Fahed Nasser Mohamed

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fahed Nasser Mohamed is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Mohamed's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 013. The Department of Defense reports that Mohamed was born on February 25, 1982, in Abaha. Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[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.

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

[edit] Confusion over whether the CSRT was a court of law

Mohamed expressed confusion over whether the Tribunal was a real court. He was informed it was not a court, it was an administrative procedure.

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Mohamed faced during his Tribunal were:[3]

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban:
  1. The detainee was recruited in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to take part in jihad on or about 26 December 2000.
  2. The detainee traveled from his home in Saudi Arabia to Pakistan and crossed the border into Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee received small arms training at the al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan.
  4. The detainee attended training at al Qaida's al Farouq camp in Afghanistan.
  5. The detainee confirmed that he was present during the uprising at the Al Jenke Prison [sic] in Mazar-E-Sharif [sic].
  6. Usama Bin Laden visited the al Farouq training camp while the detainee was in training.

[edit] Testimony in response to the allegations

Mohamed was allowed to respond to each of the allegations, in turn:

  • Mohamed the allegation that he was recruited to take part in jihad in Afghanistan. He acknowledged that a stranger had explained jihad to him, planted the idea of jihad in his mind, given him money to travel to Afghanistan for jihad. But, Mohamed said this man shouldn't be regarded as a recruiter because he didn't actually train him.
  • Mohamed acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan for Jihad.
  • Mohamed denied attending any training while in Afghanistan. He claimed he changed his mind about participating in jihad. Mohamed said he traveled around Afghanistan, and was in Konduz during the American bombing campaign. The Taliban authorities agreed, when they surrendered, to deliver all Arabs to Mazar-E-Sharif. Mohamed told his Tribunal that he had been administered polygraph tests, that confirmed he was telling the truth.
  • Mohamed acknowledged that he was present during the prison uprising, but he did not participate.
  • Mohamed denied the allegation that he heard Osama bin Laden deliver a speech while he attended the al Farouq training camp. He denied ever hearing Osama bin Laden, and repeated his denial that he had ever attended the al Farouq training camp.

[edit] Testimony in response to Tribunal officer's questioning

[edit] Reported torture while in custody

Mohamed reported that he was tortured into uttering false confessions while he was in Afghan custody.

The Tribunal's President asked Mohamed to confirm that the torture ended when he entered American custody. Mohamed replied: "I was talking to the American and explained to him what was going on and the interrogator got upset and just interrupted the meeting.and said that I was lying."

Main article: Guantanamo detainees who reported abuse while in custody

[edit] Alleged to have met Osama Bin Laden

Mohamed is one of the detainees who is alleged to have heard Osama Bin Laden address a group live and in person. Mohamed is alleged to have heard Osama bin Laden speak while he attended the al Farouq training camp. Mohamed denies attending the al Farouq training camp, and denies ever hearing Osama bin Laden.

Main article: Guantanamo detainees alleged to have heard Osama bin Laden

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

The caption to this poster, distributed by the CIA in Afghanistan, reads: “You can receive millions of dollars for helping the Anti-Taliban Force catch Al-Qaida and Taliban murderers. This enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life. Pay for livestock and doctors and school books and housing for all your people."
The caption to this poster, distributed by the CIA in Afghanistan, reads: “You can receive millions of dollars for helping the Anti-Taliban Force catch Al-Qaida and Taliban murderers. This enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life. Pay for livestock and doctors and school books and housing for all your people."

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.

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

[edit] Mohamed's opening statement

Mohamed's transcript records that this opening statement was read, on his behalf, by his Assisting Military Officer:

"I never attended al-Farouq or any other training camp; I know nothing of supporting Palestinians; I never met Usama bin-Laden; He does not believe in the CSRT or the ARB processes, it is 'all a film;' The USA is sure that I am innocent, [TmJ just being held for a political cause; We (ARB Members) are all in official uniforms, but we are ail like a mafia gang; a polygraph test proved that I'm not al-Qaida, and never at a training camp."

Mohamed added that the only part in the factors that was true was that he traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan -- for religious purposes.

[edit] Responses to Board questions

  • Mohamed confirmed that he had intended to fight jihad, when he arrived in Afghanistan, but he changed his mind when he discovered the Afghans were engaged in un-Islamic practices, such as worshiping graves.
  • Mohamed testified he never engaged in hostilities.
  • Mohamed confirmed that he was shot when he tried to surrender to the Northern Alliance.
  • Mohamed confirmed he was present at the uprising at the Al Janki prison in Mazari Sharif.
  • Mohamed said he ended up in Mazari Sharif when he thought there was an agreement between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance to return the Arabs in the Konduz area to Kandahar. He boarded a truck to take him to Kandahar, but Dostum had tricked them, took them into custody, and sold them, for a bounty to the Americans.
  • Mohamed confirmed that he did not consider himself a threat to the USA.

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Fahed Nasser Mohamed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 83-87
  3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Fahed Nasser Mohamed's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 83-87
  4. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Fahed Nasser Mohamed's Administrative Review Board hearing - pages 40-45
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/a/h/Fahed_Nasser_Mohamed_a6db.html"