Abdul Hafiz (terror suspect)

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Abdul Hafiz is the name the United States uses to identify an Afghan held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Hafiz's Guantanamo detainee number is 1030. American intelligence analysts estimate Hafiz was born in 1961.

According to the Associated Press the allegations against Hafiz, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, said he worked for a Taliban militia.^[2] They state that when he was captured he had in his possession a satellite phone that was "linked to a slaying".

The detainee claimed that he wasn't Abdul Hafiz at all, that his name was really Abdul Qawi.^[2] He said he was given the satellite phone by the real Abdul Hafiz, and didn't even know how to use it.

According to the Associated Press he complained about not being able to view the evidence against him, and told his Tribunal: "In our culture, if someone is accused of something, they are shown the evidence."

[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.

The individual the Guantanamo camp authorities identify as Abdul Hafiz chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3]

[edit] identity

At the beginning of his Tribunal his Personal Representative told the Tribunal he preferred to be addressed as Abdul Qawi, not Abdul Hafiz.

When asked if he had questions about the Tribunal process Qawi asked how he could refute classified allegation and classified evidence, to which he wasn’t given access. He explained that, in his culture, if someone was accused of something, they were allowed to see the evidence. Qawi was told that it did not lie within the Tribunal’s power to change the rules, and he would not be allowed to see any classified material “for reasons of national security”.

During the course of his Tribunal testimony Qawi explained that his real name was not Abdul Hafiz, it was Abdul Qawi, that he worked for a guy named Abdul Hafiz, who had asked him to hold his cell phone -- a cell phone he didn't know how to use.

[edit] allegations

During his Tribunal Qawi faced the following allegations:^[3]

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --

1. The detainee was affiliated with the death of two individuals in Kabul, Afghanistan, and worked for the Taliban 40-Man Militia group [sic] under a known Taliban commander.
2. When captured, the detainee was in possession of a personnel [sic] phonebook and a satellite telephone.
3. The detainee’s fingerprints were found on the phone.
4. The detainee attempted to call an Al Qaida member who is linked to the murder of an International Committee of the Red Cross worker.
5. The Al Qaida member is identified as a Taliban and Al Qaida commander.
6. The detainee’s satellite phone has been linked to the International Committee of the Red Cross murder.
7. The detainee admitted he knew that the phone in his possession contained telephone numbers of individuals who were enemies of the U.S.
8. When the detainee was queried regarding his knowledge of the International Committee of the Red Cross murder, he stated he did not know where “he” was killed. Detainee was then advised that he was not provided information regarding the International Committee of the Red Cross’ [sic] gender.

[edit] testimony

Qawi said that he was hired by a man named Abdullah, who told him he would be working to bring peace. Abdullah assigned him to help another man named Abdul Hafiz.

Qawi said that he worked for Abdullah and Abdul Hafiz for less than a day before he was captured. He admitted that prior to being asked to work for Abdullah he had relied on charity, because he was disabled. Qawi had lost a leg at some point. In addition he described debilitating memory problems.

Qawi said he and Abdul Hafiz were traveling and would have crossed a checkpoint. He told his Tribunal that Abdul Hafiz told him he didn’t have the correct paperwork for the phone, so he asked Qawi to carry it, because, as a disabled person, he was unlikely to be searched. Qawi was to travel by car. Hafiz was driving his motorcycle. Hafiz fell behind because his motorcycle developed technical problems.

Qawi said he was illiterate, and didn’t know how to use a phone.

Qawi denied any ties to the Taliban, and had not heard of Al Qaeda until he was sent to Guantanamo.

Qawi suggested the allegation that he knew whose phone numbers were on the phone was due to a mistranslation during his interrogations.

Qawi said he had not heard of the death of the Red Cross worker, and asked if the killing had occurred near his village. He didn’t think he would have heard about it, unless it occurred near his village. The Tribunal President said she could not tell him anything about the killing because they hadn’t been shown the classified evidence yet.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

Qawi's Board convened on March 1, 2005.

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.

