Abd Al Hizani

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Abd Al Hizani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Hizani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 370. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Hizani was born in 1976, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations Al Hizani faced during his Tribunal were:

Associations

The detainee admitted he traveled to Afghanistan in order to fight in the jihad after reading that the Taliban needed support from Muslims.
The detainee spent ten (10) months with the Taliban prior to being captured.
The detainee received weapons training at the Al-Farouq training camp for six weeks.
The detainee was captured by Northern Alliance forces in mid-November 2001.

[edit] testimony in response to the allegations

Al Hizani said he traveled to Afghanistan to look for work.

Al Hizani tried to correct the record. He didn't spend ten months with the Taliban. He spent three months on the front lines near Kabul, and three more months in Konduz.

Al Hizani said he did not know that Al-Farouq was an Al-Qaida camp until he arrived at Guantanamo.

Al Hizani said he wasn't captured, he surrendered peacefully.

[edit] testimony in response to Tribunal officer's questions

[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.

Al Hizani did not chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[3]

The Assisting Military Officer read the Assisting Military Officer comments and the Detainee comments from the Enemy Combatants Election form.