Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Al Baddah

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Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Al Baddah is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 264. The Department of Defense reports that he was born on April 12, 1982, in Quia ^[sic] , Saudi Arabia

[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.^[2][3] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[4]

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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] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Al Baddah's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 17 September 2004.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. Detainee is associated with al Qaida:

1. In September 2001, Detainee, who is a Saudi National, traveled voluntarily to Afghanistan through known al Qaida routes under the guise that he intended to assist in relief efforts for the Afghani people, a known al Qaida cover story.
2. The Detainee admitted being recruited by Wael Al-Jabri in Saudi Arabia to join Al Wafa, a nongovernmental organization with ties to al Qaida.
3. Detainee admitted working for Al-Wafa while in Afghanistan.
4. Detainee observed that the leader of the Al-Wafa office in Kabul, Afghanistan, known as Abdul Aziz, carried a Kalashnikov ^[sic] rifle, as did several of other Al-Wafa workers located there.
5. The Detainee stated that he fled Kabul, Afghanistan when the town fell to the Northern Alliance forces.
6. One of detainee's known aliases was on a list of captured al Qaida members that was discovered on a computer hard drive associated with a senior al-Qaida member.
7. Detainee surrendered to Pakistani authorities in Peshawar, Pakistan in late 2001 and was later transferred to the custody of U.S. forces on January 3,2002.

[edit] Transcript

Al Baddah chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a six page ummarized transcripts from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[7]

[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.

Al Baddah chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[8]

[edit] Enemy Combatant Election Form

Abdul Aziz's Assisting Military Officer met with him on August 19, 2005, for forty-five minutes.

His Assisting Military Officer's said Abdul Aziz chose not to attend his hearing His Assisting Military Officer's read from the notes he prepared on Abdul Aziz's Enemy Combatant Election Form: {{quotation|"I might be a criminal but I am not. I see some detainees who are not criminals who are still here. I am not going to talk much. One thing I would like to say, if you have proof of these allegations they can present it to the court and the court will decide."

His Assisting Military Officer told his Board that he tried to explain that the Board was an Administrative procedure, not part of the US criminal justice system.

His Assisting Military Officer then recorded:

"I don't believe in the lawyer they appointed me. I don't trust all the American lawyers. All these allegations are false."

Abdul Aziz said he would pray on the decision to attend his Tribunal, and they met again on August 22, 2005, for thirty minutes. Abdul Aziz had changed his mind, and wanted to attend the hearing, after all.

His Assisting Military Officer described Abdul Aziz as "polite and cooperative".

[edit] Factors for and against continued detention

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for each Administrative Review Board. It was always read aloud, at least once. Most captives were given an opportunity to have the allegations read aloud a second time, with a pause between each allegation, giving them an opportunity to respond to each allegation in turn. The factors were always separated into "The following primary factors favor continued detention"; and "The following primary factors favor release or transfer". The factors favoring continued detention were always further broken down into subcategories, with titles like "Intent", "Training", "Associations". The factors following each of these subcaterofies were always sequentially numbered.

Most transcripts recorded all the factors, the headings, subheadings, and the numbering scheme. But Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Al Baddah's transcript doesn't record the headings, subheadings and numbering.

[edit] Response to the factors

[edit] Response to Board questions

[edit] Transfer to Saudi Arabia

Al Baddah was one of 14 men transferred from Guantanamo to Saudi Arabia on June 25, 2006.^[9][10]

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 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. ^ OARDEC (17 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Baddah, Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz pages 1-2. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
6. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 1-6. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
7. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
8. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman Abdul Aziz Al Baddah's Administrative Review Board hearing - pages 25-40
9. ^ Thirteen Saudis and a Turkistani return to Saudi from Guantanamo, Middle East News, June 25, 2006
10. ^ Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman (March 19, 2007). The Saudi Repatriates Report. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.