{{Short description|Algerian-Bosnian former Guantanamo detainee}} {{notability|Biographies|date=August 2012}} {{Infobox War on Terror detainee | name = Hadj Boudella | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|4|18}}<ref name="age">{{Cite web| date = 2006-05-17| url = http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article485410.ece| title = Full list of Guantanamo detainees| work = The Independent| access-date = 2007-08-13| last = The Independent| author-link = The Independent| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070817075423/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article485410.ece| archive-date = 2007-08-17}}</ref> | birth_place = Algeria | death_date = | id_number = 10006 | alias = Boudella al Hajj | charge = No charges (unlawful detained) | status = Released in December 2008 after winning his habeas corpus | occupation = Worked with Bosnian orphans | spouse = Nađa Dizdarević | parents = | children = |image=ISN 10006, Boudellaa al-Haj.jpg}}

'''Hadj Boudella''' (born April 18, 1965) is a citizen of Bosnia who was wrongfully detained for over six years in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.<ref name=DoDList2>{{Cite web | url=http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf | title=List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006 | author=OARDEC | author-link=OARDEC | publisher=United States Department of Defense | date=2006-05-15 | access-date=2007-09-29 | archive-date=2007-09-30 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930184034/http://www.dod.mil/news/May2006/d20060515%20List.pdf | url-status=dead }}</ref>

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 Algerian-born Bosnians were arrested by Bosnian authorities. Local United States intelligence officials said they detected "chatter" that implicated the six in a conspiracy to bomb the US embassy in Bosnia.

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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/12/18/freed-bosnian-calls-guantanamo-the-worst-place-in-the-world/|title = Freed Bosnian Calls Guantánamo the "worst place in the world" &#124; Andy Worthington}}</ref>

==Wife hunger strike== {{Main|Nađa Dizdarević}} In 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.<ref name="cageprisoners">{{Cite web| date = 2005-12-06| url = http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=10997| title = Guantanamo Prisoner's Bosnian Wife Begins Hunger Strike| publisher =Cage Prisoners| access-date = 2007-08-13| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070927233400/http://www.cageprisoners.com/articles.php?id=10997| archive-date = 2007-09-27}}</ref>

==Release== On December 16, 2008, Hadj Boudella, Mustafa Idr, and Mohammed Nechle were released to Bosnia.<ref name=Ap2008-12-16> {{Cite news |url = https://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGotzoZe_qi25M1jrAtQ1lnOFVSAD953VKN00 |title = Lawyer: Gitmo detainees arrive in Bosnia |publisher = Associated Press |author = Mike Melia |author-link = Mike Melia |date = 2008-12-16 |access-date = 2008-12-17 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://archive.today/20240524074842/https://www.webcitation.org/5d9Bn50WX?url=http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gGotzoZe_qi25M1jrAtQ1lnOFVSAD953VKN00 |archive-date = 2024-05-24 }} </ref><ref name=NYTimes2008-12-16> {{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/washington/16gitmo.html?hp | title=U.S. Is Set to Release 3 Detainees From Base | work=New York Times | author=William Glaberson | author-link=William Glaberson | date=2008-12-15 | access-date=2008-12-17 }} </ref><ref name=TheAustralian2008-12-17>{{Cite news |url = http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24816310-12335,00.html |title = Guantanamo 'worst place on Earth' |publisher = The Australian |date = 2008-12-17 |access-date = 2008-12-17 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110811043227/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24816310-12335,00.html |archive-date = 2011-08-11 }}</ref>

On March 3, 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.<ref name=ElKhabar>{{Cite news |url = http://www.elkhabar.com/quotidienFrEn/?ida=146315&idc=129 |title = Documents allege Bosnian Algerians committed not to sue the U.S. |publisher = El Khabar |date = 2009-03-04 |access-date = 2009-03-03 |quote = The U.S. has handed over the Bosnian Government documents alleging that Bosnian-Algerians recently freed from Guantanamo detention camp have signed commitments depriving them from the right to sue in justice U.S. and Bosnian officials, responsible for their "abduction" in Sarajevo, seven years ago, spokesman of Bosnian Al-Ansar Association, Ayman Awad told El Khabar. |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101031040909/http://www.elkhabar.com/quotidienFrEn/?ida=146315&idc=129 |archive-date = 2010-10-31 }}</ref>

==See also== *Algerian Six

==References== {{Reflist|2}}

==External links== {{Wikisource|Affidavit of Emina Planja}} *[https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/20/AR2006082000660_pf.html Washington Post: At Guantanamo, caught in a legal trap] *[https://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2004-11-03-gitmo-detainees_x.htm USA Today: Detainees cases show another side of Gitmo] *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6520816 NPR: listening in on detainee hearings] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100106201529/http://www.hcfa.house.gov/110/42293.pdf CITY ON THE HILL OR PRISON ON THE BAY? THE MISTAKES OF GUANTANAMO AND THE DECLINE OF AMERICA’S IMAGE] *[http://rainbowwarrior2005.wordpress.com/2008/10/31/scandal-of-six-held-in-guantanamo-even-after-bush-plot-claim-is-dropped/ Scandal of six held in Guantanamo even after Bush plot claim is dropped] *[http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2008/11/25/after-7-years-judge-orders-release-of-guantanamo-kidnap-victims/ After 7 Years, Judge Orders Release of Guantánamo Kidnap Victims] Andy Worthington November 25, 2008 *[http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/leon-boumediene-order-11-20-2008.pdf Judge Leon’s unclassified opinion] *[http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2009/09/09/75134/algerians-freed-from-guantanamo.html Algerians, freed from Guantanamo, still paying the price]

{{WoTPrisoners|state=collapsed}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boudella, Hadj}} Category:Living people Category:1965 births Category:Algerian emigrants to Bosnia and Herzegovina Category:Guantanamo detainees known to have been released Category:People subject to extraordinary rendition by the United States Category:Combatant Status Review Tribunals Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina people of Algerian descent Category:Bosnia and Herzegovina extrajudicial prisoners of the United States