Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Qari Hasan Ulla Peerzai is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Peerzai's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 562. American intelligence analysts estimate that Peerzai was born in 1977, in Baghran, [sic] Afghanistan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Peerzai were:

a The detainee is a member of and supported the Taliban.

The detainee had a working relationship with persons known by him to be associated with the Taliban.
When captured, the detainee was in possession of pocket litter containing a list of known Taliban.
Notebooks found on the detainee at the time of capture contain codes known to be used by the Taliban.
The detainee tried at least two occasions to get a job with the Taliban government.
The detainee was arrested by the U.S. force in Klianjki, Afghanistan.

[edit] testimony

Peerzai claimed to be a supporter of former King Zahir Shah. He claimed that he had defeneded the Americans to other Afghans, and told them that he was “George Bush’s soldier”

His explanation for the pocket litter was that Mullah Ehsanullah gave him these things when he was learning to read. He said the notebooks contained lists of mundane items, bread from the bakery, a petrol.

He said he was captured in Kajaki, not Klianjki.

He also admitted he was jailed in Iran, in 1990 or 1991, for nine years, for smuggling hashish.

He said he was falsely denounced by Said Shah and Haji Abdul Khaliq.

[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.

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