Habib Rasool

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Habib Rasool is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Rasool's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 120. American intelligence analysts estimate that Rasool was born in 1955, in Khowst, Afghanistan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
- 2.1 The following primary factors favor continued detention:
- 2.2 The following primary factors favor release or transfer:
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 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.

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

[edit] testimony

Rasool described traveling between Pakistan and Afghanistan to sell wood.

While in Afghanistan he was forcibly conscripted by the Taliban. He described being kept in a compound in Konduz, under armed guards. Other conscripts were sent to combat, by lottery.

He was incarcerated by the Taliban for 20 days, before the Taliban surrendered to the Northern Alliance.

He described being loaded into a shipping container for a trip to a different city. During this trip some of the other prisoners died of heat exhaustion.

[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.

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

The factors for and against continuing to detain Rasool were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[4]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

The detainee voluntarily traveled from Pakistan to Afghanistan in October 2001.
The detainee admitted he was conscripted by the Taliban, then traveled with them from Khost, AF to Konduz, AF, where he lived in a Taliban house with other Taliban conscripts.

b Connection

Armed Taliban members guarded the house where the detainee stayed.
After living in the Taliban house for several weeks, the detainee surrendered to Northern Alliance forces near Yerghanek, AF.

c. Other

The detainee forced an MP into the cell door while the guards were attempting to remove detainee's restraints. This was listed as simple assault and resulted in minor bruising on the top portion of the guards's arm.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

The detainee was conscripted against his will to join the Taliban.
The detainee never received any weapons training or carried a weapon.
The detainee used alias Habib Rasool, a name that sounds more Afghani, because he was afraid the Uzbek soldiers would kill him if they knew he were Pakistani.
The detainee traveled to Khost, Afghanistan to fix up an old house that he inherited from his ancestors. He was there four to five months and then was conscripted by the Taliban.
While in Khost, Afghanistan, the detainee was not aware of the problems of the Taliban and the Northern Allicance. He also did not know about the attacks on New York City. He stated he did not have a relationship with the Taliban.
The detainee stated that he would advise his sons to stay and work for the family and not participate in any jihad.
The detainee claimed to not know what the term al Qaida meant.