Norullah Noori

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Norullah Noori is held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1]

Noori's Guantanamo detainee ID is 6. Intelligence analysts estimated he was born in 1967 in Shajoie, Afghanistan.^[1]

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
- 2.1 The following primary factors favor continued detention:
- 2.2 The following primary factors favor release or transfer:
3 References

[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 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.

Noori chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[2]

[edit] testimony

Noori's acknowledged working for the Taliban - but just a foot soldier. Denied being a member of the Taliban.

On of the allegations against Noori was that he had served as the acting governor of Mazari Sharif. He explained that he was one of the governor's bodyguards, and that when the governor was away he was among the guards the governor left to guard his compound.

Noori claimed he didn’t fight during the Russian invasion, the Taliban occupation, or during the American occupation.

Noori attended two years of schooling, as a child, so he can read and write - unlike most men in his village, and this was the reason he was accorded the honorific "mullah".

[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.

Noori chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[3]

The factors for and against continuing to detain Noori were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[4]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

The detainee worked as a security guard for the governor of Jalalabad carrying a Kalashnikov rifle.
In 2000 the detainee moved to Mazar-E-Sharif ^[sic] where he was a member of 1 10-12-man team who provided security to the Governor.
The detainee served as the acting governor in Mazar-E-Sharif ^[sic] for 8 or 9 months prior to his capture.

b. Connections/Associations

The detainee traveled to Kabul to serve as a security guard for a Taliban official.

c. Other relevant data

The detainee participated in a meeting where Taliban leaders decided to surrender to the Northern Alliance.

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

a. CSRT

The detainee testified: "I needed to survive, so I did work with the government, which was at the time the Taliban government and I work with them and that's the only mistake I made if you want to call it that, or that's the only thing I did."

b. Exculpatory

The detainee emphasized this was merely a civilian position and he had no real political responsibilities within the Taliban. Additionally, he had no interaction with the leaders in the Taliban.
The detainee admitted his allegiance with the Taliban as he was fearful of standing against the current governing body in Afghanistan. ^[sic]
The detainee does not know any of the al Qaeda members detained at Guantanamo. He cannot interact with the Arabs as he does not speak their language.