Abdul Rahim Muslimdost

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Abdul Rahim Muslimdost
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 561
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status Determined not to have been an enemy combatant after all. Captured by Pakistani Security officials in 2006.

Abdul Rahim Muslimdost (Urdu: عبد الرحیم مسلم دوست) is a Pakistani journalist and jeweller[1] held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[2] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 561.

Muslimdost and his brother were captured on November 17, 2001, and later released on 17 April 2005 with no charges held against him.[3][4] He has been noted for his poetry still detained by the American government and the lengths he went through to record it, ranging from scratching with a spoon onto polystyrene teacups to using rubbery pens, and has received much esteem in this regard. His account on his stay at Guantanamo, The Broken Chains, is currently being translated into English.

According to the Associated Press the allegations against Muslimdost, in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, he was a member of an Islamic militant group, and served as a contact between that group and Al Qaeda.[1]

Muslimdost acknowledged being a member of the militant group, but said he joined long ago, during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Muslimdost's brother was also a journalist; was also a held in extrajudicial detention in Guantanamo; was also released by the Americans following his Tribunal. Their presence in Guantanamo was discussed in the press prior the Departmen of Defense released the official list of detainee identities.

Contents

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a trailer the size of a large RV. The captive sat with his hands cuffed 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 with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[5] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[6]

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 Rahim Muslimdost's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 29 September 2004.[7] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

The detainee is associated with forces that engaged in hostilities against the United States and its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee voluntarily traveled to Afghanistan in August 2001.
  2. The detainee was a member of Jamaat ud Dawa il al Quran al Sunnat [sic] (JDQ).
  3. Jamyat-u-Dawa-al-Quarani [sic] (JDQ) conducted training with several types of weapons in the Abdullah Abu Masood camp.
  4. The JDQ is a militant religious school which trains students in military camps as well as classrooms. The JDQ has a militant wing and an assassination wing.
  5. The detainee reportedly was an Al Qaeda point of contact in Herat, Afghanistan.

[edit] Transcript

Muslimdost chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[8] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a sixteen page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[9]

[edit] Muslimdost’s initial statement

In response to the first allegation Muslimdost said he was an Afghani, and didn’t see anything wrong with entering his own country.

In response to the second allegation, that he was a member of the JDQ, he acknowledged he had been a member - 16 years previously. He grew disenchanted with the organization, and left around the time the Communists were thrown out, when he realized that the JDQ did not have Afghanistan’s best interests at heart.

He agreed that the JDQ were conducting training, and had conducted assassinations, but since he had left the organization he didn’t feel those allegations had anything to do with him. He said that the JDQ had tried to assassinate him.

He denied any ties to Al Qaeda, and he denied ever visiting Herat.

He said that the allegations against him were manufactured by the Pakistani authorities in an attempt to silence his criticisms. Dost said he was offered a chance to ransom himself, rather than being handed over to Americans. He asserted that senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders had bought their freedom.

[edit] Muslimdost’s Q & A

In answer to questions during the Tribunal Muslimdost stated:

  • He considered himself an Afghani; he was born in Afghanistan; but he had spent most of the thirty years prior to the overthrow of the Taliban living in Pakistan.
  • He had traveled to Afghanistan to build schools. He didn’t travel to Afghanistan at all when the communists were in power. Following their fall he traveled to Afghanistan once or twice a year.
  • He described himself as an opponent of the Taliban. He had to sneak in during their time in power, because they did not approve of the schools he worked to set up. He had also worked as a journalist, and had written against Pakistan’s policies in Afghanistan.
  • In answer to a question as to why he had joined JDQ, Muslimdost said there had been many groups fighting the Soviets. He thought the other groups were “doing wrong”. JDQ was a new organization, so he thought he would try them. Then he found that the JDQ was secretly backed by the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service. So he quit, and started publishing exposes. He said that the JDQ had made three attempts to assassinate him. (He had described the Taliban as being creatures of the ISI as well.)
  • In answer to a question as to which side the JDQ fought for in Afghanistan Muslimdost claimed they were playing both sides. Earlier he had said that the ISI wanted to use the JDQ to spread instability in Afghanistan.
  • He said he had only a little information about the JDQ’s efforts against the United States, but that he had learned that they had tried to put three agents in American agencies.
  • He was with the JDQ for approximately five years before he became disillusioned and quit.

