Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri

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Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Jabri's Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 182. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts reports that Al Jabri was born on April 16, 1979, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.

[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 b efore 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] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

[edit] Allegations

The Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal listed the following allegations^[5]:

a. Detainee is associated with the Taliban and groups who gought against the US ^[sic] or its coalition partners.

1. Detainee admits to being affiliated and allied with the Taliban.
2. Detainee stayed at bunker with people who were fighting against the Northern Alliance.

b. Detainee supported the Taliban forces in its hostilities against the US ^[sic] or its coalition partners.

1. Detainee traveled to Afghanistan to receive military training.
2. Detainee was trained on the AK-47, RPG, hand grenades, PK machine guns and 82mm mortar guns.
3. Detainee was trained on the Kalashnikov rifle, BK rifle, pistols, rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades, land navigation, low crawling, and physical training.
4. Detainee traveled with a group of men to Konduz, Afghanistan who were fighting against the Northern Alliance.
5. Detainee was trained in the Northern part of Afghanistan on the 40mm anti-aircraft guns.
6. Detainee traveled to the front lines in the battle against the Northern Alliance.
7. Detainee was assigned to a mortar squad approximately one kilometer from the front line north of Kabul, Afghanistan.

[edit] Testimony

Al Jabri prepared a written statement for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6] In it he acknowledged that he had received military training in Afghanistan. But he denied his purpose was to aid the Taliban. He denied that he had provided any aid to the Taliban, or that he had fought for the Taliban.

He claimed that he undertook the military training because he planned to proceed to Chechnya to fight there. An individual named Abu Ahmad Al Ilmani was his trainer.

[edit] Translation errors

Al Jabri's Tribunal had to meet a second time because it the initial unclassified portion had been marred by serious translation errors.^[7]

Personal Representative: Yes, Sir, I just have one question for the detainee. When did you depart for the training in Afghanistan?

Detainee: I do not remember the date.

Personal Representative: Was it before or after September 11, 2001.

Detainee: It was after.

[Note: During a recess in the classified portion of the Tribunal, the Tribunal was informed that the Translator had erroneously interpreted the Personal Representative’s question posed to the detainee. Thus the question the detainee was asked and subsequently answered, was “When did you depart training in Afghanistan?” The translation error was rectified during a subsequent unclassified session at which the detainee was present on 26 August 2004, and the Tribunal disregarded the detainee’s answer to the errorneously translated question. A full disucssion of this issue appears in Enclosure (1) to the CSRT Decision Report.]

The Tribunal's officers learned that Al Jabri's translator mistranslated several questions posed to Al Jabri.

[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.

Al Jabri chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[9]

The factors for and against continuing to detain Al Jabri were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[10]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. Detainee traveled to Afghanistan (AF) to receive military training.
2. The detainee stated that he wanted to get all the training in order to fight in Chechnya.
3. Detainee went to AF because he was advised that a Muslim has an obligation to get training and fight.
4. Detainee withdrew from the university and did not take his exams because he left for AF.
5. Detainee went to fight, to guarantee that he would go to paradise, after watching two sheiks discussing Chechnya.
6. Detainee stated he wanted to go to Jihad in Chechnya, while he was in AF.

b. Location and Type of Training.

1. Detainee was trained on the AK-47, RPG, hand grenades, PK machine guns and 82mm mortar guns.
2. Detainee was trained on the Kalashnikov rifle, BK rifle, pistols, rocket propelled grenades, hand grenades, land navigation, low crawling, and physical training.
3. Detainee was trained in the Northern part of AF on the 40mm anti-aircraft guns.

c, Connections to Organizations.

1. Detainee admits to being affiliated and allied with the Taliban.

d, Intent to Attack or Engage American Interests.

1. Detainee and other detainees sang about the 9/11 attacks and sang songs that encouraged resistance to the JTF mission and praised Usama Bin Laden.

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

• The detainee stated that he did not admit to being a member of the Taliban.
• The detainee stated that he did not fight against the United States and Taliban ^[sic] .
• The detainee stated that he did not want to help or enroll in the Taliban army.
• The detainee stated that he was returning to Saudi Arabia to be with his sick mother.
• The detainee stated that he did not give any assistance to the Taliban.
• JTF GTMO assessed detainee's conduct as generally, non-aggressive and compliant.
• The detainee stated since he has been in Cuba, he seese that he made mistakes and will not repeat them in the future. The detainee said he wants to return to Saudi Arabi and go on with his life. The detainee states he has no bad feeling towards Americans and has never seen a reason to kill Americans. The detainee stated he does not believe in "payback" for being detained by the Americans and therefore will not retaliate if released.
• The detainee did not graduate from the training camp. He had to stop training because he was experiencing asthma attacks.
• The detainee denied receiving any training regarding chemical and or nuclear weapons. He denied any knowledge of camps that taught chemical or nuclear weaponry. The detainee advised that he believes that chemical weapons are too dangerous.
• The detainee hear another detainee on his cellblock at Camp Delta shout out the U.S. would suffer a more serious attack than the one in New York. The detainee could not identify this individual because he was at the other end of the cellblock. The detainee stated he would report all information he heard about future attacks to interrogators.
• The detainee did not carry or shoot a weapon other than at the Asil training camp and at the bunker. The detainee said he was not a member of the Taliban or al Qaida, and would not go back to AF if given the opportunity.

[edit] Repatriation

A captive that Saudi authorities called Bandar Al Jabri was repatriated to Saudi custody, with fifteen other men, on July 16, 2007.^[11]

[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. ^ 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. ^ ^{a b} OARDEC (date redacted). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Jabri, Bandar Ahmad Mubarak pages 87-88. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
6. ^ Statement (.pdf) from Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - page 2 (.pdf)], US Department of Defense
7. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf) from Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, page 10
8. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", The Wire (JTF-GTMO), Friday March 10, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. 
9. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 124
10. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Bandar Ahmad Mubarak Al Jabri Administrative Review Board - page 53
11. ^ Raid Qusti. "More Gitmo Detainees Come Home", Arab News, July 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-17.