Abid Raza

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Abid Raza is a citizen of Pakistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] Raza's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 299. The Department of Defense reports that Raza was born on February 10, 1981, in Digary Sindh, Pakistan.

Contents

[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. 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 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]

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] Allegations from his Summary of Evidence memorandum

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Raza prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March of 2005.[5] The allegations Raza faced during his Tribunal were:

a. Detainee is associated with al-Qaida.
  1. The detainee admits going to Afghanistan to join the Jihad and fight the Hindus [sic] .
  2. Detainee was recruited by the Jamaat i-Islam [sic] organization to join the Jihad.
  3. Detainee received military training at a camp outside of Konduz. The training consisted of physical training, long marches, and AK-47 instruction.
b. Detainee engaged in hostilities against the US or its coalition partners.
  1. Detainee traveled to Dashtearche, AF, with other trained fighters. He was armed with a Kalishnakov [sic] rifle and one magazine.
  2. Detainee admits going to the front lines with forty other fighters under the command of Sultan [sic] .
  3. Detainee fled his position in Dashtearche after that location received artillery fire. Detainee was almost immediately captured near Konduz.

[edit] Testimony

Raza chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6]

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 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. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Abid Raza's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 17
  6. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Abid Raza's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 15-19