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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
October Term, 2009
No.

_

YOUNUS CHEKKOURI,

Petitioner,


v.
BARACK OBAMA,

Respondent.


CLASSIFIED SUPPLEMENT TO

PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

BY A PRISONER IN U.S. GOVERNMENT CUSTODY


Dated:

November 17, 2009

Clive Stafford Smith*
clivess@mac.com
Cori Crider
cori@reprieve.org.uk
Tara Murray
Tara.murray@reprieve.org.uk
Reprieve
PO Box 52742
London EC4P 4WS
United Kingdom
011 44 207 353 4640 (ph)
011 44 207 353 4641 (fax)

Counsel for Younus Chel<l<ouri
* Counsel of Record

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SECRET

CLASSIFIED SUPPLEMENT TO

PETITION FOR A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS

BY A PRISONER IN U.S. GOVERNMENT CUSTODY

To the HON. JOHN G. ROBERTS, JR, CHIEF JUSTICE, greetings:
Comes now You nus Chekkouri, by counsel, and respectfully submits the
. following classified supplement in support of his Petition for a Writ of Habeas
Corpus, filed separately today with the CSO.

I. 

RESPONDENT'S OWN RECORD EVIDENCE SHOWS THAT THE
GOVERNMENT
PETITIONER AND IS ACTIVELY DISREGARDING IT
As discussed in Petitioner's original habeas petition simultaneously filed

with this Court, numerous factual discrepancies between Petitioner's situation
and that in

place Petitioner's request

well outside the purview of that case. A further relevant discrepancy· is surely
that-given the classified evidence discussed here-there is ample documentary
evidence US authorities are perfectly aware of Mr. Chekkouri's
have chosen simply to disregard it.

Petitioner feels

compelled to point out dubious evidence in the

government's own record against him that appears to be sourced to _
_

The evidence has to do with Petitioner's alleged membership in the

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"Group Islamique Combattante Marocaine", or G/CM. All of it would be hotly
contested at a merits hearing as the fruit of torture and duress. 1
But the same evidence is highly valuable for purposes of the instant
motion for several reasons: one, these documents show
two, they
that is,

show that

torture evidence-on the so-cal/ed GICM for years; three, they demonstrate that

; and four, this may be Petitioner's one and only
opportunity to demonstrate to an impartial tribunal that these 'GICM' allegations
all bear the taint of torture and are flatly wrong. 3
The very first sentence of the Government's Amended Factual Return
alleges that Petitioner "is a leader of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
(GICM), a designated foreign terrorist organization that is affiliated with al
Qaeda."

The evidence disclJssed in this supplement is at the heart of the

1 Indeed, Petitioner does not agree that such a group ever existed - while
Petitioner is not in a position to know, it is his supposition that the GICM is
primarily a confabulation by the _authorities, who have used the specter
of such a group both as a scare~to bind the Americans closer to them.
2 Taken as a whole, the documents suggest that the US has even encouraged
that view,

Mr. Chekkouri's team has worked to accumulate a vast amount of independent
data on the torture eVidence that props up the 'GICM' allegations, and would
expect to spend a great deal of time rebutting them at a merits hearing. Here, for
economy's sake, Petitioner canvasses only those portions that show the
seriousness of the Moroccan threat and the US's clear knOWledge that Moroccan
torture created this 'intelligence', That information also goes to the unreliability of
the underlying GICM allegations, but is far from all the Petitioner has to sayan
this point.
3

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SEC~E'f

government's case against Mr. Chekkouri. More to the point, it will lie at the
heart of any case against Mr. Chekkouri

-a case Respondents would

suggest has nothing to do with its Factual Return, but which will in fact have
effectively been brought at the behest of the United States.
There can be no doubt that allegations regarding Mr. Chekkouri and the
GICM

. Indeed, that seems to

be the very point of Respondents' effort
Respondents have elected not to defend those
allegations in American court,

1.  Respondent's evidence

d~nterrogatlonsof


Petitioner in G u a n t a n a m o _ 

The record evidence irrefutably shows that, just as Petitioner remembers,

~ee AI-Wazan (Younous Chekkouri) v. Obama, No. 05-329 (D. D.C. Sept.

•

16,2008),

ISN 197 FD-302

(July 11, 2003):
Shokuri was told that this individual
was
believed associated with the Organization ... GICM.
It was
stressed to Shokuri that is sic has been documented_
hat he had
fUlly admitte his connection to this group, and his role in the
organization. During the last interview conducted by this writer,
4 References to exhibits in Respondents' Amended Factual Return are referred
to at Resp. Exh. throughout this pleading.

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Shokuri had initially denied this connection. Shokuri was told he
was contradicting himself and therefore would not be assisting in
his own effort to be truthful and secure his eventual release.
Shokuri stated that
is biased
against those who choose to leave Morocco and travel to Pakistan
~y feel all these people are a threat to the
_ . Shokuri stated he was only a member of
the Moroccan group he had previously told this interviewer about
during their last meeting. That was the group made up of
Moroccans living in the guest house in Kabul.

