Adel Abdulhehim
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| Adel Abdulhehim | |
|---|---|
| Born: | October 10, 1974 Ghulja, China |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo |
| Alias(s): | A'Del Abdu al-Hakim |
| ID number: | 293 |
| Conviction(s): | no charge, held in extrajudicial detention |
| Status | Refugee in Albania |
Adel Abdulhehim, (also known as A'Del Abdu al-Hakim) is a citizen of China from the Uighur ethnic group who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 293. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report he was born on October 10, 1974, in Ghulja, China.
A native of Xinjiang, Abdulhehim was captured in late 2001, and detained as a suspected terrorist in Camp Delta where he was assigned detainee ID number 293. He is one of the 38 detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal concluded he had not been an "illegal combatant" after all.
Abdulhehim is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.
According to an article distributed by the Associated Press, Abdulhehim, his compatriot Abu Baker Qassim, and eight others were moved from imprisonment at the main compound of Camp Delta to a less harsh imprisonment at Camp Iguana.[2]
A February 18, 2006 article in the Washington Times claimed that Abu Bakker Qassim and A'Del Abdu al-Hakim had received military training in Afghanistan.[3] It reported they were not classified as "illegal combatants" because they intended to go home and employ their training against the Chinese government, and were released.[4] Some earlier reports had described them as economic refugees who were slowly working their way to Turkey.
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[edit] Bounty
Hakim and Abu Bakker Qassim report they were sold to the USA by bounty hunters.[5][6]
He is one of approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees accused of membership in the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement.[7]
Documents released in response to the writ of habeas corpus Hassan Anvar v. George W. Bush contained a December 30 2004 memo which provided one-paragraph biographies of 22 Uyghur captives, and asserted they were all caught at an "ETIM training camp".[8]
The brief biography of Adel Abdulhehim stated:
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- Adel Abdulhehim is a 30-year-old Chinese citizen. who is an ethnic Uighur from the Ghulja province of China. He was last interviewed in the end of 2002. He had a disciplinary action on 3 March 2003 for participating in a block riot. Abdulhehim has had no discipline during this calendar year. He is suspected as being a probable member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). He is suspected of having received training in an ETIM training camp in Afghanistan.
The information paper also identified him as "Muhammad Qadir".
[edit] Combatant Status Review
Initially the Bush administration asserted they could withhold the protections of the Geneva Conventions from captives in the War on Terror, while critics argued the Conventions obligated the United States to conduct competent tribunals to determine the status of prisoners. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".
From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Adel Abdulhehim among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[9]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Adel Abdulhehim's memo accused him of the following: [10] The memo listed the following allegations against him:
- a. The detainee is associated with an [sic] al Qaida and the Taliban:
- In June 2001, the detainee traveled from Kyrgyzstan to Jalalabad, Afghanistan via Pakistan, then on to the Eastern Turkistan Uighur Party (ETUP) training camp at Tora Bora, Afghanistan.
- The detainee received training on the AK-47 assault rifle at a Uighur training camp.
- The training camp was provided to the Uighurs by the Taliban.
- The ETIM operated facilities in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in which Uighur expatriates underwent small arms training. These camps were funded by Bin Laden and the Taliban.
- b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.
- The detainee, along with others, fled their camp when the United States bombing campaign began.
- The detainee was captured in Pakistan along with other Uighur fighters.
[edit] Transcript
Abdulhehim chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[11] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a ten page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[12]
[edit] Testimony
Al-Hakim Acknowledged traveling from Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan, via Pakistan. He said that he left China in 1999, looking for work and that he was planning to work his way to Turkey. In Pakistan he had applied for a visa to Iran. He heard about a small community of Uyghurs in Afghanistan, where he could receive military training, to use against the Chinese occupiers of Turkistan.
Al-Hakim said that the camp was in poor shape, and that the Uyghurs spent most of their time reconstructing the buildings. He acknowledged getting a couple of days training on the AK-47. (Some other Uyghurs said they received only a few hours.)
Al-Hakim said he was told the property was made available by "some big tribe". He said he had no idea if the property had anything to do with the Taliban. He said when he arrived no one spoke about the ETIM or any other organization. He said he was not invited to join any organizations.
Al-Hakim acknowledged fleeing the American bombs. But he said he had no ties whatsoever with anyone who had attacked the USA.
Al-Hakim acknowledged that 18 Uyghurs had fled the camp together, were captured together, and brought to Guantanamo together. However he said they weren't fighters.
In answer to questions from the Tribunal's officers:
- Al-Hakim repeated that he had no resentment or animosity against the United States. He hadn't attacked the United States, and he had no intention of doing so in the future.
- Al-Hakim said he had never been a member of a political party or organization.
- Al-Hakim found out about the camp from an Uyghur he met in Pakistan named Abdulla Salim. Salim said he could go to the camp, and he would let him know when his visa for Iran was ready.
- Al-Hakim said he wanted to go to Turkey because the Chinese occupiers didn't treat their native Turkish people well. He said he had heard of a leather-work factory in Turkey that paid good wages to people from Turkestan who were skilled in leatherwork.
- Al-Hakim said he had traveled to Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan on legitimate travel documents. He didn't need a visa to cross into Afghanistan.
[edit] Witness
Abdulhehim's witness was Abu Bakr Qasim. He testified he met Al-Hakim in a bazaar in Kyrgyzstan. He said they did the same kind of work, but that it was difficult for them to do business in Kyrgyzstan because the local police kept trying to squeeze them for bribes. He said that the police had killed some men who wouldn't pay a bribe. This was why they wanted to try to get to Turkey.
Qasim said they had left their passports in Pakistan because they didn't need them to cross the Afghanistan/Pakistan border, and the man helping them get their visas needed access to them to get the visas.
Qasim said that they were at the camp for about three months. That in addition to the construction work they had learned to read the Quran.
Qasim said that camp was run by a person named Abdul Hag.
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Knowlton, Brian. "Supreme Court Rejects Bid by Guantanamo Detainees", New York Times, 17 April 2006. Retrieved on 2006-04-30.
- ^ U.S. hit on human rights. Washington Times. 18 February 2006. Retrieved 30 April 2006.
- ^ Guantanamo Bay Detainees Classifed as "No Longer Enemy Combatants", Washington Post
- ^ Parhat v. Gates Case No: 06-1397. Department of Justice (December 18, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ Warren Richey. "Innocent, but in limbo at Guantánamo: Five Chinese Muslims, captured in Pakistan by mistake, try to get the US Supreme Court to take their case.", Christian Science Monitor, February 13, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
- ^ "China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo", Asia Times, November 4, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ Department of Defense, Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO, December 30, 2004
- ^ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
- ^ OARDEC (10 November 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Abdulhehim, Adel page 37. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 36-45. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
- ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.
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- Judge Asks Status of Gitmo Detainees, South Georgia Online, August 25, 2005
- Judge Weighs Order to Release Two at Gitmo, Forbes, December 13, 2005
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