HDNet’s ‘Dan Rather Reports’ to Preview First U.S. Television Interview With Former Guantanamo Detainee, Lakhdar Boumediene

Excerpts of interview with the man in the center of political and legal storm to air on ‘Dan Rather Reports’ – Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET

DALLAS, June 1 /PRNewswire/ — This Tuesday, “Dan Rather Reports” will air excerpts of the first U.S. television interview with Lakhdar Boumediene, a man who spent nearly seven years in the U.S. Detention Camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The full interview will air on the program on Tuesday, June 9 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

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Boumediene was released just two weeks ago to France after high-level diplomatic negotiations that included a personal discussion between French President Sarkozy and President Obama.

In the interview Boumediene reveals never-before-heard allegations of torture and mistreatment at the hands of American soldiers, intelligence officials, and military doctors.

“Nothing change [sic] in Guantanamo. Nothing,” said Boumediene. “The same rules. They torture me in the Obama time more than Bush.”

Mr. Boumediene has been at the center of a political and legal storm since shortly after he was sent to Guantanamo in 2002. Boumediene was the lead petitioner in the landmark 2008 Supreme Court case Boumediene v. Bush, establishing that Guantanamo prisoners have a constitutional right to challenge the lawfulness of their detention in federal court. Once Mr. Boumediene won that right, a federal judge appointed by George W. Bush reviewed the government’s evidence and found the President had “no legal basis” to justify holding him.

Viewers can see excerpts of this first interview with the recently released detainee on “Dan Rather Reports” Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. with the full interview to air the following week.

“Dan Rather Reports” premieres on HDNet on Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00 p.m. ET with an encore presentation at 11:00 p.m. PT to accommodate West Coast prime time.

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SOURCE HDNet