Jaralla Saleh Mohammed Kahla Al Marri

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Jarallah al-Marri is a citizen of Qatar currently held in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba.^[1] Al Marri's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 334.^[2] The Department of Defense reports that he was born on August 12, 1973, in Doha, Qatar.

[edit] Habeas corpus

Ali Al-Marri On Sept. 10, 2001, al-Marri came to Peoria with his family to become a graduate student at his undergraduate alma mater, Bradley University.

al-Marri was indicted and arrested on credit card fraud and lying to the FBI. He is being detained as a supposed al-Qaeda operative who came to the US to assist in a second wave of terrorist attacks. Al-Marri denies this.^[3]

Al-Marri's detention was challenged in a habeas corpus petition in 2004.^[4]

[edit] Combat 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.

Al Marri chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[1]

[edit] Al-Marri's position

Al-Marri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal was held on October 30, 2004.^[1] Al-Marri requested a lawyer. He was told that the tribunal was not a court of law, so he didn't need a lawyer. Al-Marri then started responding to all questions by saying "No comment".

The unclassified portion of the file against Al-Marri said:

a. The detainee was associated with the Taliban and al Qaida forces.

1. The detainee is a Qatar citizen who traveled to Afghanistan, through Pakistan, to participate in the Jihad.
2. The detainee arrived in Pakistan in the fall of 2001 and later traveled to a guesthouse in Afghanistan.
3. Prior to 11 September 2001, the detaines went to the ######### camp even after learning it was owned by Usama Bin Laden.
4. The detainee fled the ######### camp after 11 September 2001, and was issued an AK-47.
5. The detainee had interaction with the Taliban and they directed him through checkpoints throughout Afghanistan.
6. The detainee and others fled Afghanistan, but were arrested at the Pakistan border by the Pakistani police.

Al Marri's Personnel Representative s told the tribunal that he had expected Al-Marri to speak on his own behalf, so he only had rough notes.^[1] Al-Marri and his personal representative had discussed the unclassified portion of the summary of why the DoD considered Al-Marri an unlawful combatant. Al-Marri agreed with the summary that he had "travelled to Afghanistan, in the fall of 2001, prior to the attacks of 9-11. But he said he didn't know that the camp was owned by Bin Laden. He denied being issued an AK-47. He said he travelled alone, not with others. He acknowledged interacting with the Taliban, at roadblocks. At the time he travelled Taliban manned all the roadblocks.

[edit] Result of hearing

The tribunal confirmed the determination that Al-Marri was properly classified as an unlawful combatant based on the classified portion of his file.

[edit] Jail conditions

[edit] Al-Marri's position

Al-Marri participated in the hunger strikes held during the summer of 2005. According to the Center for Constitutional Rights:

As Jarallah Al-Marri, a prisoner from Qatar, stated, “I participated in a hunger strike for 17 days to protest the inhumane conditions and religious persecution I and hundreds of other prisoners have been subject to at Guantánamo.^[5]”

Further details of the seriousness of the prisoners’ claims are also emerging. Al-Marri, for example, was hospitalized as a result of his hunger strike and a deteriorating heart condition, and placed on an IV. He told his attorney, Jonathan Hafetz of Gibbons Del Deo Dolan Griffinger & Vecchione, that the government had a nurse make sexual advances towards him while he was lying in his hospital bed in a vain attempt to convince him to give up his hunger strike. Al-Marri has been in solitary confinement for over 16 months and today often goes as long as 3 weeks without being allowed outside his cell for recreation. The lights in Al-Marri's cell remain on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and he has been denied adequate bedding and clothing. Al-Marri is able to sleep only 2 hours a night, and his physical and mental health have deteriorated significantly.^[5]

According to an article in The Columbia Journalist, from December 12, 2005, al-Marri had only had two visits from his lawyers.^[6]

[edit] McCain Amendment

Main article: McCain Detainee Amendment

The McCain Detainee Amendment is a proposed amendment to the United States Senate Department of Defense Authorization bill, commonly referred to as the Amendment on (1) the Army Field Manual and (2) Cruel, Inhumane, Degrading Treatment, amendment #1977 and also known as the McCain Amendment 1977. The amendment would prohibit inhumane treatment of prisoners. The Amendment was introduced by Senator John McCain, a candidate for the 2000 presidential Republican primary, who is viewed as a likely candidate for 2008. On October 5, 2005, the United States Senate voted 90-9 to support the amendment. [1]

[edit] Detention of Al-Marri's Brother

Al-Marri's brother Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, formerly a graduate student at Bradley University, is currently held in a North Carolina naval prison.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} documents (.pdf) from Jaralla al-Marri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal
2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
3. ^ The Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri case, CollegeFreedom.org
4. ^ Al-Marri's habeas corpus petition - Civil Action No. 04-CV-2035 (.pdf) Jarallah Al-Marri v. George W. Bush
5. ^ ^{a b} Guantanamo Legal Update 8.25.05, Center for Constitutional Rights, August 25, 2005
6. ^ New Congressional Bill May Alter Legal Limbo for Guantanamo Bay Prisoners, The Columbia Journalist, December 12, 2005