Fayad Yahya Ahmed

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Fayad Yahya Ahmed is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Ahmed's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 683. American intelligence analysts estimate that Ahmed was born in 1977, in Aden, Yemen.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
2 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 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

During the winter and spring of 2005 the Department of Defense complied with a Freedom of Information Act request, and released five files that contained 507 memoranda which each summarized the allegations against a single detainee. These memos, entitled "Summary of Evidence" were prepared for the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's names and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of these memos, when they were first released in 2005. But some of them contain notations in pen. 169 of the memos bear a hand-written notation specifying the detainee's ID number. One of the memos had a notation specifying Fayad Yahya Ahmed's detainee ID.^[2] The allegations Ahmed faced, during his Tribunal, were:

a. The detainee is a supporter of al Qaida:

The detainee is a ########## who traveled to Pakistan via Yemen; Karachi, Pakistan and finally to Lahore, Pakistan prior to 11 September 2001.
The detainee was recruited by a member of the Jama'at al-Tabligh ^[^sic].
Jama'at al-Tabligh ^[sic], a Pakistani based Islamic missionary organization is being used as a cover to mask travel and activities of terrorists including members of al-Qaida.
The detainee lived in ######### with other Yemeni students.
The detainee was arrested at ######## during a raid by the Pakistani police.
The detainee was transferred to a prison in Kabul, Afghanistan.

[edit] Tribunal

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

[edit] Evidence not available

Fayed Yahya Ahmed’s Tribunal started with his Tribunal’s President informed him that an exculpatory document he requested would not be provided to him, because it was “not reasonably available”:

“The Tribunal President, referring to Exhibit D-A, informed the Detainee that an unclassified version of the document he requested on Jama'at al-Tabligh could not be found and was therefore considered to be not reasonably available.”

[edit] Response to the allegations

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."

In response to the first allegation Ahmed asked how traveling to from Yemen to Lahore showed that he was tied to al Qaeda. He said that his interrogator and investigator had recently told him that he was innocent, had been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that he should be released. He said he had no idea where the six allegations he faced during his Tribunal came from.
In response to the allegation that he was recruited by a member of Jama’at al-Tablighi ^[sic] he talked about his understanding of the meaning “recruit”. He said that if the definition of being “recruited” was that he saw the Tablighi pilgrims at the mosque. He said that everyone sometimes sat with the Tablighi pilgrims.

Personal Representative:	Jama 'at al-Tabligh, a Pakistani based Islamic missionary organization is being used as a cover to mask travel and activities of terrorists including members of al Qaida.
Detainee:	Before this they told me that al-Tabligh are not from al Qaida, is that true?
Personal Representative:	We searched for a document to show that there is a connection but did not find one.
Detainee:	The al-Tabligh are not from al Qaida. In this point, basically you are saying Jama'at al-Tabligh is used as a cover for al Qaida and terrorist activities. So basically you are saying that Jama'at al-Tabligh are al Qaida.
Personal Representative:	It is up to him to tell us in his story, what connection if any, he has Jama'at al-Tabligh.
Detainee:	Is it true that you are saying that I am with Jama'at al-Tabligh and Jama'at al-Tabligh are used as a cover for al Qaida. Is that what they are trying to say?
Personal Representative:	I can read him the accusation again if he would like.

In response to the allegation that he lived in Issa's guest house with other Yemenis Ahmed asked for an explanation of how living with people from his own country made him a member of al Qaeda.

"This is like a game. All those six points that were given to me, supposed to be supporting that I am an al Qaida supporter, are all false. There is international law that goes against someone living outside their country. If going to travel from country to another, who am I going to live with? Of course I'm going to live with my friends."

In response to the allegation that he "was arrested at Issa 's house during a raid by the Pakistani Police," Ahmed spoke about how he understood that officials want to make sure foreigners papers are in order, and that this can require surprise raids. But, when their papers are in order, they should be released. He said his papers were in order, and he should have been released. He said he believed that the Pakistanis sold him for a bounty.
In response to the allegation he was transferred to a prison in Kabul, he acknowledged that he was transferred. Other captives were released. He was told he would be released soon. He suggested that a transfer from one prison to another was not proof that he was tied to al Qaeda.

[edit] Issa's role

The allegations against several other captives who were captured from the student dormitory where Ahmed lived, at the same time he was captured, faced the allegation that Issa was a senior member of al Qaeda. They had an opportunity to reply to that allegation that was not provided to Ahmed.