The man the Guantanamo camp authorities identify as Abdul Hafiz chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[4]

The factors for and against continuing to detain the Guantanamo camp authorities identify as Abdul Hafiz were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[5]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

Thuraya satellite phone

Thuraya satellite phone showing its solar charging panel

a. Commitment

1. Detainee was affiliated with the death of two individuals in Kabul, Afghanistan, and worked for the Taliban 40-Man Militia group [sic] under a known Taliban commander.
2. On 22 April 2003, the detainee, a suspect in the murder of an International Red Cross worker in Afghanistan was seized along with his personal phonebook and a Thuraya Satellite phone. All but one phone number listed in the memory of the phone is listed in the personal phonebook found on the detainee.

b. Connection / Association

1. When captured, the detainee was attempting to call an al Qaida member who is linked to the murder of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) worker.
2. Detainee's satellite phone has been linked to the ICRC murder.
3. When detainee was queried regarding his knowledge of the ICRC murder he stated he did not know where "he" was killed. Detainee was then advised that he was not provided information regarding the ICRC's gender.
4. The detainee was identified as having been present at the Taliban Military Headquarters in Kandahar.
5. The detainee participated in a paramilitary band related to Taliban Hezb-e-Islami [sic] (HIG) [sic].
6. HIG has long established ties with Bin Ladin and is listed in the DHS Terrorist Organization Reference Guide.

c. Intent

1. Detainee admitted he knew that the phone in his possession contained telephone numbers of individuals who were enemies of the United States.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

• The detainee denied knowing about al Qaida, working for the Taliban, and any association with the murder of the ICRC [sic].
• The detainee stated he did not use or know how ot use the satellite telephone.
• The detainee denied all knowledge regarding the murder of the Red Cross worker. He advised that if the U.S. Government had proof that he was involved in the murder, then he should be shown that proof. The detainee said that he should otherwise be sent back to Afghanistan.

[edit] identity

Qawi asked his Board to address him as Abdul Qawi, not Abdul Hafiz.

[edit] Opening statement

Qawi’s Assisting Military Officer read from a statement Qawi had dictated:

Okay. The detainee states again that he is not Abdul Hafiz. He was a servant for Mr. Hafiz. His name is Abdul Qawi, son of Allahdah. His country is Afghanistan. Kandahar is the state and his district is Maruf. Regarding statements in the Unclassified Summary, he stated that he was not with the Taliban. He was a poor man living in his own house without a leg. He did not have anything to do with the deaths of the two individuals. He first hear of these deaths while here in Cuba. He knows nothing about the Red Cross murder. He was given the personal phonebook and satellite phone by Mr. Hafiz to hold for him, not for his use. Regarding his capture, he stated he was asleep in a room when planes came, when he woke up, he thought in his mind that he did not have a permit for the satellite phone that he was keeping for Hafiz, so he took the satellite phone, the phonebook and other papers out of his pocket and threw them across the room. He was not using the phone or attempting to use the phone. Again he stated that he had the phone because Abdul Hafiz gave it to him because he also had no permit. Regarding him being present at the Taliban Military Headquarters, he stated that he saw Taliban police surround Kandahar but he has never been to their Headquarters and he does not know where it is located. Regarding his participation in the paramilitary band related to the Taliban Hezb-e-Islami, he stated that he did not have a relationship with these people. He said, and I quote, “These are the people who have destroyed Afghanistan, so I despises [sic] these people.” Regarding the statement that he knew the phone in his possession contained members of individuals who are enemies of the US, he stated that he did not admit to this. He further stated that he did not know what was in the phone or the phonebook and that he did not know how to use the phone. That is all that I have at this time sir.

[edit] letters

Qawi read from various letters from his family members. He pointed out to his Board that they were all addressed to him as Abdul Qawi. One passage he read out, that was included in the transcript, was an assurance, from his brother: “My respectful brother, you didn’t have any relationship with any political people.”

[edit] testimony

In answer to questions from his Board’s officers:

• Qawi said he didn’t know where the real Abdul Hafiz could be found.
• Qawi said he didn’t know what, if any organization Abdul Hafiz may have belonged to. He said that Hafiz would stop in small villages, and address the villagers, “Telling the people not to create atrocity and criminal activities against the government.” Qawi’s role, was to serve as a demonstration, with his missing leg, of what violence could lead to.
• When Qawi was asked if he had any other names, beside Abdul Qawi, he seemed to misunderstand: “God willing by now, I might even have twenty. Every single room I enter, I get a new name... I was called this and in a different room I was called this... by now, I was called by different numbers." -- The linguist and Board eventually decided that Qawi was trying to quote all the different ID numbers he had been known by during his American custody.
• Qawi said Hafiz had asked him to carry the phonebook the same day he was captured.

One of Qawi’s letters he submitted as evidence was accidentally shredded when they were trying to make photocopies.

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ ^{a b} Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part I, WTOP, March 15, 2006
3. ^ ^{a b} Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Hafiz's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 51-61
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Hafiz's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 136
5. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Abdul Hafiz Administrative Review Board - page 67