Taj Mohammed (Guantanamo detainee 902)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Taj Mohammed is a citizen of Afghanistan. He was released from Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, on October 11, 2006. His Guantanamo detainee ISN number was 902. American intelligence analysts estimate Mohammed was born in 1981.

According to Washington Post reporter, "Mahvish Khan," who visited Taj Mohammed in detention with habeas counsel, he learned English within his four years of detention.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 Allegations
- 1.2 Testimony
2 Administrative Review Board hearing
3 Press reports
4 References

[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.

[edit] Allegations

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Taj Mohammed prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March of 2005.^[1] The allegations Mohammed faced were:

a. The detainee is associated with forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.

The detainee is a member of the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ^[sic] group.
The Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ^[sic] is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Terrorist Organization Guide due to its ties to al-Qaida.
The detainee volunteered to round up people for the Lashkar-e-Tayyiba ^[sic] to fight in jihad.
The detainee was a soldier in the Hizb-I Islami Gulbuddin ^[sic] (HIG).
The HIG is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Terrorist Organization Reference Guide as having long-established ties to Usama Bin Ladin.
The detainee is associated with members of the Taliban.
The detainee was paid for the attack on an American military base.

[edit] Testimony

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

[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.

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

[edit] Press reports

According to the Associated Press the allegations against Nasir, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, was accused of being a member of Lashkar-e-Tayyiba -- The Army of the Pure.^[4]

Mohammed told his Tribunal: "I was a shepherd, and I never can even go out very much, and I was always with my goats on the mountain, These are all lies about me."^[4]