Rasp. Exh. 9. at 1-2 (emphasis supplied). This is highly significant: the report
implies that there were,
~tatements made by Petitioner admitting to being a member of the

GICM. This is a key allegation against him and one he vigorously denies. It is
likely to be

.

Petitioner's sworn declaration states that

See

U.S. _ ' Petn. For a Writ of Habeas Corpus,
Nothing in the record rebuts that evidence.

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Id. at 2. From there, this report launches into a litany of allegations that purport to
come from Petitioner's mouth and tie him to the so-called GICM.
information reliable, it would be
Chekkouri.

Were this
of Mr.

But the information is not reliable, and Petitioner has steadfastly

denied it. The only plausible hypothesis is that this evidence comes from one of
the abusive interrogations Mr. Chekkouri cites in his Declaration. That is, the
misinformation was the direct result

5

If they will not so testify, it is difficult to see on what legal basis Respondents
.
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8EORET


In response to his request for further disclosures regarding the
all Petitioner has received is a conclusory

"circumstances" of

The actual circumstances
revealed.
Petitioner has thus received' no meaningful disclosure from the
government regarding what the US knew (and knows)
or
Yassine.

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esting Petitioner was threatened by the

2.

However, one helpful disclosure made in the run-up to
was a "Memorandum for Record" dating August 7,

Petitioner's

2003, which involves some sort of "enhanced interrogation technique" _
_

See Exhibit D

1,3,5

at 1 ("Special action required:

Disclosure), ISN 197 MFR (8-7-03),
1,3,5

(approved)."); at 2

Petitioner sought further discovery into this 1,3,5

business in

correspondence to the government on October 5, 2009, but has received nothing
further.

In that letter, counsel had speculated that the program might have

involved sleep deprivation of Petitioner. See Exhibit E, COffespondence Relating
to

1,3,5

Disclosure ("l am assuming that

1,3,5

was

some bright spark's idea of a witty name for a sleep deprivation process.")
However, it is equally likely that the 1,3,5

involved a threat to render

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the Petitioner to torture in Morocco. 1 (After all, Binyam Mohamed, ISN 1458, was
being tortured in Morocco at the very time these techniques were used on Mr.
Chekkouri. He was threatened with rendition before he was sent there-a threat
Respondents were swift in carrying OUt.)8
In any event, it is surely not Petitioner's burden to speculate what
1,3,5

really were.

It is Respondents who should be required to

submit evidence on this point

3.  Respondent's evidence showing that the US collaborates closely
with Morocco regarding those accused of membership in the so­
called, GICM
As these reports suggest,

His fear derives from the fact that

This should
come as no surprise to Respondents, who have been
on the GICM for years. In Respondents'

the

We also know that there is at least one recognized name for the standard sleep
deprivation technique at Guantanamo: the "frequent flyer program", so called
because the technique involved shuttling the prisoner from cell to cell so often he
could never complete a REM cycle.
8 At a merits hearin ,Petitioner would ex ect to introduce evidence tha

1

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_

repeatedly express this view of accused 'GICM' members. 9 And the

US, importantly, claims to share it.
Thus, for Respondents to claim
is disingenuous. The government's
own evidence shows that, for the entirety of Petitioner's detention, the
government has worked cheek-by-jowl with
where GICM 'suspects' are concerned.

the false
allegations against Mr. Chekkouri, the US has perpetuated them-first in the
CSRT, and in the Amended Factual Return filed with this Court.

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The Court need not pronounce on these evidentiary disputes today. They
would be squarely presented by a hearing on the merits of Petitioners habeas
petition.

The point, rather, is that they will never be presented at all

The US,

_

knows this. Its decision

in flagrant disregard

of this fact strongly suggests that

4.  That Respondent seeks to
evidence was rebutted

only after its
further suggests

Petitioner made extensive submissions to the IART regarding the patent
unreliability of the GICM (and other) allegations. At the merits hearing, Petitioner
will point to significant evidence that all Respondent's "evidence" regarding the
GICM can be traced directly back to the tortured confessions of prisoners in
Morocco.
But Respondents seek to deny Petitioner that chance. Now, after
submissions showing Petitioner's innocence and the rotten roots of the GICM
allegation,

Petitioner hoped this

meant the US government had relinquished its hold on this torture evidence once
and for all. Unfortunately, it appears that the government intends to resuscitate

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8E8~ET

the very allegations Mr. Chekkouri has rebutted-allegations it knows will not
survive independent scrutiny by an Article III judge-

That means nothing less than sUbstituting this Court's judgment on all of
this evidence

.

Nothing in this Court's

precedents or any other requires such a result.
CONCLUSION

For the foregoing reasons, the reasons that appear in the habeas petition
to which this filing is a supplement, and any other reason that may appear to the
Court, Petitioner's Petition for a Writ of Habeas Corpus should be granted.

