Djamel Ameziane

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Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane
Born: April 14, 1967(1967-04-14)
Al Jesera, Algeria
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 310
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention

Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane is an Algerian citizen, and former resident of Canada, who was captured and held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 310.[2] Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that he was born on April 14, 1967, in Al Jesera, Algeria.

With the assistance of a legal team lead by Burlington, Vermont attorney Robert D. Rachlin, Ameziane launched a writ of habeas corpus, Civil Action No. 05-392.[3] Rachlin has said: "There's nothing here that shows that he so much as held a firearm or did anything against the United States -- he's one of those guys who were at the wrong place at the wrong time. There's nothing more here than guilt by association[1]."

Contents

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.

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 Tribunal. 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 Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 30 September 2004.[4][5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida:
  1. In late 2000, the detainee, who claims Algerian citizenship,[6] traveled to Afghanistan from Canada on a fraudulent passport.
  2. Prior to his departure from Canada, the detainee received 1,200 to 1,500 Canadian dollars from a Tunisian man who had encouraged the detainee to travel to Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee was instructed to go to a guesthouse in Kabul upon his arrival in Afghanistan, which direction the detainee ultimately followed.
  4. The detainee noted that a number of the other residents of the guesthouse were Taliban fighters.
  5. The guesthouse in Kabul was run by an al Qaida communications specialist.
  6. The detainee then stayed in a guesthouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan with a number of Arab men.
  7. The detainee traveled with Taliban fighters through the Tora Bora mountains during the U.S. bombing campaign.
  8. The detainee traveled illegally to Pakistan without any documentation and was captured by the Pakistani military at a mosque.
  9. The detainee escaped from a bus that was forcibly overtaken by other prisoners with the detainee, but he was captured again a short time later by Pakistani authorities.

[edit] Testimony

There is no record that captive 310 participated in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

[edit] Djamel Said Ali Ameziane v. George Walker Bush

A writ of habeas corpus, Djamel Said Ali Ameziane v. George Walker Bush, was submitted on Djamel Said Ali Ameziane's behalf.[7] In response, on 11 July 2005 the Department of Defense released eighteen pages of unclassified documents related to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal to his lawyers. These documents were published, together with 178 others, in September 2007.

[edit] Legal Sufficiency Review

On 26 November 2004 OARDEC Legal Advisor Commander James R. Crisfield drafted a Legal Sufficiency Review.[7] He reported that Tribunal panel 7 convened on 21 October 2004 in Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane's absence. He concluded that the Tribunal was "legally sufficient".

[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".
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.

The factors for and against continuing to detain Ameziane were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.[9]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. In late 1995, the detainee traveled to Canada from Austria with a fake Dutch passport.
  2. In late 2000, the detainee, who claims Algerian citizenship, traveled to Afghanistan from Canada on a fraudulent French passport.
  3. The detainee traveled illegally to Pakistan without documentation and was captured by the Pakistani military at a mosque.
  4. The detainee used an alias to hide his Algerian identity from Pakistani and U.S. military authorities.
b. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee attended the Al-Salaam mosque in Montreal Canada.
  2. Prior to his departure from Canada, the detainee received 1,200 to 1,500 Canadian dollars from a Tunisian man who had encouraged the detainee to travel to Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee was instructed to go to a guesthouse in Kabul upon his arrival in Afghanistan, which the detainee ultimately followed.
  4. The detainee noted that a number of the other residents of the guesthouse were Taliban fighters.
  5. The guesthouse in Kabul was run by an Al Qaida communicaitons specialist.
  6. The detainee traveled with Taliban fighters through the Tora Bora mountains during the U.S. bombing campaign.
c. Intent
  1. After residing in Canada illegally for five years, the detainee traveled from Canada to England and then to Iran and Afghanistan on a false French passport.
d. Other Relevant Data
  1. The detainee escaped from a bus that was forcibly overtaken by other prisoners with the detainee, but was captured again a short time later by Pakistani authorities.

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

a.

While in Afghanistan, the detainee did not receive any military or terrorist training and did not see any fighting.
b.

The detainee denied ever having participated in any fighting of terrorist activity and denied he had any intention of participation in such activity if he is released. The detainee denied knowledge of future planned terrorist attacks in the United States and denied knowledge of the locations of terrorist training camps or the identity of individuals with al Qaida or other terrorist organizations.
c.

The detainee stated he left Canada because they would not grant him asylum. He was not even thinking of jihad when he moved to Afghanistan.
d.

The detainee decided to flee Afghanistan because the non-Taliban and the opposition were killing Arabs.
e.

In the Tora Bora mountains the detainee did not see any type of military training being conducted and he was never issued a weapon.
f.

The detainee stated, "I am not a member of al Qaida."
g.

The detainee denies ever viewing any extremist material or visiting any radical Islamic websites.

