Adnan Muhammed Ali Al Saigh

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Adnan Muhammed Ali Al Saigh is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Saigh's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 105. The Department of Defense reports that Al Saigh was born on January 8, 1978, in Ta'if, Saudi Arabia.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
2 Repatriation
3 References

[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]

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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 Adnan Muhammad Ali Al Saigh's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 18 September 2004.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. Detainee was associated with the Taliban.

Detainee stated he answered an Islamic fatwah in Saudi Arabia to fight for the Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.

Detainee went to Afghanistan to fight in the Jihad with the Taliban for approximately six months before being captured in Qualajinki, Afghanistan.
Detainee served at the front lines near Khanajah Gar, Afghanistan.

[edit] Transcript

Ali chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] In compliance with a court order the Department of Defense released summarized transcripts from the unclassified sessions of 360 captives' Combatant Status Review Tribunals on March 3, 2006. His summarized transcript was seven pages long.

[edit] Testimony

Al Saigh acknowledged being with the Taliban. He said he doesn’t consider himself an “enemy combatant” because none of his activities had a harmful effect on America.

When the Tribunal’s President repeated the definition of enemy combatant Al Saigh asked whether Massoud was a member of the coalition. He was informed he was. He then asked when the USA entered into a coalition with Massoud. The Tribunal President told him “I think officially after September 11, 2001. Al Saigh replied that he never fought after 2001. Al Saigh’s Personal Representative added that the four months Al Saigh was engaged in hostilities started in March 2001.

Halfway through his testimony Al Saigh asked for clarification as to whether the proceedings were an interrogation, or a court of law.

He started to tell his tribunal he was going to refuse to answer any question he had answered in earlier interrogations, even though the Tribunal President tried to explain to him that the Tribunal was not an interrogation, and that it was in his interest to give full, candid answers.