[edit] witness

Khirullah Said Wali Khairkhwa, the former governor of Herat, was called as a witness on Muslimdost’s behalf. In answer to questioning he stated:

  • Herat was a small Province. There was no Al Qaeda presence in Herat.
  • He would have known if Muslimdost had set up an office in Herat. But he hadn’t. And they never met in Afghanistan.
  • He said he didn’t believe that the JDQ were operating in Herat either.

[edit] Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

Abdul Rahman addressed the Press during his release ceremony in Afghanistan, on April 20, 2005.
Abdul Rahman addressed the Press during his release ceremony in Afghanistan, on April 20, 2005.

Abdul Rahim Muslimdost was one of the 38 captives the Bush Presidency determined had not been enemy combatants after all.[10] The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

Abdul Rahim Muslimdost was freed on April 20, 2005 with sixteen other Afghans whose Tribunals had determined they were not enemy combatants. The Associated Press reported that their release ceremony was addressed by Afghan Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari.[11] Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reported that the Chief Justice encouraged the men to regard their detention as something sent from God.[12] The reports stated that the Chief Justice warned the cleared men that a candid description of their detention could damage the chances of other Afghan captives to be released.

"Don't tell these people the stories of your time in prison because the government is trying to secure the release of others, and it may harm the release of your friends."

Abdul Rahim Muslimdost was one of the three captives who chose to address the Press.[12] Carlotta Gall described him as openly disagreeing with the Chief Justice as to whether any Afghans should have been sent to Guantanamo:

"If we have the government, our government should bring the criminals here. They should be imprisoned here and should be punished here. Why were the Afghans given to the Americans?"[12]
"We spent more than 3 1/2 years there. If there is a government and a Supreme Court in Afghanistan, why did nobody ask about our situation? If we were guilty we ought to have been brought to stand trial here. Why should America be allowed to ask us questions and interrogate us?"[11]

Both reports quoted Chief Justice Fazil Hadi Shinwari distinguishing three categories of captives[11][12]:

"There are three kinds of prisoners in Guantanamo. There are those that have committed crimes and should be there, then there are people who were falsely denounced, and third there are those who are there because of the mistakes of the Americans."

[edit] September 2006 arrest

On September 30, 2006 the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported that Muslimdost had been arrested by Pakistani officials.[13] The article quotes Muslimdost's brother, who linked the arrest to criticisms of the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate's role in the capture of Guantanamo detainees. Muslimdost's brother said he was arrested while leaving his Mosque.

Local Peshawar Police Superintendent Iftikhar Khan denied any knowledge of Muslimdost's arrest.[13] But he acknowled Inter-Services Intelligence officials may have executed a covert arrest.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part I, WTOP, March 15, 2006
  2. ^ OARDEC (May 15, 2006). List of Individuals Detained by the Department of Defense at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from January 2002 through May 15, 2006. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  3. ^ Prisoner profile from cageprisoners.com
  4. ^ Return my work, says Guantánamo poet, Guardian Unlimited, April 3 2006
  5. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ OARDEC (29 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Muslimdost, Abdul Rahim page 82. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  8. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 1-16. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-18.
  9. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  10. ^ "Detainees Found to No Longer Meet the Definition of "Enemy Combatant" during Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo", United States Department of Defense, November 19, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-04-15. 
  11. ^ a b c "17 Afghans, Turk home from Guantanamo Bay", China Daily, April 20, 2005. Retrieved on 2008-04-18. "Pentagon spokesman Maj. Michael Shavers said the 17 Afghans and the Turkish man had been cleared of accusations they were enemy combatants during the Combatant Status Review Tribunal process that recently ended. Five others cleared in late March already had been sent home and another 15 await transfers home." 
  12. ^ a b c d Carlotta Gall. "17 Afghans Freed From Guantánamo Prison", New York Times, April 20 2005. Retrieved on 2008-04-18. "In a brief ceremony, Chief Justice Fazil Hadi Shinwari told the 17 men that they were free to return home and he tried to reconcile them to the idea their imprisonment was something sent from God. Some prisoners in Guantánamo were guilty and deserved to be imprisoned, he said, but others were innocent victims of false accusations or military mistakes, or were duped into supporting terrorism." 
  13. ^ a b Pakistan arrests freed Guantanamo Afghan scholar, Xinhua, September 30, 2006
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Captives held at Guantanamo Bay before being exonerated
and found to not be "enemy combatants"
Afghanistan
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