[edit] Transcript

Ameziane met with his Assisting Military Officer for a pre-hearing interview, but he chose not to attend the hearing itself. A two page summarized transcript of the unclassified session of the Board hearing was published on March 3, 2006.[10][11]

When asked if the AMO had any information to present on behalf of the detainee to the Administrative Review Board, the AMO stated that he previously submitted a summary of the interview. The AMO then verbally summarized the detainee's comments during the interview.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 25 March 2006.[12] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee paid 20,000 Austrian Shillings [sic] for a Dutch passport and driver's license, both of which were already altered with the detainee's picture on them.
  2. In late 1995, the detainee traveled to Canada from Austria with a fake passport.
  3. In late 2000, the detainee paid 800 Canadian Dollars for a stolen French passport.
  4. In October-November 2000, the detainee flew from Montreal to London, England and then to Tehran, Iran. From Tehran, the detainee traveled by taxi to the Iran/Afghanistan border and to Kabul. The detainee presented his fraudulent passport to the Iranian border guards and purported to be a French Muslim traveling to Afghanistan for personal reasons.
  5. The detainee assigned himself his first alias, Abdul Rahim, while living in a guest house in Afghanistan. The detainee gave the second alias to Pakistani military authorities upon his arrest to prevent them from discovering he was Algerian. The detainee continued to use this second alias and false place of birth when interviewed by United States authorities in Afghanistan and at Camp X-Ray until approximately 23 March 2002.
b. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee attended the Al Umah Mosque in Montreal, Canada.
  2. In late 2000, while attending the Al Umah Mosque, the detainee met a Tunisian who gave the detainee approximately 1,200 to 1,500 Canadian Dollars and told him to go to a guest house in Kati Parwan, Afghanistan.
  3. Upon arriving in Kabul, the detainee went to the suspect guest house, Kati Parwan in Kati Parwan, a neighborhood of Kabul. The detainee stated that the majority of boarders in the house were Taliban fighters there awaiting training or resting after returning from the front lines, but others were just immigrants.
  4. In February 2001, the detainee took a taxi to Jalalabad asking for the Arab guest house in the Intelligence neighborhood of Jalalabad, named for the Taliban Intelligence headquarters located there.
c. Intent
The detainee decided while in Canada that he wanted to go to Afghanistan because he believed the Taliban had created the only country which was truly Islamic, and the detainee wanted to live somewhere with only Sharia Law.
d. Other Relevant Data
  1. The detainee was captured by Pakistani military in a village mosque, loaded into trucsk and confined to an army barracks for the night.
  2. The following day, the detainee was loaded onto a bus with many others. Suddenly the bus erupted in shouting and gunfire. The detainee allegedly dove to the floor and crawled to the middle aisle. Allegedly, many people fell on top of the detainee, breaking his left arm. The detainee then crawled out of a window of the bus and hid under a nearby small bridge. The detainee was again arrested and taken to a nearby prison in Kohat, Pakistan.
  3. After five to seven days at the prison in Kohat, the detainee was transferred to a hospital for his broken arm, where he remained for approximately two weeks. The Pakistani military eventually turned over the detainee and the other prisoners to the United States who then flew them to Kandahar.

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

a.

While in Afghanistan, the detainee stated that he did not receive any military or terrorist training and did not see any fighting.
b.

The detainee was living in Jalalabad when he learned of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. The detainee stated that he was shocked when he learned of these attacks. The detainee denied having any advance knowledge of these attacks and denied having heard any rumors of any such attacks prior to 11 September 2001.
c.

The detainee denied ever having participated in any fighting or terrorist activity and denied that he had any intention of participating in such activity if he is released. The detainee denied any knowledge of any future planned terrorist attacks in the United States and denied knowledge of the locations of any terrorist training camps or the identity of any individuals affiliated with al Qaida or other terrorist organizations.
d.

The detainee stated that he was not even thinking of jihad when he moved to Afghanistan. The detainee decided to flee Afghanistan because the non-Taliban and opposition were killing Arabs.
e.

The detainee stated that he was not a member of al Qaida.

[edit] Press reports

The Globe and Mail suggested that Ameziane's Tunisian contact could have been Raouf Hannachi.[1]

Michelle Shephard, writing in the Toronto Star speculated on the possibility Djamel might be transferred to Canada.[13] Shephard wrote that Djamel might be the unexpected beneficiary of the 2002 Canada-U.S. Safe Third Country Agreement:

Signed in December 2002, a little-publicized Article 9 of the controversial accord allows the U.S. to send up to 200 migrants to Canada each year. At the time it was signed, it pertained mainly to Haitian and Cuban migrants taken from ships intercepted at sea and housed in Guantanamo.

Shephard's article also addressed the 2005 allegation that Djamel attendance at the Al Salaam Mosque in Montreal justified his continued detention, and the 2006 allegation attendance at the Al Umah Mosque in Montreal justified his continued detention.[13] Djamel's lawyer, Wells Dixon said Djamel acknowledged attending a variety of mosques during the five years he lived in MOntreal in the 1990s, but he could no longer remember their names. Dixon challenged whether simple attendance at a mosque was a valid justification for alleging ties to terrorism.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Third Montrealer on detainee list at Guantanamo, Globe and Mail, March 10, 2006 - mirror
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ Vt. lawyers represent Guantanamo detainees, WCAX
  4. ^ OARDEC (30 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Ameziane, Djamel Saiid Ali (published March 2005) pages 235-236. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  5. ^ OARDEC (30 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Ameziane, Djamel Saiid Ali (published September 2007) pages 48-49. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.
  6. ^ When this memo was first published, in March 2005, the phrase "Algerians citizenship" was redacted.
  7. ^ a b Teresa A. McPalmer (11 July 2005). Djamel Said Ali Ameziane v. George Walker Bush pages 30-47. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  8. ^ (Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", The Wire (JTF-GTMO), Friday March 10, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. 
  9. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Djamel Saiid Ali Ameziane Administrative Review Board - pages 11-13
  10. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summary of Administrative Review Board Proceedings of ISN 310 pages 58-59. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  11. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  12. ^ OARDEC (25 March 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Ameziane, Djamel Saiid Ali pages 67-79. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
  13. ^ a b Michelle Shephard. "Camp Six detainee pins hopes on Canada", Toronto Star, June 9, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.