Amir Yakoub Mohammed Al Amir Mahmoud

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Yakoub Mohammed is a citizen of Sudan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Mohammed's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 720. The Department of Defense reports Mohammed was born on May 9, 1971, in Omdurman, Sudan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 testimony
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 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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Mohammed were:

a The detainee is associated with al Qaida.

Detainee traveled to Afghanistan in 1991 to fight the jihad against the Russians.
Detainee traveled to Pakistan in February 2002 to fight the jihad against the Americans in Afghanistan.
The detainee enlisted the aide of a non-governmental organization (NGO) that assists foreign Arabs infiltrate Afghanistan to fight in the jihad against the United States.
Detainee was arrested in a car in the Bara area of Peshawar.

[edit] testimony

Mohammed acknowledged fighting against the Russians in 1991. He pointed out that he was using weapons supplied to the fighters by the United States.

He acknowledged when he traveled to Pakistan he had considered crossing the border to fight. But he said that when he arrived in Pakistan, and was able to get a better idea of the situation was in Afghanistan, he decided that Afghani muslims didn't need his help.

He acknowledged that he was captured in Peshawar. He said that the Pakistani authorities were indiscriminately arresting all Arabs.

In answer to questions from the Tribunal members Mohamed said:

His 1991 training had been in Kanort. It was run by an Afghani group, called al Dawa.
He left Afghanistan in 1996.
The group that were his hosts in Pakistan was the gawa wasa center.