Dated: November 17,2009

~~
Louisiana Bar No. 14444

Cori A. Crider

New York Bar

Ahmed Ghappour

California Bar

Reprieve

PO Box 52742

London EC4P 4WS

United Kingdom

+44 207 353 4640 (ph)

+44 207 353 4641 (fax)

e-mail: clivess@mac.com

(admitted pro hac vice)


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UNCLASSIFIEOIIFOR PUBLIC RELEASE

(Classified Supplement) Exhibit D 1,3,5
MFR (8-7-03)), disclosed Aug. 20. 2009


Disclosure (ISN 197


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SECR£'ii';';'NOFOR:H

20030807

MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD
SUB.J.ECT: (Ml~P) //ISN US9MO-000197DP// YUNIS ABDURRAHMAN «SHOKURI)
IS A 35-YR-OLD MOROCCAN WHOSE PASSPORT HAS EXPIRED. SOURCE
TRAVELED TO AFGHANISTAN WITH HIS WIFE AND BROTHER TO DO RELIEF
WORK IN JALALABAD. RELIABILITY HAS NOT BEEN DETERMINED.

__ .

1. (S//NF) SUMMARY: _INTERROGATED «SHOKURI» O N _ FOR 3
HOURS IN ARABIC. TH.E PURPQ.s.e_Qf_ItUS INrnRYI~W.wA~tI.Q.EXPLQIT
A. (Sh'Nfi) APPROACH USED: DIRECT

3)

~..

1,5

1, 5

D.

~

SPECIAL ACTION REQUIRED: 1, 3, 5

E.

'tS1

INTELLIGENCE CONTINGENCY FUNDS: _

4)


SECRE'f;','UOFOftH

r
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1,2,5

2. (Sm,,) SUMMARY OF INFORMATION OBTAINED:
THE DETAINEE CLAIMS THE MOROCCAN FIGHTING GROUP
EXISTED ONLY FOR THREE MONTHS IN AFGHANISTAN AS A
SMALL GROUP THAT GAVE MOROCCANS AN ALTERNATNE TO
BELONGING TO AL QAIDA OR FIGHTING WITH mE TALIBAN.
FILED COMMENT: THIS IS THE DETAINEE'S CURRENT COVER
STORY.
B.  THE DETAINEE WANTS TO SHARE HIS KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE
LIBYAN FIGHTING GROUP, ALGERIAN FIGHTING GROUP, AND AL
-_.- -WAFA:FIt.:.Eo-eoMrvlENT:THr: DE-T;"rNEE WJ\NT~-TOi1"SETl-nSA-S--· .
A DIVERSION AWAY FROM HIS DIRECT INVOLVEMENT WITH ABU
ISSA, HEAD Of TIiE GICM.
C.  THE DETAINEE THINKS THAT ABU ISSA HAS BEEN ARRESTED.
FIELD COMMENT: THE DETAINEE CAME TO HIS O'W'N CONCLUSION
TIlAT ABU ISSA HAS BEEN ARRESTED. AND IS GIVING
A. 

INFORMATION TO AUTHORITIES.

D.  THE DETAINEE COOPERATED WITH t
BY GIVING TIlE PROPER
NAME OF THE MOROCCAN FIGHTING GROUP IN AFGHANISTAN;
AL JAM' AH AL ISLAMIYAH AL MUJAHIDAH «AL JAMA'AH AL
ISLAMIYAH AL MARGHRIBIYAH AL MUQATlLAH».
3. (1l':'l'IF) ADDITIONAL COLLECTOR COMMENTS: THE DETAINEE LIKES TO
JOKE AROUND, AND HE USES THIS METHOD TO AVOID ANSWERING
WHENEVER HE IS CONFRONTED WITH QUESTIONS THAT WILL DIRECTLY
1,3,5
1,3,5

poe FOR THIS MEMORANDUM IS
JTF GTMO,AT


SECR£l1'I~~OFOR:~~

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~ent) Exhibit E - Correspondence of Oct. 5, 2009 relating to
_Disclosure

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Classl:fted Seu et

Reprieve
PO Box 52742

London EC4P 4WS

.
England
.Tel: (44) (0)207 353 4640
Fax: (44) (0)207 3534641
clivess@mac.com

October 5 2009
Reeve Swainston, Esq.
United States Department of Justice
Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch
20 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Re: Younus Chekkouri, al Wazan v. Obama, Civil Action No. 05-0329
Follow up regarding 1,3,5
Dear Reeve:
Thank you for the disclosures you made attached to your letter dated August 20.
2009. I had one follow up question, if you would not mind checking into it.

My client has previously described to me some of the abusive techniques that
were used to make him give statements. While he obviously did not know the
code names of the techniques, I am assuming that~as some
bright spark's idea of a witty name for a sleep deprivation process.

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Obviously this kind of official admission of abuse wOuld be extremely helpful to
Mr Chekkouri's case. Would you mind looking into it, and seeing whether you
can extract the official definition of this term, when it was approved, and what
process was required for its application upon Mr Chekkouri?
-rhanks very mUCh. All the best.

Clive A. Stafford Smith

2
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Certificate of Service

I hereby certify that I have served the foregoing document upon counsel for
Respondents:
ANDREW I. WARDEN
STEPHEN M. ELLIOTT
TIMOTHY JOHNSON
Attorneys
United States Department of Justice
Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch
20 Massac~usetts Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20530
Tel: (202) 305-8975
This 17th day of November 2009, via the eso.

..

...~

C"'--"""'-~""";;;"""~~~....L..---

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