Abdul Rahman (Guantanamo detainee 357)

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Abdul Rahman
Born: 1976 (age 31–32)
Haji Baras, Afghanistan
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 357
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status determined not to have been an enemy combatant after all

Abdul Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 357. American intelligence analysts estimate that Rahman was born in 1976, in Haji Baras, Afghanistan.

Contents

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held 3 x 6 meters trailer. 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 3 x 6 meters trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[2] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[3]

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 Rahman's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 9 December 2004.[4] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban:
  1. The Detainee purchased a vehicle for the Taliban with Pakistani rupees.
  2. The Detainee was with four other Taliban soldiers, who were his security force, when he purchased the vehicle.
  3. The Detainee was in charge of and gave orders to the four Taliban soldiers, who were with him when he purchased the vehicle.
  4. The Detainee was wearing a "Page" turban during the vehicle purchase.
  5. The detainee traveled to Yerghanak, Afghanistan, with a large number of Pashtuns and Taliban soldiers to surrender to General Dostum's forces, and was then held at Mazar-e Sharif [sic] for approximately forty days before being turned over to the United States.

[edit] Transcript

Abdul Rahman chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[5] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a 22 page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6]

[edit] Handcuffs

Abdul Rahman asked the Tribunal's President if he could have his handcuffs loosened. His Tribunal's President said they were standard operating procedure. He told his Tribunal's President they were on so tight they were very painful. His Tribunal's President suggested he just try to move them to a more comfortable position.

[edit] Health

Abdul Rahman told his Tribunal he was very sick.

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • Abdul Rahman disputed the allegation that he had bought a vehicle for the Taliban.
    "In the name of Allah, I have never bought a car; no one has seen me with a car, and I don't have that type of financing or money. I question my own ability to afford my own life, or run my own house. The whole house and all my assets were taken by the Taliban. All the people in my village and the governor and people around me know that my enemies supported by the Taliban confiscated my assets. How could a person that could not release his assets from the enemy do an operation like this? I did not buy a car for anyone, I did not have a car, and no one saw me drive a car. The people in my district know about this fact. I can present as many witnesses as you want from around my town, district and province. Nobody has ever seen me driving a car; or even sitting in one; I did not drive a car at all. Haji Bars Sahib, Mohammad Khan Kaka, and Haji Mohammad Rahim all are totally aware of the facts and will testify for me tat I did not have a car. All these people I've mentioned are not people of Taliban [sic] and never supported them; they are believers in the new government. On top of that, not me, and no member of my family have ever become part of the Taliban or their army; this is a fact. On top of that, they were not Taliban, but were very involved with the mujahidin during the time of the Russians."
  • Abdul Rahman questioned how he could afford to pay bodyguards when he didn't have funds to buy a car. He repeated that every day was a struggle to make enough money to feed his family.
  • Abdul Rahman disputed that he was in a position to give orders, he was just a simple shopkeeper. He testified that the letters from the most respected people in his village would back up his story. He said his whole village was looking forward to the improvements they expected American involvement in Afghanistan would bring.
  • Abdul Rahman responded to the allegation that he was wearing a "Page" turban by explaining that the Turban was commonly worn, for everyday wear, by everyone in his district, by both Muslims and non-Muslims. However, when he was staffing his shop, he sometimes wore a hat, and he was wearing a hat when he was captured.
  • Abdul Rahman disputed the account of his capture in the allegations.
    • He disputed that he was detained in Mazari Sharif, he was detained in Shebergan.
    • His shop was in Kondoz [sic] , His village was a considerable distance, So far that he didn't go home very frequently. His last visit home had been almost a year before.
    • Prior to the launching the aerial bombardment the Americans had dropped leaflets and announced on the radio that they were not interested in hurting innocent civilians, that, in fact, they would do what they could to protect innocent civilians.
    • Kondoz [sic] was populated largely by Uzbeks and Tajiks, and Abdul Rahman, and other Pashtun shopkeepers, anticipated that the imminent breakdown of Taliban authority would trigger ethnic violence, and decided that it was in their best interests to leave Kondoz, and try to make their way to the protection of the American forces.
    • They had heard that General Fahim's men had closed the roads, letting people from the Tajik or Farsi ethnic groups go, and capturing Pashtuns, stealing their money, and beating them up.
    • They thought the road towards Shebergan was free of Fahim's men, and they thought American forces there would protect them. But they encounted General Dostum's forces on that road instead.
    • They bound him and his fellow merchants. They administered some brutal beating.
    • Abdul Rahman testified that he saw Dostum's forces bury approximately fifty people alive. He testified he could hear them scream as the dirt was thrown on them.
    • When they were brought to Mazari Sharif they were packed, 200 or 300 at a time, into shipping containers, on the back of semi-trucks.
    • Adbdul Rahman said that many people died in the shipping containers, from lack of food.
    • The dead were dumped, while those who remained alive were put in the local jail. They had gone several days without any food or water.
    • Abdul Rahman's observation was that the Taliban had escaped, through bribery. None of his fellow captives were members of the Taliban.

[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 Rahman was one of the 38 captives the Bush Presidency determined had not been enemy combatants after all.[7][8] The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

Abdul Rahman 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.[9] Carlotta Gall of the New York Times reported that the Chief Justice encouraged the men to regard their detention as something sent from God.[10] 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 Rahman was one of the three captives who chose to address the Press.[10] He was quoted as saying:

"There was a lot of bad treatment against us, but this is not the time to tell you," Rahman said. "Everybody in the world knows what kind of jail it is. I can't talk about it now."[9]
"In Cuba, our people are there without destiny. Some were taken from their homes, some were taken from their businesses, some were taken for the reason that they gave food to someone. Again I am requesting that our defenseless people be released."[10]

Both reports quoted Chief Justice Fazil Hadi Shinwari distinguishing three categories of captives[9][10]:

"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] References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ OARDEC (9 December 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Rahman, Abdul page 89. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  5. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 46-67. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-16.
  6. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  7. ^ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants", Washington Post
  8. ^ "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. 
  9. ^ 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." 
  10. ^ 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." 
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