Dorsey & Whitney (Minneapolis, Minn.)

Dorsey & Whitney LLP is a Minneapolis-based business law firm whose lawyers took on the pro bono cases of Bahraini detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention center.

Dorsey and Whitney LLP is a business law firm which was founded in 1912 in Minneapolis, MN, where its headquarters are still located, to provide legal counseling to the First Bank of Minneapolis. A team of three lawyers, Mark S. Sullivan, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan and Christopher G. Karagheuzoff, from the New York Office of the firm took on the cases of Bahraini Guantánamo detainees pro bono in 2004. These lawyers represented the Bahraini detainees until the release and repatriation of all of them by 2008. Sullivan, Colangelo-Bryan and Karagheuzoff did not only follow the legal cases of their Bahraini detainees but also got involved in public activities in order to raise awareness about the human rights situation and abuses at the military detention center in Guantánamo Naval Base. They also initiated negotiations with Bahraini diplomats and officials regarding the release and repatriation of their clients. The team of Dorsey & Whitney lawyers also paid a visit to Bahrain to meet with the relatives of their clients.

Jumah Al-Dossari is a joint citizen of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia detained in December 2001 in Pakistan, kept under arrest by the U.S. military in Kandahar, Afghanistan, and transferred to Camp Delta military detention center in January 2002 and eventually released without facing any charges in 2007. He suffered severe psychological and physical abuse both in Kandahar and Guantánamo. Al-Dossari attempted suicide thirteen times and went on hunger strikes at least twice while under extra-judicial detention at Guantánamo. His case became an emblematic example of the abuse and torture at Guantánamo naval base and detrimental consequences of long term solitary confinement. Al-Dossari was represented by the Dorsey & Whitney LLP lawyer Joshua Colangelo-Bryan and he was repatriated to Saudi Arabia in 2007.

Joshua Colangelo-Bryan is a Senior Attorney at the New York office of Dorsey & Whitney LLP. He gained his law degree in 1999 from the University of Washington School Of Law. Prior to working for Dorsey, Joshua served with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, where he participated in the prosecution of criminal cases involving war crimes and terrorism. He also has participated in post-conflict humanitarian aid work in the Balkans. He practices in the areas of complex civil litigation, employment law, and securities fraud. He also represents individuals and entities before federal and state agencies. He devotes a substantial portion of his practice to pro bono cases, including the representation of Guantánamo Bay detainees.