Shafiq Rasul (born April 15, 1977, in Dudley, West Midlands, England) is best known for being a detainee held at Guantanamo Bay by the United States, which treated him an unlawful combatant. His detainee ID number was 86.
His family discovered his detention when the British Foreign Office contacted them on January 21, 2002. He was released in March 2004, shortly after his return to the United Kingdom, more than three months before Rasul v. Bush was decided.
In August 2004 Rasul, Asif Iqbal, and Ruhal Ahmed, all from Tipton, compiled a report on their abuse and humiliation while in US custody.
In Rasul v. Rumsfeld, plaintiffs Rasul, Asif Iqbal, Ruhal Ahmed, and Jamal Al-Harith, four former Guantánamo Bay detainees, sued former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. They charge that illegal interrogation tactics were permitted to be used against them by Secretary Rumsfeld and the military chain of command.
The Hague Justice Portal gives access to the official Court documents related to the Rasul v. Bush case.
In late February, 2017, ISIL spokesmen issued a press release, stating that Jamal al-Harith, another former Guantanamo captive, had traveled to Iraq, and had used a suicide bomb to attack a military site there. Rasul denounced the attack, asserted that there was "no excuse" for the attack, and that he had been able to move past his experiences, and didn't understand why al-Harith hadn't.