Esmatulla (Guantanamo detainee 888)

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Esmatulla (also transliterated as Ismat Ullah) is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Esmatulla's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 888. American intelligence analysts estimate Exmatulla was born in 1977, in Dekundie, 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 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.

[edit] Allegations

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

a. Detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with al Qaida.

1. Detainee admits being a member of the Taliban.
2. Detainee admits carrying an AK-47 and receiving training on the weapon in Dara Sufe.
3. Detainee admits delivering a letter to a Taliban leader in the Uruzgan Province of Afghanistan.
4. Detainee was identified delivering four letters from high-ranking fugitive Taliban leaders.

b. Detainee engaged in hostillities against the United States.

1. Detainee states he was part of a forty-man unit under the control of ###### ###### ###### ####### and fought on the front line against General Dostum's Northern Alliance forces.
2. Detainee was identified as a sub-commander of a unit that fought at Tora Bora. The source indicates that the detainee knows how to use rockets, heavy machine guns, and AK-47s. The source also indicates that detainee was a Taliban member for six years and part of the fighting unit for one and one half years.
3. Detainee and another Taliban member planned to kidnap the ###### ###### Governor.
4. "'Detainee was in possession of an AK-47 when apprehended by Afghani soldiers.

[edit] Transcript

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

[edit] Translation problems

Esmatulla's transcript begins with his Tribunal's President reminding him that his Tribunal had originally met with him on October 13, 2004. The Tribunal's President had adjourned that session because of a concern that there was a problem with the translator on duty.

The Tribunal's President said that the log of the previous session would be preserved. But it isn't present in the documents the DoD released.

[edit] Witness requests

Esmatulla requested the testimony of three witnesses: his cousin, Nasrullah, who was also detained in Guantanamo, and his father and uncle, who were back in Afghanistan. His Tribunal’s President said that attempts to contact his father and uncle, through diplomatic channels, had failed, so their testimony was ruled “not reasonably available”. His cousin did testify on his behalf.

[edit] Allegations

Only two of the allegations against Esmatulla were repeated in the transcript of his Tribunal. The general summary of the allegations against Esmatulla was repeated in his transcript:

"The Detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with Al Qaida."

The third allegation of hostile activity was repeated in his transcript:

"The Detainee and another Taliban member planned to kidnap the son of the Uruzgan Governor. Did you plan to do this?"

(During his cousin Nasrullah's testimony one of the Tribunal officers states that the Governor of Uruzgan was named Jan Mohammed.)

[edit] Testimony

Esmatulla acknowledged spending a year, off and on, serving as an enlisted soldier in the Taliban. He explained that, by enlisting with the Taliban he was able to keep a guest house he owned. He said “people” were trying to take it from him. He said in return for his enlistment he was given a letter which allowed him to keep his guesthouse.

He said that, when he served as a soldier for the Taliban he was billeted in small villages with a small unit. He said his commander was Abdull Razzaq ^[sic], who commanded a platoon-sized unit. He was able to serve for terms of three or four months, and then go home and take care of his responsibilities there.

Esmatulla said that when Commander Massoud was killed, on September 9, 2001, his commander told their unit they could all go home. The Americans came approximately two months after Massoud’s death. The Americans announced, over loudspeakers, that everyone had to move. So he moved his family to Dara Woo, in Uruzgan Province. When the war was over he moved his family back to Khandahar, sold his guesthouse, and moved in with his father-in-law. He then moved his family to Pakistan, for six months. Before he left he bought a car, and let his uncle use it as a taxi, until he returned. His uncle agreed to remit a portion of his taxi earnings.

While in Pakistan he ran into Abdull Razzaq, his former Taliban commander, in a park. He ran into him again, a month later, in the same park. Razzaq asked him if he knew anyone who was going back to Afghanistan. He had a letter he wanted deliverd to a person named Sangar Rihad. Esmatulla was planning to make a trip back, in a few days. Razzaq told him the letter asked Sangar Rihad to come to Quetta, Pakistan. Esmatulla said he showed the letter to some people, who read it for him, and confirmed that it said what Razzaq said it said.

