Bosnian woman, and became a Bosnian citizen. Boudella, and five associates of his, who were also Bosnians who were born in Algeria were arrested by Bosnian authorities. Local United States intelligence officials said they detected "chatter" that implicated the six in a conspiracy to bomb the Bosnian embassy.

He won his habeas corpus and US District Court Judge Richard J. Leon wrote that there was no evidence that Boudella intended to travel to Afghanistan to take up arms against US forces. Judge Leon declared Boudella's detention as unlawful and ordered his release in November 2008. He was released from Guantanamo and returned to his family in Bosnia on December 16, 2008.

Combatant Status Review
Hadj Boudella was among the 60% of prisoners who chose to participate in tribunal hearings. A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee, listing the allegations that supported their detention as an "enemy combatant".

Hadj Boudella's memo accused him of the following:

The Associated Press acquired copies of the unclassified portions of many of the detainees' dossiers. Hadj Boudella's dossier was one of the 59 Associated Press available for public download.

Boudella chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.

Wife hunger strike
On June 2005 Boudella's wife Nađa Dizdarević started the first of several hunger strikes to protest her husbands detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She said she would end her hunger strike only when she received written confirmation from Bosnia's presidency it would address the issue with Washington.

Release
On 16 December 2008 Hadj Boudella, Mustafa Idr, and Mohammed Nechle were released to Bosnia.

On 3 March 2009, El Khabar reported that the Bush administration forced Idr and the other two men to sign undertakings that they would not sue the US government for their kidnapping, before they would be released.