Abdul Zahor

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Abdul Zahor is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Zahor's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 949. American intelligence analysts estimate Zahor was born in 1964, in Charikar, Afghanistan

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 Allegations
- 1.2 Testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
- 2.1 Factors for and against continued detention:
- 2.2 Testimony
3 References

[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 tribunal 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.

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

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Zahor faced during his Tribunal were:

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

The detainee had knowledge of a bomb plot against an embassy.
The detainee knew where the aforementioned bomb was stored.
The detainee was determined to have been involved in an embassy bomb plot.
The detainee was imprisoned for serving under a Taliban commander.
The detainee was captured with documentation addressing him as a Commander Zahoor Khan from Yar Muhammad, who is identified as a commander of an unknown region.
The detainee was captured with documentation that listed personalities identified as detainee's troops.
The detainee was captured with documentation that discussed Blowpipe and Stinger surface to air missiles.
The detainee was alleged a member of Hezbi-Islami Galbuddin [sic] (H1G) with ties to al Qaida.
HIG is listed on the department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide.

[edit] Testimony

[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.

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

[edit] Factors for and against continued detention:

The detainee had a girlfriend by the name of Layla. Layla is one of his wife’s sisters.
Layla told the detainee that her friends, Khalid and Hamed were possibly planning on bombing one of the buildings in Kabul.
The detainee went to an American post and informed an American contact about the plot. The American told him to come back the next day at 11 AM; he did and the detainee was promptly arrested.
The detainee was confused as to why he was arrested. He knew that the authorities had raid Khalid’s house, but claims he did not know that they had found any bombs.
After several questions, the detainee mentioned that the bomb had been found on the roof of Khalid’s house, inside of a duffel bag.
The detainee struggle to keep his story straight. He would tell multiple stories, sometimes in the same sentences and was deceptive about the real Layla. We believe the detainee planted the bomb or knows who did.
Khalid was planning to attack either the United States or the United Kingdom Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. He has worked for the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin and Taliban members in the past, and could be acting for either organization.
Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin has staged small attacks in its attempt to force United States troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, overthrow the Afghan Transitional Administration and establish a fundamentalist state.
The detainee has ties to Agha Shireen Salangi, and infamous Taliban commander from Charikar, Afghanistan. He admitted to having command of troops while under Agha Shireen Salangi’s control.
Agha Shireen was once aligned with the Taliban and specialized in assassinations and other terrorist operations.
Agha Shireen was also identified as being a famous Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin commander supported by the Afghan Ministry of the Interior police chief for Kabul.
While Agha Shireen was in Kabul, Afghanistan, the detainee came to visit him. The detainee was Agha’s assistant commander during the time of the Taliban and was a Talib himself.
During the reign of the Taliban, Agha Shireen was imprisoned by Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Northern Alliance Commander. He was jailed for working with the Taliban.
The detainee was imprisoned, for approximately five years, by Mr Massoud. One of the detainee’s brothers was a commander for Massoud’s group, a group called Shura-e-Nazar.
The Shura-e-Nazar group was another of the many Afghan groups formed to fight against other Afghan groups.
Shura-e-Nazar is a leadership council formed by the late Ahmad Shah Massoud in 1985. It is the consultative body within the United Islamic Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan.
A foreign government service said that Iranian officials had trained a group of commandos belonging to Shura-e-Nazar. These commandos have allegedly been tasked to attack the United States and its allies in Afghanistan so that the Taliban and al Qaida members will be blaimed for the attack.
Documentation was found in the Detainee’s possession addressing him as Commander Zahoor Khan.
The detainee had documentation that listed personalities identified as his troops. He aslo had documentation that discussed Blowpipe and Stinger Surface to Air Missiles.
The detainee has a history of harming himself and harassing guards.
The detainee said, “If I am guilty of this, then I would want to be hanged right now.”