Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri

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Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri
Arabic: عبد الرحيم النشيري‎
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 10015
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
CSRT Summary * "CSRT Summary of Evidence memo for Abd Al Rahim Hussein Mohammed Al Nashiri" on Wikisource.

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (Arabic: عبد الرحيم النشيري ‎) is one of the aliases of the Saudi al-Qaeda member Abdul-Rahim Hussein Muhammad 'Abdu[1] (عبد الرحيم حسين محمد عبده). Other aliases include Mullah Bilal, Mohammed Omar al-Harazi, and Abdul Rahman Hussein al-Nashari.[2] He is alleged to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing and other terrorist attacks, who headed al-Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf states prior to his capture in November of 2002.

Contents

[edit] Background

Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Nashiri travelled to Afghanistan to participate in attacks against the Russians in the region. In 1996 he travelled to Tajikistan and then Jalalabad, where he first met Osama bin Laden.[3] Bin Laden attempted to convince al-Nashiri to join al-Qaeda at this point, but he refused because he found the idea of swearing a loyalty oath to bin Laden to be distasteful. Still, after al-Nashiri travelled to Yemen, he began to consider committing terrorist actions against United States interests.[3]

When he returned to Afghanistan in 1997, he again met bin Laden, but again declined to join in the terrorist group. Instead, he fought with the Taliban against the Afghan Northern Alliance. Still, he assisted in the smuggling of four anti-tank missiles into Saudi Arabia, and helped arrange for a terrorist to get a Yemeni passport. His cousin, Jihad Mohammad Ali al-Makki, was one of the suicide bombers in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya.[3]

[edit] Joined al-Qaeda

Finally, probably in 1998, al-Nashiri finally joined al-Qaeda, reporting directly to bin Laden. In late 1998, he conceived of a plot to attack a U.S. vessel using a boat full of explosives. Bin Laden personally approved of the plan, and provided money for it. First, al-Nashiri attempted to attack the USS The Sullivans as a part of the 2000 millennium attack plots, but the boat he used was overloaded with explosives and began to sink.[3]

The next attempt, however, the USS Cole bombing, was successful. 17 U.S. sailors were killed, and many more were injured. This success brought him fame and respect within al-Qaeda, and al-Nashiri became the chief of operations for the Arabian Peninsula.[3] He organized the Limburg tanker bombing in 2002, and he may have planned other attacks as well.

[edit] Arrest

In November 2002, al-Nashiri was captured in the United Arab Emirates.[2] He is currently in American military custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,[1] having previously been held at some secret location. On September 29, 2004, he was sentenced to death in absentia in a Yemeni court for his role in the USS Cole bombing.

The U.S. military put al-Rahim al-Nashiri in prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said March 14, 2008. He was held by the CIA for an undisclosed amount of time.[4]

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

The 558 Combatant Status Review Tribunals held between August 2004 and January 2005 were convened in this trailer. 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.
The 558 Combatant Status Review Tribunals held between August 2004 and January 2005 were convened in this trailer. 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.[5]

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.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abd Al Rahim Hussein Mohammed Al Nashiri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on February 8, 2007.[6] The memo listed 14 detailed allegations against him:

Abd al-Rahim chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, which was held on March 14, 2007.[7] The full verbatim transcript from his Tribunal ended up bin thirty-six pages long, after extensive redactions were made from the portions when he responded to questions about his claims that his confessions were the result of torture.

[edit] Claims of torture

Abd al-Rahim attributed his confessions of involvement in the USS Cole bombing to torture.[8] All the details Abd al-Rahim offered of his claims of torture were redacted from his transcript.[7][9]

In his opening statement captive 10015 listed seven false confessions he had been induced to make while under torture.[7]

  1. The French Merchant Vessel Limburg incident.
  2. The USS Cole bombing.
  3. The rockets in Saudi Arabia.
  4. The plan to bomb American ships in the gulf.
  5. Relationship with people committing bombings in Saudi Arabia.
  6. Usama Bin Laden having a nuclear bomb.
  7. A plan to hijack a plane and crash it into a ship.

During the course of his Tribunal he claimed additional confessions he had made, while being tortured.

[edit] Waterboarding

On February 6, 2008, the CIA director General Michael Hayden confirmed that the CIA had used waterboarding on al-Nashiri, along with two other prisoners, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubayda.[10][11]

[edit] Allegations

During his Tribunal Abd al-Rahim faced the following allegations.[6]

  • That he had been a bomb-maker.
  • That he traveled on a forged passport.
  • That he arranged to have a small boat rented just prior to the USS Cole bombing.

[edit] Determined to be an "enemy combatant"

The Department of Defense announced, on August 9, 2007 that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to military custody in Guantanamo from custody in the CIA's black sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants".[12]

According to the Department of Defense this determination means the fourteen men can now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions. However the military commissions faced by Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan dropped all charges on jurisdictional grounds on June 7, 2007.[13][14] Colonel Peter Brownback and Captain Keith J. Allred ruled that the Military Commissions Act only authorized the trial of "unlawful enemy combatants", while the Combatant Status Review Tribunals had merely determined the captives to be "enemy combatants".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Biographies of 14 detainees, Office of the Director of National Intelligence
  2. ^ a b "U.S.: Top al Qaeda operative arrested", CNN, November 22, 2002. 
  3. ^ a b c d e National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004). "Chapter 5", 9/11 Commission Report. 
  4. ^ "Bin Laden associate transferred from CIA to Gitmo", CNN, 2008-03-14. Retrieved on 2008-03-14. 
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ a b OARDEC (February 8, 2007). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Nashiri, Abd Al Rahim Hussein Mohammed pages 1-2. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
  7. ^ a b c OARDEC (March 14, 2007). Verbatim Transcript of Open Session Combatant Status Review Tribunal Hearing for ISN 10015 pages 1-36. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-25.
  8. ^ Gabriel Haboubi. "Guantanamo detainee says torture prompted confession to USS Cole bombing", The Jurist, Friday, March 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. 
  9. ^ Lolita C. Baldor. "Suspect at Guantanamo Claims Torture", Associated Press, March 30, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-19. 
  10. ^ Price, Caitlin. CIA chief confirms use of waterboarding on 3 terror detainees. University of Pittsburgh School of Law. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
  11. ^ CIA finally admits to waterboarding (HTML). The Australian (2008-02-07). Retrieved on 2008-02-18.
  12. ^ Lolita C. Baldur. "Pentagon: 14 Guantanamo Suspects Are Now Combatants", Time magazine, Thursday, August 9, 2007. 
  13. ^ Sergeant Sara Wood. "Charges Dismissed Against Canadian at Guantanamo", Department of Defense, June 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 
  14. ^ Sergeant Sara Wood. "Judge Dismisses Charges Against Second Guantanamo Detainee", Department of Defense, June 4, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-06-07. 

[edit] External links

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High Value Captives in the War on Terror
Captives transferred to
Guantanamo Bay detention camp
from
black sites
Unaccounted-for captives