Abd Al Nasir Mohammed Abd Al Qadir Khantumani

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Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Abd Al Qadir Khantumani is a citizen of Syria, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Al Khantumani's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 307. American intelligence analysts estimate Khantumani was born in 1960, in Halab, Syria.

Contents

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.
Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat on a plastic garden chair, with his hands and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[2][3] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[4]

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.

Khantumani chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[5]

[edit] Allegations

During most detainees Tribunals the allegations against them were read aloud, and were included in the transcript. Since Khantumani had prepared a written statement the allegations against Khantumani were not included in his transcript.

[edit] Testimony

Since Khantumani had responded with a written statement the Tribunal proceed directly to asking him questions.

  • Khantumani answered that he was joined by his mother, his wife, his youngest son, his son Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani, his brother, his brother's wife, and their children. During his Tribunal his son Muhammad said he had traveled with nine other family members.[6]During his Tribunal Muhammad said he and the rest of his family had followed his father to Afghanistan after he had found a job in Kabul,
  • Khantumani confirmed he arrived in Afghanistan in 1999 and that he was followed by his family in 2001. During his Tribunal his son Muhammad said they followed his father approximately fifteen months after he left Syria.
Q. When did you leave Kabul?
A. We heard about the problems that happened in America, and we wanted to leave Afghanistan.
Q. Before the bombing started in Kabul?
A. Before everything. We wanted to save our lives, and that's why we wanted to leave before it started.
  • Khantumani testified that he and his son were separated from the rest of his family because their guides who were helping them escape to Pakistan told them their party would be suspicious if it contained too many men. So he and his father remained behind and made their own way through the mountains.
Q. There are statements in here that you have been tortured and abused. Have you been tortured or abused by any United States personnel?
A. I don't know if they were Americans or not. They did not torture us personally or physically, but the Pakistan authorities were torturing us really hard, and they were looking and standing right there. The Americans were present. I am sure about that because they were the one who interrogated us.
  • Khantumani said that he had spent all his time in Afghanistan in Kabul. He chose Kabul because it had the most economic activity, meaning it would be easier for him to find work.
  • Khantumani initially stayed in a hotel. Then he was visited by four members of the secret police, who told him that he should stay with another Arabic man, named Abu Abdullah Al-Shami.
  • Khantumani got his own place prior to the arrival of his family.
  • Khantumani and his son were carrying their passports when they were captured.
  • Khantumani said that the allegation that he had been present in the bus that was hijacked by prisoners who were al Qaeda suspects was false. He had been coerced into falsely confessing this during his torture sessions in Pakistan.

[edit] Witnesses

Khantumani requested a single witness, his son Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani.

Muhammad was asked how he and his father became separated from the rest of his family. His answer was the same as his father -- their guides had advised them their party contained too many men, and would attract suspicion that a group of women and children would not.

Muhammad said they learned the rest of their family was killed by the Americans.

Muhammad said that he and his father always surrendered random scraps of metal they found in the prison, that could be turned into weapons.

Muhammad said everyone in his family had valid passports.

Muhammad was also asked about the allegation that he and his father had traveled in a bus which was hijacked by the prisoners:

Q. After you were captured, were you ever involved in an escape?
A. The interrogators talked about this incident with us so many times. If you look at my nose, you can see it is broken. They took us to the first prison were we stayed for five days. Then, we went to the second prison where there were a lot of people. Then, we were sent to the third prison. After that, they asked us who was in the bus. We didn't know anything about a bus. I don't know why they took me and they separated us. They tortured me a lot. I know that you can see that by looking at my nose and see that it was broken.
Q. Was that done by a Pakistani or an American?
A. Pakistani. It was an unfortunate thing that Americans were present and they could see that they were torturing us. All that torture was just for us to say we were on the bus. We didn't know anything about this bus. We tried to say no, no, no, but they just keep torturing us. Then they broke my nose and I said I was on the bus. After they tortured us, the Pakistanis said we were going to America for two days. They said if we changed what we said, they would come and kill you, definitely for sure.
Main article: al Qaeda bus hijacking in Pakistan

[edit] Written statement

A brief written statement was appended to the transcript[7].

"When I was gone for three days, the first day I spent in a village called Marzak. Second (sic) night in broken (sic) truck. After the truck in the way back I saw two dead people. After that I spent a night in a village which was towards my home from Marzak. I had some peas, raisins, and Parata (bread). I had picked up a radio and two hand grenades and I was on my way. When I came down from mountains, I got to the open area and saw the coalition forces and before I got to them I got rid of the hand grenades meaning at the time of capture they were not caught with me. I was captured with the radio. After I was beaten two or three times by the Afghan soldiers I was handed over to the Americans. Then, they sent to Gardez with Afghan soldier. Then, after two days I was sent to Bagram."

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  3. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  4. ^ Annual Administrative Review Boards for Enemy Combatants Held at Guantanamo Attributable to Senior Defense Officials. United States Department of Defense (March 6, 2007). Retrieved on 2007-09-22.
  5. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abd Al Nasir Mohammed Abd Al Qadir Khantumani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 87-100
  6. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Muhammad Abd Al Nasir Muhammad Khantumani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 74-99
  7. ^ written statement (.pdf), from Abd Al Nasir Mohammed Abd Al Qadir Khantumani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 97