IN RE: GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE LITIGATION

Filing 554

NOTICE of Authorization for Mohammed Rajeb Abu Ghanem by MOHAMMED RAJEB ABU GHANEM (Attachments: # 1 Declaration of Kit Pierson)(Pierson, Kit)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA IN RE GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEE LITIGATION This Document Relates To: MOHAMMED RAJEB ABU GHANEM, Petitioner/Plaintiff, v. GEORGE W. BUSH, et al., Respondents/Defendants. Misc. No. 08-442 (TFH) Civil Action No. 05-CV-1638 (CKK)

DECLARATION OF KIT A. PIERSON Kit A. Pierson declares as follows, pursuant to 28 U.S.C. Section 1746: 1. I am an attorney at the law firm Heller Ehrman LLP, and am licensed to

practice law in the states of Maryland, Oregon, Michigan, and the District of Columbia. 2. My client Mohammed Rajeb Abu Ghanem is a prisoner in the prison

maintained by the United States military at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. He has been imprisoned there without charge since early 2002. 3. I have met with Mr. Ghanem at Guantánamo Bay several times, beginning

in October 2006. My discussions with Mr. Ghanem during these meetings are attorneyclient privileged. 4. During my meetings with him, Mr. Ghanem conveyed to me his authority

for me and my colleagues at Heller Ehrman LLP and the Center for Constitutional Rights

to represent him in connection with his imprisonment at Guantánamo Bay, including but not limited to prosecuting the petition for a writ of habeas corpus that was filed on his behalf in this Civil Action No. 05-1638. 5. Mr. Ghanem has not signed a written authorization, and I do not believe

that any rule or order of this Court requires him to do so. 6. On October 19, 2005, Judge Gladys Kessler entered the Amended

Protective Order and Procedures for Counsel Access to Detainees at the United States Naval Base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, first issued on November 8, 2004 in In re Guantanamo Detainee Cases, 344 F.Supp.2d 174 (D.D.C. 2004), and certain subsequent related orders in this case (the "Protective Order"). (Case No. 05-CV-2386, Document 66.) The Protective Order did not require petitioners to sign an authorization stating that a petitioner had authorized counsel to pursue the action. Rather, the Protective Order provided that "Counsel shall provide evidence of his or her authority to represent the detainee. . . ." (Prot. Order, Revised Procedures for Counsel Access to Detainees at the U.S. Naval Base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, § III.C.2.) It has been my understanding during my representation of Mr. Ghanem that evidence of my authority to represent a detainee may take the form of a sworn statement. See Adem v. Bush, Case No. 05-CV723 (RWR) (AK), Document 42, at 14-15 ("Here, a sworn statement provides evidence that [petitioner] was actively seeking a lawyer to represent him."). 7. Many prisoners at Guantánamo Bay are suspicious of providing a signature

on any document to any person, for any reason. Many prisoners have been told that their lawyers are interrogators or part of the CIA. Others have been told that they are meeting 2

with their interrogators, when they are in fact meeting with their lawyers. It is hard to gain and easy to lose the trust of clients imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay. 8. The conditions at Guantánamo make it very difficult to forge an attorney-

client relationship. I believe that forcing Mr. Ghanem to sign an authorization form as a condition of representation could jeopardize the attorney-client relationship. I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct. /s/ Kit A. Pierson Kit A. Pierson

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