Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani

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Ghaleb Nassar Al Bihani is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Al Bihani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 128. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Bihani was born in 1980, in Tabokh, Saudi Arabia.

[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.

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

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Al Bihani faced during his Tribunal were:^[2]

a. The detainee was an associate of the Taliban and/or Al-Qaida.

The detainee is a Yemen citizen who lived in Saudi Arabia and traveled to Afghanistan via Doha and Karachi Pakistan. The detainee remained in Afghanistan from May through November 2001.
The detainee stated that he went to Afghanistan to fight Jihad with the Taliban.

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

Upon arriving in Afghanistan the detainee traveled immediately to thr front where he supported the mujahidin.
The detainee traveled on Taliban aircraft, stayed in Taliban guest housing, and upon arriving at the front line he received a Kalashnikov rifle and ammunition.
The detainee delivered supplies to the front lines.
The detainee was part of 400-600 man force that surrendered to General Dostum's forces.
The detainee was present during the prison uprising in Mazar-E-Sharif [sic].