Abdul Bagi

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Abdul Bagi is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Bagi's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 963. American intelligence analysts estimate Bagi was born in 1972, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

[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 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

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Bagi prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March of 2005.^[2] The allegations Bagi faced were:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban and participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners:

1. The detainee is a member of the Taliban.
2. The detainee admitted that he was supposed to participate in an ambush against U.S. forces.
3. The detainee admitted that he threw his weapon down a well and hid in a hole.
4. The detainee was captured on the afternoon of 10 February 2003 along with his uncle, by U.S. personnel.

[edit] Testimony

Bagi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3]

[edit] Bagi’s response to the allegations

Bagi denied being a member of the Taliban. He denied admitting participating in an ambush on February 10, 2003, or in any hostilities whatsoever. He denied owning a weapon, or throwing one down a well, or hiding when an American convoy drove by.

Bagi’s account of his capture was that he and his uncle were driving his uncle’s tractor to the bazaar to buy oil and filters. They heard an American vehicles approaching them, so they pulled off the road so they wouldn’t be in the way. They got off the tractor to wait for the Americans to go by. But the Americans stopped, and took them into custody.

The Americans took him over to a newly dug well, and asked what it was for. He explained it was a well, for irrigating crops.

The Americans took his uncle and himself to where they had secured the other men in the village. Most of the other men were released. But he and several other men were taken to Bagram. It was only in Bagram, seven days later, when he was interrogated did he learn that his dossier contained the claim that he had hidden in a hole and thrown a weapon down a well. According to Bagi the well only had about a foot of water in it, and anyone could have seen if an object even as small as a pen had been thrown in it.

[edit] witnesses

Bagi asked three other men from his village, who were captured the same day he was, to testify on his behalf. The transcript from his CSRT does not identify them by name. It is clear from the context that one of the witnesses is his uncle. When Bagi attended his Administrative Review Board hearing the identity of his other two witnesses was contained in the summary of his CSRT. They were Alif Mohammed and Baridad.

Bagi asked all three witnesses whether he owned a weapon and whether he was a member of the Taliban. All of the witnesses testified that he didn't own a weapon, was just a simple farmer, and had no contact with the Taliban.

[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.

Bagi chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[4]

[edit] The following primary factors favoe continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. The detainee admitted to being part of the attacks (ambush) on United States Forces in the vicinity of Lejay, Afghanistan.

b. Connections/Associations

1. A known Taliban member identified the detainee as Taliban.
2. As U.S. elements approached the village of Lejay (Abdul Rais Wahid ^[sic] stronghold) on the morning of 10 February 2003, they were viciously ^[sic] ambushed from the high ground on both sides of the road. The enemy fired from well-prepared ambush positions, and employed a high volume of RPK, PKM, AK, and RPG fire in an effort to kill as many U.S. personnel as possible.
3. Haji Raes Abdul Wahed, is the Supreme Commander of a forty-man guerilla unit. He was identified as teaching hand grenade techniques, plastic explosives with detonator cord, and how to blow up cars.
4. Detainee was captured on 10 February 2003 in a dugout hole 100 meters from the compound.
5. The detainee was apprehended wearing an Olive Drab (OD) green jacket consistent with the eyewitness accounts of the individual responsible for the attacks.
6. OD jackets were worn by several men captured, ^[sic] on the same day as the detainee, at a checkpoint on the north side of town in a taxi and on motorcycles. The men all suffered from hearing loss assessed to be from firing activity.
7. During the Combatant Status Review Tribunal, ^[sic] the detainee called two witnesses other than his uncle, Alif Mohammed and Baridad, that testified for him.
8. Alif Mohammed is assessed as a security/military command of Lejay/Wahid compound and it is believed he orchestrated the attack on American Forces.
9. Baridad was captured on the same day as the detainee. He suffered from hearing loss assessed due to firing activity.

[edit] The following factors favor release or transfer:

a. The detainee does not know any Taliban members.

b. Detainee believes the Americans have come to bring peace and stability to the people. He feels it is good, the Americans help rebuild roads and water systems and help establish education for the people, he is happy with that.

c. Detainee denied any knowledge/involvement in the attacks on United States Forces.

d. Detainee claims to never having ^[sic] owned or fired any kind of weapon.

e. The detainee admitted growing poppies, however, agreed it was a good thing the American forces and Afghanistan government was stopping farmers from growing poppies.

[edit] Response to the factors

• Bagi denied being involved in the attack. He denied being aware of the attack. He denied that he ever admitted any knowledge or involvement in the attack.
• Bagi denied being a member of the Taliban. He said he was an orphan, and as the oldest sibling he had the responsibility to raise his younger siblings. This responsibility would not have allowed him to join the Taliban.
• Bagi acknowledged hearing weapons fire. Some time after the firing ceased he and his uncle mounted his uncle's tractor and headed to the bazaar to buy oil and oil filters.
• Bagi acknowledged that he had heard that Bagi was now working for the Taliban, but he knew nothing about Wahed's men, or Wahed's action. Bagi denied that Wahed was from his village. He was from a nearby neighboring village.
• Bagi acknowledged that he owned a green jacket. He said that it was a common color of jacket in his area. The jackets were commonly available in local shops.
• Bagi said he was captured in front of his house. He had just emerged from his house. He was not riding a motorcycle, or a passenger in a taxi. Bagi pointed out that his house was on the main road, and thousands of vehicles went by every day. Bagi expressed skepticism that the ambushers would have made the mistake of using the main road, which was sure to have roadblocks on it, to escape from the scene.
• Bagi acknowledge calling his uncle, Baridad and Alif Mohammed to testify on his behalf.
• Bagi challenged the idea that Alif Mohammed was a military commander. He said Alif Mohammed could not support his own family, and had to beg for food. He said Alif Mohammed was a drug addict. His drug addiction had brought the wrath of the Taliban down on him, and they had beaten him so badly they came close to killing him.
• Bagi disputed the allegation that his neighbor Baridad suffered hearing loss from weapons fire. Baridad had been hard of hearing since childhood.

[edit] Response to Board questions

[edit] See also

• Rahmatullah
• Alif Mohammed
• Baridad

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 72
3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 1-12
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Bagi's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 42-48