Jamil al-Banna
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Jamil al-Banna (Arabic: جميل عبد اللطيف البنّاء, Ǧamīl ʿAbdu 'l-Laṭīf al-Bannāʾ) is a Jordanian with refugee status in the United Kingdom, presently held in extrajudicial detention in the United States in the Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] Al-Banna's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 905. The Department of Defense reports that al-Banna was born on May 28, 1952, in Jericho, [sic] Turkey [sic].
Jamil contends that while on a business trip to Gambia with his friend and business associate, Bisher Amin Khalil al-Rawi, he was captured by the Gambian National Intelligence Agency on arrival at Banjul airport in Gambia on November 8, 2002, purportedly on suspicion of alleged links to al-Qaeda. He was turned over to U.S. authorities, who transported him to Guantanamo Bay.
Jamil's lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, quoted in an article in The Guardian, said Jamil was a participant in both the hunger strike that ended when the camp authorities made promises on July 28, 2005, and a second that started on August 8.[2] Smith said that Jamil told him that one of the reasons for the second hunger strike was that guards were still searching through the prisoner's copies of the Qur'an by hand.
Jamil's case has caused controversy within the UK as the British Government refuses to make representations on his behalf, due to his not having attained British citizenship before his imprisonment.[3] All the British nationals imprisoned at Guantanamo were freed before September 2004, following British Government representations.
An article in The Times repeated Jamil's claim that his American interrogators told him that MI5 had colluded in Jamil's extraordinary rendition.[4] The lawyers of Guantanamo Bay detainees have to hand in all their notes. They are all classified. The lawyers are only allowed to examine their notes in a single secure location outside Washington DC. The Times describes how a section of Stafford Smith's notes were recently declassified:
- "In Cuba one interrogator is alleged to have told al-Banna: 'Why are you angry at America? It is your government, Britain, the MI5, who called the CIA and told them you and Bisher were in Gambia and to come and get you. Britain gave everything to us. Britain sold you out to the CIA.'”
The Times repeats Jamil's claim that he was offered $10 million, and a US passport, if he would testify against Abu Qatada. According to The Times:
- "When he refused, an interrogator told him: 'I am going to London . . . I am going to fuck your wife. Your wife is going to be my bitch. Maybe you’ll never see your children again.'"
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[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal
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
[edit] Allegations against Jamil al-Banna
Like his friend Bisher al-Rawi, Jamil chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal. The allegations against him recorded in the documents were:[5]
- a. The detainee is a member of al-Qaida:
- Abu Qutada is a known al-Qaida operative arrested in the United Kingdom as a danger to national security.
- Detainee visited Abu Qatada while Qatada was in hiding from the British police.
- Detainee has been indicted by a Spanish National High Court Judge for membership in a terrorist organization.
- Detainee was arrested in Gambia, while attempting to board an airplane with equipment that resembled a homemade electronic device.
The Tribunal President struck from the record an allegation that Jamil had helped transmit some money to a charity. The record is not clear why the Tribunal President struck this allegation.
[edit] Jamil al-Banna's relationship with Abu Qatada
Jamil admitted knowing Abu Qatada. He had known him for over nine years, prior to the attack on September 11, 2001. They had lived in the same neighbourhood. And their wives had given birth to children at the same time. Abu Qatada had lead prayers at the mosque he attended. And they were both refugees from Jordan. But they weren't close.
[edit] Jamil al-Banna's visit to Abu Qatada while he was in hiding
Jamil admitted driving Abu Qatada's wife and children to visit him, after British authorities had announced he was going to be arrested. He did so at the request of his friend Basher al-Rawi.
[edit] Jamil al-Banna's Spanish indictment
Jamil, was indicted by Spanish "superjudge" Baltasar Garzón. But he claimed that he had no idea why.
[edit] Arrest for traveling with homemade electronics
Jamil corrected the Tribunal's "home-made electronics" allegation on several points.
- The arrest was in England, not Gambia.
- The device was carried by his friend, Basher al-Rawi, not himself.
- British authorities determined that the device was not modified, but was just what Basher said it was, a mundane battery charger.
[edit] Jamil al-Banna's capture in Gambia
Jamil and Basher al-Rawi travelled to Gambia to meet a shipment of machine parts to be used to set up an edible oil factory owned by Basher's brother. They arrived in Gambia on November 7, 2002. At first they were under a kind of unofficial house arrest. They were not formally charged with any crimes under Gambian law. They were told that they would be released when their machinery had been checked to make sure it wasn't something that could be used for terrorism.
They weren't detained in a Gambian jail, but rather in a safehouse, provided by American security officials, guarded by Gambians, but interrogated by Americans.
When the decision was made to take them from Gambia the team that arrived to do that wore black uniforms, their faces covered by black balaklavas. They cut their clothes from their bodies, when they bound them for transportation to Cuba.
[edit] Contact with his family
El-Banna is a father of five.[6] His youngest daughter was born after his capture.
A November 1, 2006 article in the Willesden & Brent Times reported that el-Banna was allowed a phone call to his wife on October 19, 2006.[7] It is unusual for detainees to be allowed a phone call to their family. This phone call was el-Banna's first. It is not known why this concession was made, although el-Banna's MP, Sarah Teather, had previously made representations to US authorities asking for some contact to be allowed.
According to el-Banna' wife:[7]
- "He told me that when the prison guards led him away from his camp, he thought he was going to be interrogated again. He didn't even know he was going to speak to me, so hearing my voice was a complete shock to him."
[edit] References
- ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
- ^ Hunger strikers pledge to die in Guantánamo, The Guardian, September 9, 2005
- ^ UK's 'forgotten' Cuba detainees, BBC, January 25, 2005
- ^ MI5 colluded with CIA over suspects sent to torture jails, The Times, December 18, 2005
- ^ Documents (.pdf) from Jamil al-Banna's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - mirror - pages 94-107 (.pdf)
- ^ Profile: 'Forgotten' Cuba detainees, BBC, October 5, 2006
- ^ a b Guantanamo phone call, Willesden & Brent Times, November 1, 2006
