Hani Abdul Muslih al Shulan

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Hani Abdual Muslih Al Shulan is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1]^[2] Al Shulan's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 225. American intelligence analysts estimate that Al Shulan was born in 1979, in Ibb, Yemen.

Al Shulan is notable because one of the justifications for his continued detention was that he was captured wearing a Casio F91W digital watch.^[3]

1 Press reports
2 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
3 References

[edit] Press reports

Al Shulan was also accused of being present at Tora Bora, during the American bombardment.^[3]

Al Shulan said he was just a student, who found work as a chef's assistant north of Kabul.^[3]

[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.

Casio F91W, in daily alarm mode. The watch is currently set to ring an alarm, and flash its light, at 7:30am.

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 tribunal 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.

Al Shulan chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[4]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Al Shulan faced during his Tribunal were:^[4]

a. Detainee supported the Taliban.

The detainee arrived in Afghanistan in approximately July 2001, from Yemen via Pakistan.
The detainee resided in Taliban safe houses during his travel to and within Afghanistan.
The detainee traveled to Afghanistan in response to a [[fatwa] for the purpose of fighting coalition forces.
The detainee had in his possession at capture a Casio watch, model # A159W, which has been used in bombings linked to al Qaida.
The detainee was proficient with a Kalashnikov ^[^sic] rife ^[^sic].

b. The detainee engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners.

The detainee was armed with an AK-47 rifle.
The detainee was present in the Tora Bora region during the U.S. air campaign.
The detainee was captured in Pakistan neat the Afghanistan border by Pakistani forces.

[edit] Al Shulan's testimony in response to the allegations against him:

Al Shulan acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan via Pakistan, but he could no longer recall whether he arrived in July 2001.
Al Shulan denied stating that he traveled to Afghanistan in response to a fatwa.
Al Shulan acknowledged owning a Casio watch, but he couldn't recall the model number.
Al Shulan acknowledged proficiency with the Kalashnikov, but he pointed out that proficiency with a Kalashnikov was extremely common in Afghanistan, because it was so dangerous there.
Al Shulan acknowledged having an AK-47, but stated: "...it's not for any enemy activities or to fire at the coalition."
Al Shulan denied staying in Tora Bora.
Al Shulan denied that he was captured. He said turned himself over to the Pakistani authorities.

[edit] Al Shulan's response to questions from the Tribunal's officers:

Al Shulan said he traveled to Afghanistan in search of employment.
Al Shulan said his father paid his travel expenses.
Al Shulan stated he had never had any kind of military training.
Al Shulan was asked if he saw any members of the Taliban or al Qaida in the houses he stayed in in Afghanistan. In response he said he did not hear about al Qaida until he was put in jail.
Al Shulan acknowledged that when he fled Afghanistan he did not travel alone, and that he and some of his traveling companions were armed.
Al Shulan said he did not know whether he could find work in Afghanistan, but it was an easy country to travel to, because it wasn't necessary to get a visa.
Al Shulan said a man named Saleh Al Raeni, who he met at a mosque called Al Forkan, helped him find his way to Afghanistan.
Al Shulan declined to answer whether he "believed in jihad", because that issue wasn't touched upon in his unclassified summary of evidence.
Al Shulan failed to find work in Quetta, Pakistan, Kandahar, Afghanistan, Kabul Afghanistan. But he did find work as a cook's assistant in a small place outside of Kabul.
Al Shulan said he wanted to leave Afghanistan following the attacks on 9-11 because he didn't want to get involved.
Al Shulan acknowledged passing through Tora Bora during his exit from Afghanistan.
Al Shulan stated that he thought he turned himself in to authorities in Pakistan on August 1st ^[sic].