Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin

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Abdul Rauf Omar Mohammed Abu Al Qusin is a citizen of Libya, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Qusin's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 709. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Qusin was born in 1965, in Tripoli, Libya.

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

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Al Qusin faced during his Tribunal were:

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --

The detainee served in the Libyan military from 1983 to 1990, where he received training with AK-47's, pistols and various machine guns.
The detainee traveled from Libya to Afghanistan via Tanzania, Algeria and France in 1990, to fight the jihad against the Soviet Union.
The detainee received weapons training (AD-47 ^[sic], sniper rifle, RPGs, and 82mm mortars) at two Libyan training camps located within Afghanistan (Torkhum and Samar Khaila).
The detainee stayed at a Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) guesthouse in Jalalabad City, AF.
The detainee was a member of the LIFG.
LIFG is a known terrorist organization.
Detainee traveled to Tora Bora in December 2001.
After the fall of the Taliban, the detainee fled to Pakistan where he was captured in a Libyan guesthouse.

[edit] Testimony

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

[edit] Statement

Al Qusin chose not to attend his Administrative Review Board hearing. But the statement he prepared was read for him by his Assisting Military Officer. That statement was not recorded in the transcript. But comments his Assisting Military Officer made were recorded.

[edit] Assisting Military Officer's comments

Afraid of returning to Libya.
Reported that a visiting delegation of Libyan intelligence officials had told him they knew he was a member of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in name, and that his participation in the group was not voluntary.
Acknowledged being trained on a variety of weapons during the eight years he spent in the Libyan military.
Acknowledged attending two training camps in Afghanistan. Again, he felt obligated to do so, this time because he was a guest, and this was the place he found he could stay in Afghanistan.
He did not believe in violence; he joined the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group out of desperation - - he was broke, had no place to go, was hungry, unemployed and had no way to support himself.
He denied ever having any associaiton with al Qaida or any other terrorist or extremist group - - he thought its leadership were “savages”. He expressed equally negative views of the Taliban, and thought these groups harmed all Muslims.

[edit] Board questions

One board member asked the Assisting Military Officer if Al Qusin seemed “schizo-typical” ^[sic]. The Assisting Military Officer replied that “he was definitely anxious” during his interviews. “Nervous, agitated, but certainly not in a violent manner. You could tell he was under he was under a lot of stress.”