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Cert Petition Filed in Al Warafi v. Obama

Raffaela Wakeman
Friday, December 27, 2013, 4:00 PM
Shortly before Christmas, counsel for Guantanamo detainee Mukhtar Yahia Naji Al Warafi filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in his habeas petition, having been denied earlier this year an en banc rehearing in the D.C. Circuit.

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Shortly before Christmas, counsel for Guantanamo detainee Mukhtar Yahia Naji Al Warafi filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in his habeas petition, having been denied earlier this year an en banc rehearing in the D.C. Circuit. (We've covered this case at length---read our coverage here.) Al Warafi had argued that his role was as a medic, not a fighter, and thus was shielded from detention pursuant to Article 24 of the First Geneva Convention and U.S. Army regulations. District Court Chief Judge Royce Lamberth concluded that the detainee hadn't proven that he was guaranteed protection, since he lacked an ID card or armlet identifying him as a medic.

Raffaela Wakeman is a Senior Director at In-Q-Tel. She started her career at the Brookings Institution, where she spent five years conducting research on national security, election reform, and Congress. During this time she was also the Associate Editor of Lawfare. From there, Raffaela practiced law at the U.S. Department of Defense for four years, advising her clients on privacy and surveillance law, cybersecurity, and foreign liaison relationships. She departed DoD in 2019 to join the Majority Staff of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversaw the Intelligence Community’s science and technology portfolios, cybersecurity, and surveillance activities. She left HPSCI in May 2021 to join IQT. Raffaela received her BS and MS in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2009 and her law degree from Georgetown University Law Center in 2015, where she was recognized for her commitment to public service with the Joyce Chiang Memorial Award. While at the Department of Defense, she was the inaugural recipient of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s General Counsel Award for exhibiting the highest standards of leadership, professional conduct, and integrity.

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