Ahmad Tourson

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Ahmad Tourson is a citizen of China, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Tourson's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 201. The Department of Defense reports that Tourson was born on January 26, 1971, in Xinjiang Province, China.

Tourson is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.^[2]

Main article: Uighur detainees in Guantanamo

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
2 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 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 Tribunal. 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.

To comply with a Freedom of Information Act request, during the winter and spring of 2005, the Department of Defense released 507 memoranda. Those 507 memoranda each contained the allegations against a single detainee, prepared for their Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's name and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of the memoranda. However 169 of the memoranda had the detainee's ID hand-written on the top right hand of the first page corner. When the Department of Defense complied with a court order, and released official lists of the detainee's names and ID numbers it was possible to identify who those 169 were written about. Ahmad Tourson was one of those 169 detainees.^[3]

[edit] Allegations

a. The detainee is an al Qaeda fighter:

The detainee stated that he left China during September, 2000 [sic] and traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan, by way of Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan.
The detainee stated that he was a member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) AKA Sharq (East) Turkistan Islamic Partiyisa [sic] (STIP).
ETIM is an extremist Islamic organization operating in the eastern region of China.
The detainee was captured near Mazir-E-Sharif [sic], Afghanistan by General Dostum's troops, taken to the Qalai Janghi [sic] Prison and later turned over to U.S. Forces.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States or its coalition partners.

The detainee stated that he was trained to use an AK-47 rifle.
The detainee stated that he traveled to Konduz, AF and then on to Mazir-E-Sharif [sic] to fight against General Dostum's troops.
The detainee was a prisoner at the Qalai Janghi [sic]/Mazir-E-Sharif [sic] Prison during the Mazir-E-Sharif [sic] Prison Riot.

[edit] Testimony in response to the allegations

Tourson chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[4]

Tourson acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan by way of Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan. He asserted that he had legal travel papers for all his travels. He traveled to Afghanistan in search of religious freedom. He asserted that there was no religious freedom in China. He pointed out that he brought his family with him.
Tourson denied ever stating that he was a member of any of the organizations of which he was alleged to be a member.
Tourson pointed out an error in the third allegation. Xinjiang is in China's Northwest, not an eastern region of China. Tourson acknowledged being willing to try to win independence from China for his people, but he disputed that his tied him to al Qaida.
Tourson acknowledged being captured near Mazar-E-Sharif [sic]. He and his traveling companion were passing through the area, as part of a movement of refugees. During a discussion whether fleeing as a refugee made him a member of al Qaida:

"Everybody passed through on the streets and walked. Foreigners, bad people, good people, soldiers, fighters. Everybody walks through the street and I am passing through the road, then I am captured by General Dostum's troops. It does not explain that all those people are Al Qaida. It is kind of funny looking. Everybody walks in the street, everybody walks."
Tourson acknowledged he received some rifle training -- approximately two hours worth. He thought it would be useful if he ever fought against the Chinese government. He couldn't be sure whether the rifle was an AK-47, or some other kind of rifle.
Tourson acknowledged briefly passing through Konduz as he sought to flee Afghanistan. Tourson's Personal Representative quoted from his session with Tourson:

"I never went to go and fight against General Dostum's troops. When I was captured and traveling to safety, I had no weapon, I am not a soldier. I had a family in Kabul, Afghanistan. I was trying to get to my family because the war started. I wanted to get them to safety in another country, were [sic] Uigher [sic] people live peacefully."
Tourson acknowledged being present when the riot took place, but denied any participation. He was injured with bombs were dropped on the prison:

"I was not a soldier, I have nothing against the Americans. Why would I participate in the riot? Al Uighurs [sic], have one enemy, the Chinese. We have no other enemies.