Ahmed Mohamed

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Ahmed Mohamed
Born:	May 1, 1978(1978-05-01) Atush, China
Detained at:	Guantanamo
ID number:	328
Conviction(s):	no charge, held in extrajudicial detention

Ahmed Mohamed is a citizen of China, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 328. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that Mohamad was born on May 1, 1978 in Atush, China.

Mohamed is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.

Main article: Uighur detainees in Guantanamo

[edit] Combatant Status Review

CSRT notice read to a Guantanamo captive.

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".

The trailer where CSRTs were convened.

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". Ahmed Mohamed among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.^[2]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Ahmed Mohamed's memo accused him of the following: ^[3]

a. The detainee is a Uighur fighter:

1. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan via Pakistan to receive training at a Uighur training camp in Tora Bora.
2. The detainee arrived at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp in November 2000.
3. The detainee received training on pistols, AK-47, and two types of rifles while at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp.
4. The detainee was a weapons instructor from May 2001-October 2001.
5. The detainee was at the Uighur Tora Bora training camp when it was bombed by US/coalition forces in October, 2001.
6. The detainee evaded in the Tora Bora Mountains before being captured by Pakistani Security Forces along with a group of other Uighur fighters.

[edit] Transcript

Mohamed chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[4] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a Summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5]

[edit] Testimony of Sabet Khan ^[sic]

Mohamed called another Uighur detainee, who is identified in the transcript as Sabet Khan ^[sic] . Mohamed asked his witness to testify that he had not served as a weapons instructor.

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO

He is one of approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees accused of membership in the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement.^[6]

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".^[7]

The brief biography of Ahmed Mohamed stated:

Ahmed Mohammed is a 26-year-old Chinese citizen. who is an ethnic Uighur from the [sic] Artush province of China. He claims to have fled China in 2000 in an effort to escape Chinese oppression of the Uigher community and traveled to Afghanistan. He was last interviewed in late 2004. He has no reported incidents of violence in his discipline history. Mohammed 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 "Ahmad Muhamman Yaqub".

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".^[8]

Detainees who were determined to have been properly classified as "enemy combatants" were scheduled to have their dossier reviewed at annual Administrative Review Board hearings. The Administrative Review Boards weren't authorized to review whether a detainee qualified for POW status, and they weren't authorized to review whether a detainee should have been classified as an "enemy combatant".

They were authorized to consider whether a detainee should continue to be detained by the United States, because they continued to pose a threat -- or whether they could safely be repatriated to the custody of their home country, or whether they could be set free.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmed Mohamed's first annualAdministrative Review Board, on 21 June 2005.^[9] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. The detainee expressed a desire to become a soldier.
2. The detainee was identified as Abdul Jabar ^[sic] , an al Qaida member with the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
3. Abdul Jabhar ^[sic] was identified as a trainer at a Tora Bora camp who conducted training on the DSHK heavy machine gun DSHK and an unidentified shoulder launched rocket.
4. During the U.S. bombing campaign, the detainee and surviving Uighurs were resupplied on a regular basis while in Tora Bora, until the bombing became too heavy.
5. The detainee and other Uighurs arrived in Pakistan by mid-November 2001.

b. Training

1. The detainee was exposed to the Kalashnikov ^[sic] , a handgun, and a long barreled rifle.
2. The detainee spent approximately 10 months at the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.
3. The Uighur training camp near Tora Bora was named ^[sic] Eastern Turkistan Uighur Party.

c. Connections/Associations

1. The detainee believed the Taliban helped finance the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.
2. The detainee was recruited in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
3. The detainee was identified as a visitor to known al Qaida guesthouse in Kabul and Shakardara, Afghanistan.

d. Intent

The detainee was preparing to fight the Chinese government in case of a future conflict with the Uighur ^[sic] , not to fight in Afghanistan.

