Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali

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Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Al Maythali's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 840. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1977, in Zemar, Yemen.

[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 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

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

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban or al Qaida.

1. The detainee voluntarily traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan in November 2000 to fight the Jihad.
2. The detainee stayed at a Taliban guesthouse in Quetta, Pakistan during his travel to Afghanistan.
3. The detainee stayed at an al Qaida guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
4. The detainee trained at the al Farouq training camp.
5. While at the al Farouq camp; the detainee was trained on the Kalashnikov rifle, PK machine gun, Makarov pistol, and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG's) ^[sic].
6. The detainee was also trained in trench digging, disguise, mountain climbing, map reading and orienteering at al Farouq.
7. The detainee returned to the al Farouq camp for advanced training, which consisted of preparation for fighting and reconnaissance techniques.
8. The detainee was at al Farouq on three separate occasions when Usama Bin Laden gave lectures.
9. The detainee also received training at the Kandahar airport. This training was in personal security, survival skills, how to obtain a passport without drawing attention to one's self and how to get through customs.
10. The detainee assisted the Taliban on the front lines near Kabul, Afghanistan.
11. The detainee stated that he fought on the front lines for one week.
12. The detainee was in Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul.
13. The detainee was arrested in a guesthouse in Karachi on 11 September 2002.

[edit] Testimony

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

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - October 19, 2004 - page 102
3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 12-14