Ghallab Bashir

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Ghallab Bashir is held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.

1 Identity
2 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
3 Administrative Review Board hearing
- 3.1 The following primary factors favor continued detention:
- 3.2 The following primary factors favor release or transfer:
4 References

[edit] Identity

The United States Department of Defense, under court order, released the identity of the Guantanamo detainees. On April 20, 2006 they released a list of the names of 558 detainees who were held in Guantanamo Bay in July 2004, when they started conducting Combatant Status Review Tribunals.^[1] On May 15, 2006 they released a list of all the names of all the detainees who had been held in Guantanamo.^[2]

Numerous detainee's names were spelled differently on the two lists -- some of them markedly so. Bashir's name is not on either list. But the DoD released a memo summarizing the factors for and against his continued detention ^[3]

Main article: Guantanamo detainees missing from the official list

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.

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.

Because of the DoD's confusion over Bashir's name it is not clear whether he participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

[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.

The factors for and against continuing to detain Bashir were among the 120 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[3]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

The detainee traveled from Syria, through Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan respectively, finally arriving at Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
The detainee was smuggled from Iran into Afghanistan and then on to Quetta, Pakistan with assistance from the Tablighi (JT: Jama’at Tablighi) office in Zahedan, Iran.
Jama’at Tablighi is a Pakistan-based Islamic missionary organization believed to be used as a cover to mask travel and activities of terrorists including members of al Qaida.

b. Training

The detainee attended the al Farouq training camp in early 2001.

c. Connections

The detainee waa a bodyguard for Usama Bin Laden.
The detainee’s name was on a list of captured hard drives associated with a senior al Qaida member.
The detainee’s name also appears in a list of “trust” accounts found on files recovered from various computer media seized during raids against al Qaida.

d. Intent

The detainee left Jalalabad, Afghanistan around November 2001, with other Arabs and Pakistanis, stayed in the mountains for one month, continued to Pakistan with approximately 20 other Arabs, and was captured on 16 December 2001.
In September 2004, the detainee admitted to using a false name since his arrival in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The detainee was in charge of weapons inventory at Tora Bora, with duties consisting of handing out ammunition and taking inventory.
The detainee was in Tora Bora after 11 September 2001, making sure fighting groups had enough supplies.
The detainee worked in one of the supply caves, loading and unloading supplies for other mujahideen.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

The detainee stated he had “a middle of the road” approach with faith and religion and that he was not an extremist.
The detainee claims to have not participated in jihad activities.
The detainee denied attending the al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan and that he was chosen to be a bodyguard for Usama Bin Laden. He denied meeting Usama Bin Laden.
The detainee denied receiving any military or weapons training.