Abdul Bagi

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Abdul Bagi is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Bagi's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 963. American intelligence analysts estimate Bagi was born in 1972, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a small trailer, the same width, but shorter, than a mobile home. The Tribunal's President sat in the big chair. The detainee sat with their hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor in the white, plastic garden chair. A one way mirror behind the Tribunal President allowed observers to observe clandestinely. In theory the open sessions of the Tribunals were open to the press. Three chairs were reserved for them. In practice the Tribunal only intermittently told the press that Tribunals were being held. And when they did they kept the detainee's identities secret. In practice almost all Tribunals went unobserved.

Initially the Bush administration asserted that they could withhold all the protections of the Geneva Conventions to captives from the war on terror. This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a competent tribunals to determine whether captives are, or are not, entitled to the protections of prisoner of war status.

Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted the Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The Tribunals, however, were not authorized to determine whether the captives were lawful combatants -- rather they were merely empowered to make a recommendation as to whether the captive had previously been correctly determined to match the Bush administration's definition of an enemy combatant.

[edit] Allegations

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Bagi prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March of 2005.^[2] The allegations Bagi faced were:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban and participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners:

1. The detainee is a member of the Taliban.
2. The detainee admitted that he was supposed to participate in an ambush against U.S. forces.
3. The detainee admitted that he threw his weapon down a well and hid in a hole.
4. The detainee was captured on the afternoon of 10 February 2003 along with his uncle, by U.S. personnel.

[edit] Testimony

Bagi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3]

[edit] Bagi’s response to the allegations

Bagi denied being a member of the Taliban. He denied admitting participating in an ambush on February 10, 2003, or in any hostilities whatsoever. He denied owning a weapon, or throwing one down a well, or hiding when an American convoy drove by.

Bagi’s account of his capture was that he and his uncle were driving his uncle’s tractor to the bazaar to buy oil and filters. They heard an American vehicles approaching them, so they pulled off the road so they wouldn’t be in the way. They got off the tractor to wait for the Americans to go by. But the Americans stopped, and took them into custody.

The Americans took him over to a newly dug well, and asked what it was for. He explained it was a well, for irrigating crops.

The Americans took his uncle and himself to where they had secured the other men in the village. Most of the other men were released. But he and several other men were taken to Bagram. It was only in Bagram, seven days later, when he was interrogated did he learn that his dossier contained the claim that he had hidden in a hole and thrown a weapon down a well. According to Bagi the well only had about a foot of water in it, and anyone could have seen if an object even as small as a pen had been thrown in it.

[edit] witnesses

Bagi asked three other men from his village, who were captured the same day he was, to testify on his behalf. The transcript from his CSRT does not identify them by name. It is clear from the context that one of the witnesses is his uncle. When Bagi attended his Administrative Review Board hearing the identity of his other two witnesses was contained in the summary of his CSRT. They were Alif Mohammed and Baridad.

Bagi asked all three witnesses whether he owned a weapon and whether he was a member of the Taliban. All of the witnesses testified that he didn't own a weapon, was just a simple farmer, and had no contact with the Taliban.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

Bagi chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[4]

[edit] See also

• Rahmatullah
• Alif Mohammed
• Baridad

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 72
3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 1-12
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 42-48