apprehension of the so-called Algerian Six202 in Bosnia and Herzegovina was sufficiently connected to an armed conflict, thereby invoking international humanitarian law rules of detention, simply because the United States alleged that they planned to travel to Afghanistan at some point in the future to take up arms against the United States.203 The detention of all detainees apprehended outside an armed conflict is governed by international human rights law.204 Thus, the prohibition of arbitrary detention as guaranteed by international human rights law is unquestionably and fully applicable to these detainees throughout their detention. ODIHR again stresses that acts of terrorism committed outside an armed conflict are to be treated as criminal acts requiring law enforcement responses in line with international human rights standards and OSCE commitments. 160. Although the United States did capture individuals in the context of the international armed conflict in Afghanistan, hundreds of detainees later held in Guantánamo were apprehended after the end of that conflict in June 2002. To ODIHR’s knowledge, approximately 215 people were transferred to Guantánamo after this date. It appears that, of the 116 persons still held at Guantánamo, just 26 were captured in Afghanistan before July 2002. This number would rise to 79 if it included those apprehended in Pakistan before July 2002.205 Other current detainees were apprehended in other places such as Djibouti, Kenya, Thailand and United Arab Emirates after July 2002.206 It can therefore reasonably be assumed that a significant proportion of Guantánamo detainees, both past and present, were apprehended outside any international armed conflict. were believed to have committed a hostile act against the US or coalition forces. Furthermore, “[t]he Government has detained numerous persons based on mere affiliations with a large number of groups that in fact, are not on the Department of Homeland Security terrorist watchlist”; “US: Prolonged Indefinite Detention Violates International Law: Current Detention Practices at Guantanamo Unjustified and Arbitrary”, Human Rights Watch website, 24 January 2011, <http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/01/24/us-prolonged-indefinite-detention-violates-international-law>; The Report of The Constitution Project's Task Force on Detainee Treatment, op. cit., note 183, p. 66: Former interrogators and military personnel also expressed their opinions that there are detainees who should not have been detained in Guantánamo. 202 The Algerian Six consisted of Bensayah Belkacem, Hajj Boudella, Lakhdar Boumediene, Mustafa Ait Idir, Sabir Mahfouz Lahmar and Mohammed Nechle. They were all born in Algeria but were residing in Bosnia and Herzegovina at the time of their apprehension. The US government accused them of plotting to attack the US Embassy in Sarajevo and of planning to travel to Afghanistan to take up arms against the United States. The Algerian Six were arrested by Bosnian authorities and held for 90 days before the Bosnian Supreme Court dismissed the charges. Although the Human Rights Chamber of Bosnia and Herzegovina ordered the government to take all steps to prevent the deportation of the Algerian Six, the six men were all apprehended and taken to Guantánamo. 203 Although the US government also initially alleged that the Algerian Six plotted to attack the US Embassy in Sarajevo, it later dropped these accusations. According to the judge in their habeas corpus case, “all six petitioners (…) were residing (…) over a thousand miles away from the battlefield in Afghanistan”. The US government relied on a single source to show the alleged plan to travel to Afghanistan, which resulted in the judge finding that “[t]o allow enemy combatancy to rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this Court’s obligation (…) to protect petitioners from the risk of erroneous detention”. United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Lakhdar Boumediene v. George W. Bush, Civil Case No. 04-1166, 20 November 2008, <http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/leon-boumediene-order-11-20-2008.pdf>. 204 “International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts”, ICRC, September 2007, op. cit., note 18, p. 726. 205 A number of detainees apprehended close to the Afghan border in Pakistan were allegedly escaping from Afghanistan. While ODIHR does not agree with the assumption that they were all captured in connection with the international armed conflict in Afghanistan, it is possible that some of them may have been involved in a belligerent activity or directly participated in hostilities. 206 “The Guantánamo Docket”, The New York Times website, op. cit., note 88; Carol Rosenberg, “Who’s still being held at Guantánamo”, Miami Herald website, 22 September 2014, <http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nationworld/world/americas/guantanamo/article2203501.html>. 65