The U.S. government responded that it is U.S. policy not to send any detainee to a place where it is more likely than not that the detainee would be tortured upon return.81 It also claimed that in cases where there was a risk of torture, the government sought and secured diplomatic assurances against such treatment.82 The U.S. government argued, however, that none of the information regarding negotiations for transfers out of Guantánamo Bay should be made public, including information related to the reliability or sufficiency of assurances against torture, nor should it be subject to judicial review: If the Court were to entertain petitioners’ claims, it would inject itself into the most sensitive of diplomatic matters. Such judicial review could involve scrutiny of United States’ officials judgments and assessments on the likelihood of torture in a foreign country, including judgments on the reliability of information and representations or the adequacy of assurances provided, and confidential communications with the foreign government and/or sources therein. Disclosure and/or judicial review of such matters could chill important sources of information and interfere with our ability to interact effectively with foreign governments. In particular, the foreign government in question [Yemen], as well as other governments, would likely be reluctant to communicate frankly with the United States in the future concerning 81 United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Mahmoad Abdah, et al. v. George W. Bush, Civil Action No. 04-CV-1254 (HHK), Respondents’ Memorandum in Opposition to Petitioners’ Motion for Order Requiring Advance Notice of any Repatriations or Transfers from Guantanamo, March 8, 2005, p. 4, copy on file with Human Rights Watch. This memorandum draws heavily from two affidavits appended to it: one from Pierre-Richard Prosper, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes, and Matthew C. Waxman, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs in the U.S. Department of Defense. The ultimate approval for transfer of any Guantánamo detainee to the control of another government is made by a senior Department of Defense official, in consultation with the State Department and various other agencies. According to Prosper’s affidavit, he has played a key role in maintaining diplomatic dialogue, including negotiating diplomatic assurances, with foreign governments whose nationals are detained at Guantánamo Bay. Copies of affidavits on file with Human Rights Watch. 82 Mahmoad Abdah, et al. v. George W. Bush, et al., Respondents’ Memorandum in Opposition to Petitioners’ Motion for Order Requiring Advance Notice of any Repatriations or Transfers from Guantanamo, p.4-6. The issue of seeking assurances against torture before transferring detainees back to their home countries has also arisen in the case of a group of Uighurs currently detained at Guantánamo Bay. The U.S. government had stated publicly that it would not send the Uighurs back to China, where they are at risk of torture. See Amnesty International, “USA: ‘Double Jeopardy’ for Some Guantánamo Detainees,” September 30, 2004 [Closing an urgent action on behalf of Uighurs in detention at Guantánamo Bay after United States Secretary of State Colin Powell said that ethnic Uighurs in military custody at Guantánamo will not be sent back to China] [online] http://web.amnesty.org/pages/usa-070104-a action-eng (retrieved March 13, 2005). On March 16, 2005, however, it was reported that a senior administration official stated that because European governments had refused to take the Uighurs for resettlement, the U.S. may be “forced to reconsider sending them back to China.” The official stated that the Uighurs would be repatriated only upon receipt of “iron-clad” guarantees that they would not be tortured. Demetri Sevastopulo, “Uighurs Face Return to China from Guantanamo,” Financial Times, March 16, 2005. See also Human Rights Watch Press Release, “U.S.: Don’t Send Detainees Back to China,” November 26, 2003 [online] http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/11/us112603.htm (retrieved March 13, 2005). 31 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D)