Abdul Ghani (Guantanamo detainee 943)

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For other individuals named Abdul Ghani see Abdul Ghani (disambiguation).

Abdul Ghani is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 943. American intelligence analysts estimates that Abdul Ghani was born in 1983 in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

Main article: minors detained in the global war on terror

1 Identity
2 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 2.1 Allegations
- 2.2 Testimony
3 Administrative Review Board hearing
4 References

[edit] Identity

Guantanamo held another detainee named Abdul Ghani.^[1] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 934. American intelligence analysts estimated he was born in 1972. This other Abdul Ghani testified he too was from Kandahar..

[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.

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

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Abdul Ghani faced during his Tribunal were:

a. -- The general summary of Abdul Ghani's association with terrorism was missing from the transcript.

The detainee is an Afghan citizen who stated that he was a Taliban member.
The detainee was in the Spin Boldak Mountains with up to 80 other fighters.
The detainee recruited members at gunpoint to fight a Jihad against the Afghanistan government and the Americans.
The detainee was identified as an executive assistant to the commander of a known Taliban terrorist group.
The detainee was captured as he drove past a U.S. convoy on a motorcycle carrying a passenger.
As the detainee approached the U.S. convoy, he attempted to evade by steering off the road.
During the subsequent pursuit, the detainee crashed his motorcycle and he and his passenger fled the accident in opposite directions, both were headed away from the U.S. forces.
Detainee's passenger was shot while attempting to throw a grenade at capturing forces.
After his capture, the detainee led U.S. forces to an area that contained four reinforced bunkers in which were located intelligence documents, weapons, ammunition, and bomb making materials.

[edit] Testimony

Abdul Ghani testified that he was not a Taliban fighter and he had never stated he was a Taliban fighter. He said he had been studying at a religious school in Pakistan for the last five years, coming home every three months or so to visit his family.

Abdul Ghani denied recruiting jihadists at gun point.

Abdul Ghani said that he had come home to visit his family, and his brother was missing. His father told him that he had been taken to join the Taliban, and told him to go find him and bring him back. He went to look in the place his father told him to look in the morning. He found the area by noon, where he was stopped by a guard. He told the guard he had come to retrieve his brother, and the guard went away and returned about an hour later with his brother.

Abdul Ghani's brother had a motorcycle, and seemed to be free to go. Abdul hopped on board, and they proceeded to drive home. On the way they encountered an American convoy, pulling over, and being shot at:

"That time I came from Pakistan to my home, the first thing my father told me that my brother had been taken by a man named Durahim. He said he took your brother, so you go look for him, and bring him home... Finally, I found where he was. When I found him, I told him I was sent by our father, and when we tried to go hom, we saw the Americans coming. When we saw the Americans, we left the street for them, and turned on one side to let them go; we drobe a little more and got into an accident. At that time, we were under gunfire by the Americans. They shot him [brother] and they captured me. They captured me, and didn't hit me when they were firing."

Abdul Ghani denied that they were trying to evade the Americans. Abdul Ghani denied seeing his brother try to throw a grenade. Abdul Ghani denied that either he or his brother were armed when they encountered the American convoy. Abdul Ghani denied that either he or his brother had given the Americans any cause to open fire. Abdul Ghani denied any knowledge of a complex of bunkers. He said all he did was take the Americans to where he found his brother.

Abdul Ghani said he had no idea who would have accused him of recruiting for the Taliban, or being a commander's executive assistant.

Abdul Ghani said all the other detainees were strangers to him.

Often, when a detainee describes the death of a relative, the Tribunal's President will offer sympathy. But none of the Tribunal's officers offered Abdul Ghani any sympathy for the death of his brother.

[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.

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