Majid Aydha Muhammad Al Qurayshi

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Majid Aydha Muhammad Al Qurayshi is a citizen of Yemen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] Al Qurayshi's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 176. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born on May 29, 1972, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

[edit] Identity

Al Qurayshi was repatriated to Saudi Arabia, although his nationality is listed Yemeni on the two official lists of hte names and nationalities the Department of Defense has released.^[2][3][1]

There is notable variance between how Al Qurayshi's name is transliterated on various official documents;

• He is named Majed Eidah Mohammed Al-Qurashi on the press release from the Saudi embassy in Washington DC, announcing his repatriation, on February 21, 2007.^[2]
• He is named Majid Aydha Muhammad Al Qurayshi on the official lists of detainee names and nationalities, released on April 20, 2006, and May 15, 2006, assert that Al Qurayshi was a citizen of Yemen.^[3][1]
• He is named Majid Idha Muhammad Al Subai Al Qurashi on a memorandum prepared for his first Administrative Review Board hearing, listing the factors for and against his continued detention.^[4]

[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.

There is no record that Al Qurayshi chose to participate 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 Al Qurayshi were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[4]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention

A.Detainee is associated with al Qaida.

1. The detainee admits traveling to Afghanistan to fight in the Jihad to atone for sins.
2. Detainee received weapons training in Afghanistan.

B. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the US or its coalition partners.

1. Detainee admits serving as a guard while in Afghanistan.
2. Pakistani forces captured detainee as he was fleeing Afghanistan.

C. Based upon a review of recommendations from US Government agencies and classified and unclassified documents, Enemy Combatant is regarded as a threat to United States and it’s Allies.

1. Detainee feels that participation in jihad is a means of Atoning for sins as well as providing for the needy and fighting the Oppressors of Islam. Detainee feels that it is the duty of Muslims to answer the call to jihad when it is issued by valid religious authority.
2. Approximately one week after 9/11/01, Al-Qurayshi left Saudi Arabia to fight in Afghanistan.
3. Al-Qurayshi was identified on a list of names recovered from a safehouse raid of suspected al Qaida in Karachi, Pakistan.
4. Detainee has admitted that he traveled with 100,000 Saudi Riyals (SIC) (approximately $25,000 USD) to start an orphanage.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer

A. Enemy Combatant in his own oral testimony denied active involvement in the fighting in Afghanistan.

[edit] Repatriation

Seven Saudis were repatriated to Saudi custody on February 21, 2007.^[2][5] The Saudi embassy in Washington identified one of the seven men as Majed Eidah Mohammed Al-Qurashi. Saudi authorities are detaining the seven men, without charge, in Hayer Prison, until they determine whether there is evidence to charge them with crimes under Saudi law.^[6]

[edit] References