Jabi Jubran Al Fayfi

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Jabir Jubran Al Fayfi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 188.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Al Jayfi were:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban.

The detainee was recruited at a mosque in Saudi Arabia to participate in Jihad.
Detainee received two weeks of weapons training on the Kalashnikov rifle.
In November and December 2001, detainee met with al Qaida members while in Tora Bora, Afghanistan.
One of the detainee's known aliases was on a list of captured al Qaida members that was discovered on a computer hard drive associated with a senior al Qaida member.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

Detainee was issued a Kalashnikov rifle in Bagram, Afghanistan to fight on the lines.
Detainee fought the Northern Alliance from September through December 2001.
Detainee was instructed to flee Afghanistan and go to Pakistan via the mountains.

[edit] testimony

Al Jayfi did not attend his CSRT. But he had dictated responses to each allegation for his Personal Representative to present on his behalf.

Al Jayfi denied having any relations with al Qaida. He acknowledged going to the Taliban's front lines, to see if they were abiding by the terms of a Fatwa, by a Saudi scholar, published in a Pakistani newspaper. If he thought the Taliban was complying with the Fatwa's conditions he would have joined their fight against the Northern Alliance.

Al Jayfi denied being recruited in Saudi Arabia. He acknowledged taking a contact address of a man in Kashmir.
Al Jayfi acknowledged receiving two weeks of training on the AK47.
Al Jayfi acknowledged passing through Tora Bora, on his way to Pakistan. He acknowledged meeting some other Arabs while he was fleeing to Pakistan. He had no idea if any of them were al Qaida.
Al Jayfi said he knew nothing about his name being found on captured hard drives. He pointed out that there would be more than one person with the same nickname. His nicknames were Abu Grafar or Abu Ibrahim. He said that these nicknames were as common there as David was among the interrogators.

Al Jayfi acknowledged being briefly present on the front line. But he was not there to fight, only to observe whether the Taliban were applying the Fatwa's conditions.