e. Other Relevant Data

1. Upon fleeing from Tora Bora to Pakistan, the detainee and other Uighur fighters were turned over to Pakistani authorities and then transferred to U.S. custody.
2. The detainee left Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan with $3000 United States currency.
3. The detainee stated: "If there was ever an uprising against ^[sic] Uighurs, I would go inside China and fight.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee denied any knowledge of the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
b.	The detainee claims his identification, as Abdul Jabar was a mistake.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ahmed Mohamed's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 7 April 2006.^[10] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. In Bishkek, Krygyzstan the detainee told one of his neighbors that he wanted to get in shape and receive military training. The neighbor told the detainee about the camp at Tora Bora. got the detainee visas for Iran and Pakistan, and got the detainee a plane ticket from Bishkek to Iran for 300 United States Dollars.
2. In November 2000 the detainee traveled to Masshad and Zahedai, Iran and the to Quetta and Peshawar, Pakistan before crossing into Afghanistan.
3. The detainee stayed in a Uighur house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan and then went to Tora Bora, Afghanistan where the detainee received training at a Uighur training camp.
4. The detainee went from Kyrgyzstan to get military training in Afghanistan because he had always wanted to be a soldier in the military but did not want to be in the Chinese military.
5. When asked the purpose of the training at Tora Bora, the detainee said that if something happened in the Uighur homeland, those who had been trained could take up arms against the Chinese government to save the Uighur nation.

b. Training

1. Typical camp training consisted of teaching from the Koran and other Islamic studies as was as a small portion of weapons training. Typical camp training included how to use a variety of weapons including the Kalashnikov ^[sic] rifle, the Seminov pistol, the DSHK heavy machine gun, and an unknown type of shoulder-fired rocket.
2. Since the detainee already knew how to pray and had studied the Koran, he chose to learn about the Kalashnikov ^[sic] rifle, hand guns, and an unidentified bolt-action rifle.
3. The detainee served as a weapons instructor at the Uighur camp.
4. The detainee also taught Uighurs at the camp some martial arts and physical fitness techniques.

c. Connections/Associations

1. The professed leader of the East Turkistan Movement visited the camp on two occasions during the detainee's stay.
2. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) is one of the most militant of the ethnic Uighur separatist groups pursuing an independent Eastern Turkistan. which would include Turkey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Xinjiang. The Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement and other overlapping militant Uighur groups are linked to the international Mujahedin movement, and to a limited degree al Qaida.
3. Another person identified the detainee as Abdul Jabar, an al Qaida member with the Islamic Movement of Turkistan (IMT).
4. The detainee was seen a few times at the Aashara guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan and the guest house located in Shakardara, Afghanistan. The detainee and his troops stayed at the guest houses but had their own group, Islamic Movement of Turkistan. The Islamic Movement of Turkistan fought with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance. The Uighurs did this to receive trainng from the Taliban and a promise from the Taliban that they would assist them in their fight to free themselves from Chinese oppression.
5. The detainee believed that the Taliban helped finance the Uighur training camp near Tora Bora.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. The first night of the United States bombing campaign destroyed the UIghur training camp. Uihgurs that survived the bombing campaign fled to Tora Bora after the bombing campaign.
2. The Uighurs saw some Arabs leaving in the direction of the Pakistan border and took the opportunity to follow them. The Uighurs lost sight of the Arabs and found themselves in Parachinar Village, Pakistan. The villagers turned the Uighurs over to the Pakistan authorities.
3. The detainee told the Pakistani authorities he was a member of the Taliban so they would send him to an American prison instead of being turned over the the Chinese government.
4. The detainee spent six months in a Kandahar, Afghanistan jail in United States custody. From Kandahar, the Uighur detainees were flown to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

[edit] The following primary factors favor release or transfer:

a.	The detainee claimed he does no know anything about a group called the Islamic Movement of Turkistan. When asked who Abdul Jabar was, the detainee said it was the name of a Uighur teacher who was at the Tora Bora camp.
b.	The detainee denied that he had any knowledge of who was funding the Uighur camp. The detainee stated that he had thought the Americans funded the camp. The detainee laughed when he was told that the camp might have been funded by al Qaida.
c.	The detainee advised that he did not belong to any Uighur organizations.
d.	The detainee claimed that the Uighurs did not participate in any way with the Taliban or al Qaida.
e.	Until his experience in camp, the detainee held the United States in the highest regard, viewing the United States as the only saviors of the suppressed Uighur people. Uighurs from age 7 to 70 know that America is the sole advocate for human rights and democracy in the world and they expect sympathy from Americans.
f.	The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on 11 September 2001 and also denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or United States interests.

[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. ^ 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
3. ^ OARDEC (14 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Mohammed, Ahmed page 64. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
4. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 22-30. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-23.
5. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
6. ^ "China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo", Asia Times, November 4, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-28. 
7. ^ Department of Defense, Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO, December 30, 2004
8. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
9. ^ OARDEC (21 June 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Mohamed, Ahmed pages 89-90. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
10. ^ OARDEC (7 April 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of pages 98-100. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.