Abdul Ghani (Guantanamo detainee 934)

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For other individuals named Abdul Ghani see Abdul Ghani (disambiguation).

Abdul Ghani is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] Abdul Ghani's Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 934. The Department of Defense estimates captive 934 was born in 1972.

[edit] Identity

American intelligence analysts estimate Abdul Ghani was born in 1972. American intelligence analysts listed a place of birth for all but 22 of the detainees. Abdul Ghani, detainee 934 was one of those 22. Guantanamo held another detainee named Abdul Ghani.^[1] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 943. American intelligence analysts estimated he was born in 1983, in Kandahar, Afghanistan -- the same area this Abdul Ghani testified he was from.

[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]

The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007) Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

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 Abdul Ghani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 16 October 2004.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban and associated with al Qaida:

1. The detainee admitted to voluntarily joining the Taliban.
2. The detainee was a member of a 40-man unit of the Taliban that received support from al Qaida.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners:

1. The detainee participated in a rocket attack directed against U.S. forces located at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan in the spring of 2002.
2. The detainee participated in two rocket attacks directed against U.S. forces located at Kandahar Airfield in early November 2002.
3. The detainee participated in a BM 12 missile attack against a U.S.A.F. transport aircraft while it was departing Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan.

[edit] Transcript

Ghani chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] The Department of Defense was forced, by a court order, to publish an eight page summarized transcript from Abdul Ghani's Tribunal.

[edit] Opening dialogue

The transcript from Abdul Ghani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal starts with an extended dialogue between Abdul Ghani and the President of his Tribunal, over the nature of the Tribunal.

It started with a request from Ghani that his handcuffs be removed.

During the rest of his Tribunal Ghani kept trying to ask questions about the Tribunal process, and the President of his Tribunal kept threatening to have him removed.

[edit] Testimony in response to the allegations against him

[edit] Testimony in response to questions from the Tribunal's officers

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearings

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".^[7]

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.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Ghani's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 9 November 2005.^[8] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

An individual approached the detainee when he was coming out of a local mosque one night and asked the detainee to help him fire rockets.

b. Connections/Associations

An individual stated that he was sent to find the detainee to fire rockets against the United States air base at Kandahar.

c. Intent

1. The detainee took part in a rocket attack on the Kandahar airfield in November 2002.
2. The detainee walked with another individual to a place where several rockets were buried. They took the rockets and walked to where they would set them up for launch. The two prepared the rockets for launch and then ignited them. Following that, they left and didn't witness the launch.
3. The detainee and another individual fired rockets on two consecutive nights.
4. The detainee was arrested by Afghan Forces for assisting an individual in a rocket attack against United States Forces at Kandahar airfield.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee was identified as part of the 40-man unit.
2. One of the tasks of the 40-man unit was to provide protection to al Qaida for travel in Afghanistan.
3. The detainee was seen launching a rocket against a United States aircraft near the Kandahar airport.
4. According to the detainee, when he fired the rockets, he was not following a commander; he was just doing it for money.
5. An individual states that the detainee was paid money from al Qaida for the missile attack. He also stated that the detainee's military expertise was missiles.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

N/A

[edit] Transcript

Ghani chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[9] In the Spring of 2006 the Department of Defense was forced, by a court order, to publish an eleven page summarized transcript from Abdul Ghani's Review Board hearing.

[edit] Confusion

Abdul Ghani's hearing started with his expression of confusion over his Board's Presiding Officer reading of the hearing's procedures. He was confused over:

• the nature of "classified evidence"
• why he was being called an "enemy combatant".
• why he couldn't learn the identity of the witness who made the allegations against him.

had a dialogue about classified evidence:

[edit] Enemy Combatant election form

Abdul Ghani's Assisting Military Officer's notes from the Enemy Combatant election form said they met on December 1, 2005 for 60 minutes. The Assisting Military Officer asserted that Abdul Ghani understood the difference between the Combatant Status Review Tribunals and Administrative Review Board hearings. The Assisting Military Officer described Abdul Ghani as "very polite and attentive".

[edit] Response to the factors

• Abdul Ghani acknowledged scavenging six abandoned rockets left over from when the local Taliban fled the American retaliatory attack. He said that the Taliban abandoned everything, including their vehicles.
• Abdul Ghani said that he sold the rockets to Skanda Shah; that Skanda Shah said he was going to resell the rockets to someone else; that Skanda Shah asked him to help him carry the rockets to the second buyer; they each carried two rockets each.
• Abdul Ghani said that when they were passing near the Kandahar airfield Skanda Shah surprised him by setting up the rockets to fire at the airfield.
• Abdul Ghani said that Skanda Shah was captured first, and that when American forces came to capture him he was completely cooperative, and volunteered the location of the remaining rockets.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdul Ghani's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 26 October 2006.^[10] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. The detainee stated he joined the Taliban voluntarily but was not sure when he joined.
2. The detainee stated Americans did not have any business in Afghanistan and fighting against them was every Muslim's duty. The detainee further stated they fought against Shah Masood because he was an infidel and that the way Shah Masood was killed was acceptable because in war trickery was allowed.
3. The detainee stated he served with the Mujahedin until Najib was ousted.
4. The detainee stated he only fought against Najib's soldiers.

b. Training

1. A source stated the detainee's military expertise was in missiles.
2. The detianee stated everyone in Afghanistan knows how to use a gun and he could operate any weapon a soldier could carry in his hands.

c. Connections/Associations

1. A source stated he knew the detainee's boss was a Taliban commander and did not want to assist the detainee for that reason and that the detainee's boss wanted to fight Americans.
2. A source stated the detainee was paid by al Qaida for the attack against a United States aircraft near Kandahar Airfield.
3. A source stated the detainee was also a part of a 40-man training team that taught hand grenade techniques, use of plastic explosives and automobile explosive device use for deployment outside of Afghanistan.

d. Intent

1. The detainee stated he had the right to defend his country.
2. The detainee stated if he had the power to kill Shazai, Governor of Kandahar, he would. The detainee considered Shazai a slave of the Americans.
3. A source stated the detainee would do anything for money.

e. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee stated he was offered 1000 Pakistani Rupees to help carry rockets.
2. The detainee changed his story and stated that he was never paid.
3. The detainee stated he carried two rockets into the desert near the Kandahar Aghanistan Airfield.
4. The detainee admitted to being a lookout but refused to admit he knew the rockets were going to be fired at that time.
5. The detainee further stated that he knew the rockets were going to be fired at the Americans at Kandahar Airfield.
6. The detainee stated he did not fire any of the rockets.
7. The detainee stated Shah ^[sic] told the villagers that the detainee fired the rockets at United States troops.
8. Information received states that the detainee retrieved two batteries, a long length of wire and two missiles and took them approximately one hour away by foot to an area overlooking the Kandahar Airfield.
9. Information received states the detainee then carried the missiles approximately 20 to 30 meters away where they ^[sic] concealed themselves behind a large rock and the detainee fired the missiles against United States Forces at the airfield.
10. A source state the detainee told him they had to fight against the United States.
11. A source stated he knew the detainee was involved in fighting the United States bu couldn't provide any specifics.
12. The detainee was captured by United States and Afghan forces in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee stated that he accepts that he did something wrong and he has no motivation to lie further.
b.	The detainee took the Pakistan Army soldiers to where the other two rockets were still buried.
c.	The detainee stated if he knew that Shah was going to fire the rockets at the airport he would not have helped him.

[edit] References