Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal

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Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] Al Hilal Guantanamo detainee ID number is 1463. The Department of Defense lists his place of birth as unknown and his date of birth as January 30, 1968.

Contents

[edit] CIA detention

Al-Hila was captured, in Cairo, on September 19, 2002, while on a business trip.[2] John Sifton, of Human Rights Watch, says that Al-Hila disappeared, for eighteen months, before surfacing in American detention in the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.[3]

Since his arrival in Guantanamo Bay he is one of the approximately 200 detainees who has had a writ of habeas corpus filed on his behalf. In recently declassified discussions with his lawyer Al-Hila says that after his capture he was sent to Baku Azerbajan for two months, and then spent 16 months in secret bases in Afghanistan, including "the dark prison".[4]

[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.
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 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 Hilal chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[5]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations against Al Hilal were:

a The detainee is a member of al Qaida.
  1. The detainee assisted member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad through facilitation of movement out of Yemen and by obtaining them passports.
  2. The Egyptian Islamic Jihad is a terrorist organization associated with al Qaida.
  3. The detainee assisted members of the Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya,
  4. The Al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya is a designated foreign terrorist organization associated with al Qaida.
  5. The detainee provided false passports to associates of Usama Bin Laden.
  6. The detainee is associated with a convicted terrorist and visited him in prison.
  7. The detainee has had meetings with representatives of al Haramayn.
  8. The detainee arranged the release of imprisoned al Qaida members.
b The detainee supported military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee’s brother was extremely close to those who conducted the terrorist attack on the U.S.S. Cole.
  2. The detainee possessed detailed knowledge of a planned terrorist attack on a U.S. embassy.
  3. The detainee possessed detailed knowledge of a terrorist attack against a western oil company.

[edit] Opening dialogue

Al Hilal expressed confusion and distress that he was not going to be allowed the assistance of a civilian lawyer and that his case would depend on secret allegations and secret evidence, that would be withheld from him. He concluded: "I respect the Tribunal but the way it is formed is unjust."

The Tribunal's President said they would note his concerns for the record.

[edit] Testimony

In response to the allegations presented to his Tribunal:

  • Al Hilal denied being a member of al Qaida. He assured his Tribunal that everyone in Guantanamo knew he was not a member of al Qaida.
  • Al Hilal denied ever assisting any members of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, or any members of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya. He asked to see the evidence that he had done so, so he could refute it.
  • Al Hilal denied providing passports to associates of Osama bin Laden. He denied knowing any associates of Osama bin Laden.
  • Al Hilal denied visiting anyone in prison. He denied knowing anyone in prison.
  • Al Hilal denied any knowledge of the Al Haramain organization.
  • Al Hilal repeated that he didn't know anybody who was a member of al Qaeda. And he questioned how he would have been able to arrange anyone's release from prison, since he was just a private individual, not a sovereign government.
  • Al Hilal denied any participation in military operations.
  • Al Hilal asked whether his brother was involved in attacking the USS Cole that should then become his responsibility. Al Hilal said:
"If my brother knew these USS Cole bombers when he was a young person, he went to fight in Bosnia; without any of my family’s approval when he was a very young man.[6] Maybe he knew these guys in Bosnia. Then he came back to Yemen and stayed there for a while. Then went back to Bosnia to live there.[7] That again was without our approval as well. We don’t what happened [sic] until he got arrested and was jailed. He was in six years [sic]. He was in prison from 1997[8] up until the time I got jailed in the year 2002, my brother was still in jail. The meaning of that is that all connections between him and all the people was broken. How can he have any knowledge of all these acts, and the attacks took place [sic] in 2001?"
  • Al Hilal denied any knowledge on plans to attack any U.S. embassy or any western oil company.

Following the completion of the portion of the session where Al Hilal was asked to respond to the allegations against him, he asked if he could go on.

Al Hilal referred to the definition of "enemy combatant" that had been in the documents he was given prior to his Tribunal -- where it said an enemy combatant was anyone who had aided al Qaida. He repeated he didn't know anyone in Al Qaeda. He said he was a businessman. He denied any prior animosity to America. He said he hated fighting. He said his religion forbid terrorism. He said his country did not support terrorism.

Al Hilal said that, as a businessman 80% of his business depended on International contracts. He asked how many of his foreign business associates would be interested in doing business with him if his country was tied to terrorism?

Al Hilal said that he suspected his capture was due to the CIA's practice of paying excessive amounts for information. Informants had an incentive to make up the kind of information they knew the CIA was searching for, with the result that innocent men, like himself, ended up being captured.

Al Hilal spoke of his family, how much they needed him, and he needed them.

Following the completion of his statement his Personal Representative asked Al Hilal: "I would just like to remind you that you had made a statement earlier when discussing with me, that you were a facilitator for the Yemeni Government?"

This question seemed to trigger distress and confusion in Al Hilal. He said he thought his Personal Representative was supposed to be on his side, so why was he asking him questions like he was an interrogator. Although the Tribunal's President said while she didn't know how the question sounded once translated, in English it didn't sound negative. While Al Hilal said he was still willing to answer specific questions, the Tribunal didn't ask him any, and merely dismissed him and went straight to the closed session.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ Al-Hila: Another 'ghost prisoner' rendered, Al Jazeera
  3. ^ Cairo to Kabul to Guantanamo, Human Rights Watch
  4. ^ U.S. Operated Secret 'Dark Prison' in Kabul, Reuters, December 19, 2005
  5. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Al Salam Al Hilal's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 19-26
  6. ^ This would have been prior to Bosnia winning its independence from Yugoslavia in 1995.
  7. ^ Following independence Bosnia offered citizenship to any foreigner who had fought on its behalf.
  8. ^ The US embassy bombings in Africa were in 1998. The US Cole bombing in late 2000.
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