He did not know that Sanger Rihad was associated with the Taliban. Because Razzaq left after the death of Massoud he assumed he had cut his ties to the Taliban.

During his trip home, Esmatulla, and his cousin, and a friend of his, who he hadn’t seen for a while, agreed to accompany him as he drove to deliver the letter to Sangar Rihad. They had car trouble, and arrived late in the day. So they accepted Sangar Rihad’s hospitality, and spent the night at his place.

Sometime after he gave the letter to him he saw that Sangar Rihad had discarded the letter on the ground. He recognized the name “Allah” on it. He had been taught that no peice of paper with God’s name on it should be discarded carelessly. He said they should either be burned, or soaked in water. So he picked it, planning to dispose of it safely later.

They left first thing the next morning. On their way home, they were stopped at a checkpoint. Esmatulla had borrowed an AK-47 to take with him, because he was planning to sell his car. And he said it wasn’t safe to walk around with a large amount of money, if one wasn’t armed. Coincidentally, the guards who captured him were staying at the guesthouse he sold, and the new owners were able to vouch for him. But when the senior official heard they had stayed at Sangar Rihad’s place, and had delivered a letter to him, his mood changed.

Sangar Rihad was also arrested. The four of them were imprisoned in Khandahar. His car was confiscated.

Esmatulla said he had told all his interrogators the truth -- the same story he was telling his Tribunal. Some of them believed him, some believed he was lying. But he had no idea where the false allegations against him came from.

[edit] Responses to Tribunal officer’s questions

Esmatulla said he had never received any military training whatsoever. When he enlisted he already knew how to fire an AK-47. He didn’t receive any training, just his Taliban uniform.

Esmatulla said the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was an open border. The same Pashtun tribes straddle both sides of the border. The border guards did not normally require any documentation when Pashtuns crossed the border.

Esmatulla said he had borrowed the AK-47 from a friend of the friend who came with him. His friend’s friend’s name was Issa Muhammed or Issa Ahmed.

When asked if he had ever fought in the Tora Bora area, Esmatulla replied he had never seen Tora Bora in his life, except on TV.

Esmatulla explained further about the people who he had said were going to take his guesthouse. Members of the Taliban said he they were going to seize his guesthouse because they said it was built on government land. His enlistment with Abdul Razzaq was a quid pro quo in return for the letter telling the other Taliban to leave his guesthouse alone.

The Taliban who kept telling him to hand the guesthouse over to them were just regular soldiers. The person he bought the house from, Gul Mohammed, told him he could introduce him to someone who could solve his problem with the soldiers trying to seize his property. The person he introduced him to was Abdul Razzaq.

Esmatulla acknowledged that soldiers were among the guests in his guesthouse. He said the building was in bad condition -- with snakes in the roof. People with money stayed in a better class of guesthouse.

When asked who he fought against during his hitch with the Taliban Esmatulla replied:

“It was the area of Rashid Dostom ^[sic], the Northern Alliance Commander. He was operating in that area. I never went to fight with them. I was a guard. Whenever we heard gunfire in the daytime, we would tell people at nighttime there was gunfire and people were coming. Like one time, I got wounded and a bullet hit me in the leg. But I never went with them specifically to fight.”

Esmatulla said his duties consisted of guarding a barracks, with two or three rooms.

Esmatulla’s Personal Representative had one further question for him:

“ ‘On the unclassified evidence, paragraph B-3, it says the detainee and another Taliban member planned to kidnap the son of the Uruzgan Governor.’ Did you plan to do this?”

Esmatulla denied planning hostile attacks prior to his capture, and assured his Tribunal that he would not plan or conduct hostile attacks when he was freed.

[edit] Nasrullah’s testimony on Esmatulla’s behalf

[edit] Nasrullah’s testimony, during his own Tribunal, about Esmatulla

Nasrullah said he couldn't say exactly how long Esmatulla had been with the Taliban, or what duties he performed. But he said that when he had occasion to go to a Taliban office, several years before the Taliban fell, he was surprised to see his cousin there.

Nasrullah said his cousin was completely illiterate.

[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.

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

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Nasrullah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - September 4, 2004 - page 227
3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Esmatulla's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 90-106
4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Esmatulla's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 89