Abdul Razzaq (Guantanamo detainee 923)

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Abdul Razzaq is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 923. The list of all the detainee names, released on May 15, 2006, contains the estimated that Razzaq was born in 1964 in Kadahal, 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.

Razzaq chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Abdul Razzaq faced during his Tribunal were:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban.

1. The detainee worked for the Taliban as a cook for five months prior to his capture.
2. The detainee also worked directly for a Taliban member.
3. The detainee received hand-on [sic] military training when he fought on the front lines against the Soviets during an earlier jihad.
4. Upon his capture the detainee possessed a list of 24 recruits for a Taliban military unit.

[edit] Abdul Razzaq told his Tribunal he did not understand the Tribunal procedure

Abdul Razzaq told his Tribunal he did not understand this process.

[edit] Witness requests

Abdul Razzaq requested the testimony of two witnesses from Afghanistan. They aren't named in the transcript. The Tribunal's President ruled that their testimony would be relevant. She also said the Afghanistan embassy was contacted in order to get the Afghanistan's government's cooperation, and no reply had come back from the Afghanistan government, so Abdul Razzaq's witnesses were ruled not "reasonably available".

Main article: Witnesses requested by Guantanamo detainees

[edit] Testimony

Abdul Razzaq said he was a storekeeper and farmer at the time of Taliban. He said he had a land dispute with a neighbor named Raucide. Raucide got a job with the new Karzai government. Abdul Razzaq said he believes Raucide used his contacts to denounce him as a Taliban to retaliate for losing the land dispute.

Abdul Razzaq confirmed that he had been employed by the Taliban -- as a cook, not a fighter. He said he worked as a cook in order to earn the money he needed to complete the law suit.

Abdul Razzaq pointed out that being a member of the Taliban would have precluded him running a store. Abdul Razzq pointed out that all the Taliban fled the country when they lost power.

Abdul Razzaq confirmed he received some hands-on training during the Soviet invasion, but he pointed out this was twenty-six years ago. He stated he didn't remember his experience there very well. He said he only participated in the anti-Soviet jihad for five or six months.

Abdul Razzaq disputed that he was captured with a list of 24 recruits. He said when he was captured he had a notebook with the names of the people to whom he owed money, or who owed money to him.

In answer to questions from the Tribunal:

• Abdul Razzaq said he was form Kandahar.
• Abdul Razzaq said he did not hear about the attacks of September 11th.
• Abdul Razzaq said none of the people on his list were members of the Taliban or al Qaeda. They were all ordinary people -- his suppliers or his customers.
• Abdul Razzaq said he couldn't remember the exact dates he worked as a cook -- but it was more than six years before the fall of the Taliban.
• Abdul Razzaq confirmed he didn't have any other responsibilities beyong preparing food -- like guard duty.
• Abdul Razzaq said he did not hear about Osama bin Laden during his time fighting the Soviets. He said he was a small child at the time.
• When asked what kinds of weapons he used during the anti-Soviet jihad, Abdul Razzaq replied: "They did not give us any weapons. I was just walking.
• When asked when he was arrested Abdul Razzaq said: "I do not know the exact date, but I built my store one year after the new government came to power."

[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.

Razzaq chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[3]

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Razzaq's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 7-12
3. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Razzaq's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 184