Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman

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Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman is a Yemeni who is in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1]

Uthman's Guantanamo detainee number is 027.^[2] The Department of Defense reports that Uthman was born on March 5, 1982, in Malal, Pakistan.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 Statement
2 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 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

Uthman did not attend his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[1] But he dictated a response to each allegation:

[edit] allegations

The allegations against Uthman were:

a. The detainee is affiliated with al Qaeda.

The Detainee voluntarily traveled from Yemen to Quetta, Pakistan where he stayed in a Taliban house in March 2001. The detainee admitted to seing an assault weapon in the Taliban house during his stay.
The detainee voluntarily traveled from Quetta, Pakistan to Kandahar, Afghanistan in March 2001.
The detainee traveled between Khost and Kabul, Afghanistan to teach the Koran from march 2001 to December 2001.
The detainee visited Usama Bin Laden’s home in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The detainee is associated with two suspects in the USS Cole bombing in Yemen.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

The detainee attended advanced training at Tarnak Farm near Kandahar, Afghanistan.
The detainee fled Afghanistan subsequent to the fall of Kabul. The detainee was caught and detained in the Tora Bora region.

[edit] Statement

Uthman didn't participate in the hearing of his CSRT. But he dictated a statement that answered each allegation, point by point.

Uthman denied all knowledge of al Qaeda, the Tarnak Farms, and any participation in, or training for military operations.

He said he had traveled to Afghanistan to teach the Koran; that he had been prevented from leaving, first by the Taliban, and later by the opening of hostilities. He said when he arrived in Pakistan he voluntarily turned himself in to Pakistani authorities, who he expected would help him reach the Yemeni Embassy.

The final paragraph of his statement read:

"The Detainee asks that the Tribunal make their decision with the truth and that all the information in his unclassified summary are lies and fabricated to hold him. He went to Pakistand and Afghanistan to teach the Koran and he taught the Koran in Yemen before he left for Pakistan. The Detainee states that he is innocent and the whole world is his witness."