Feda Ahmed

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Feda Ahmed is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Feda Ahmed's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 1013. The US Department of Defense reported that Feda Ahmed was born in February 5, 1977, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 Testimony
2 Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant
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 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.

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

[edit] allegations

The allegations Ahmed 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 attempted to be smuggled into the United States.
The detainee traveled with forged travel documents, including a passport and other travel documents.
The detainee left Pakistan ten months previous to his detention by paying a smuggler in Pakistan twenty-five thousand dollars (US) to be smuggled into the U.S.
The vessel in which the Detainee traveled is believed to be a special interest vessel, which was the focus of Operation Southern Watch.
The smuggler responsible for the above-mentioned vessel has close business ties with an individual known to help coordinate smuggling operations for members of Hizballah and al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya.
Hizballah and al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya are known terrorist groups.

[edit] Testimony

Ahmed acknowledged trying to smuggle himself into the United States.
Ahmed acknowledged traveling with forged documents. He travled from Pakistan to Guatemala by plane, but it was eight months prior to his detention, not ten months. And from Guatemala he traveled overland, by foot or vehicle. He did not travel in any water borne vessels, except local ferries when crossing rivers or streams.
His smuggler was going to be paid $18,000, not $25,000, by his father, upon his arrival in the USA.

Ahmed asserted he knew nothing of any ties between his smuggler and terrorist groups.

[edit] Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Ahmed was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[3] They report that Ahmed has been released. The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.