Abdullah Hekmat

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Abdullah Hekmat is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Hekmat's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 670. American intelligence analysts estimate that Hekmat was born in 1972, in Akhcha, Afghanistan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 Allegations
- 1.2 Testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
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.

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

[edit] Allegations

The allegations that Hekmat 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 was a member of the Taliban.
The detainee was in charge of the 3rd police precinct in Mazir e Sharif [sic] under the Taliban.
The detainee signed all official correspondence in his position with the Taliban police.
The detainee's duties for the police included conscripting young men for the Taliban by grabbing them off the street.
The detainee was authorized to receive money from the abovementioned conscriptees in lieu of their service to the Taliban.
The detainee stated he was hired as a supervisor in a petroleum company as a result of a resume he prepared for the Taliban.
The detainee's position with the aforementioned petroleum company required his nomination to the Prime Minister by a high-ranking Taliban official and approval by the Cabinet.
The detainee was in charge of approximately 15,000 people with the aforementioned petroleum company.
The detainee was in charge of the aforementioned petroleum company for approximately eighteen months.
The detainee was captured with an article about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) given to him by an Imam.
The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Executive Order 13224.

[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.

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