under the convention will not be given further consideration by U.S. authorities.77 The reliability assessment of the assurances is not reviewable by a court.78 The U.S. government has also stated that it seeks and secures assurances against inhumane treatment before transferring detainees from Guantánamo Bay to their home countries or to third countries.79 To date, the detainees have no right to challenge the reliability or sufficiency of such assurances before an independent tribunal. Case of Yemeni Detainees and Transfers from Guantánamo Bay The inability to challenge assurances of fair treatment upon return has arisen in the context of returns of so-called “enemy combatants” from Guantánamo Bay. In March 2005, a group of Yemeni men currently in detention at Guantánamo Bay filed a motion for thirty days’ advance notice of any intention to remove them from U.S. custody to Yemen.80 The men argued that in the event they were transferred directly to Yemeni authorities, they would be at risk of torture and ill-treatment in detention there, and sought notice in order to challenge their transfers on human rights grounds. They also argued that their currently pending petitions for habeas corpus in U.S. courts would become moot if they were transferred back to Yemen. 77 8 C.F.R. § 208.18(c) - Diplomatic assurances against torture obtained by the Secretary of State. (1) The Secretary of State may forward to the Attorney General assurances that the Secretary has obtained from the government of a specific country that an alien would not be tortured there if the alien were removed to that country. (2) If the Secretary of State forwards assurances described in paragraph (c)(1) of this section to the Attorney General for consideration by the Attorney General or her delegates under this paragraph, the Attorney General shall determine, in consultation with the Secretary of State, whether the assurances are sufficiently reliable to allow the alien's removal to that country consistent with Article 3 of the Convention against Torture… (3) Once assurances are provided under paragraph (c)(2) of this section, the alien's claim for protection under the Convention against Torture shall not be considered further by an immigration judge, the Board of Immigration Appeals, or an asylum officer. 78 8 C.F.R. § 208.18(c)(3) 79 The Department of Defense General Counsel’s Office has stated in the past that transfers within its purview, including the transfers of detainees from Guantánamo Bay back to their home countries or to third countries, only occur with assurances against torture. See letter from William J. Haynes II to Senator Patrick Leahy, June 25, 2003 [online] http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/06/letter-to-leahy.pdf (retrieved March 25, 2005): “Should an individual be transferred to another country to be held on behalf of the United States, or should we otherwise deem it appropriate, United States policy is to obtain specific assurances from the receiving country that it will not torture the individual being transferred to that country.” See also letter from William J. Haynes II to Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights, April 2, 2003 [online] http://www.hrw.org/press/2003/04/dodltr040203.pdf (retrieved March 25, 2005): “If the war on terrorists of global reach requires transfer of detained enemy combatants to other countries for continued detention on our behalf, U.S. Government instructions are to seek and obtain appropriate assurances that such enemy combatants are not tortured.” 80 United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Mahmoad Abdah, et al. v. George W. Bush, Civil Action No. 04-CV-1254 (HHK), March 1, 2005. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH VOL. 17 NO. 4(D) 30