Ghassan al-Shirbi
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| Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi | |
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| Born: | December 28, 1974 Jeddah, Saudi Arabia |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo |
| ID number: | 682 |
| Conviction(s): | Faced charges in November 2005, before the Presidentially authoritized military commisssions. Faced charges in May 2008, before the Congressionally authorized military commissions. |
| CSRT Summary | *  "Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Shirbi, Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi" on Wikisource. |
Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi is a Saudi who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 682. He has allegedly been named the "electronic builder" and referred to as a right hand man of Abu Zubaydah by fellow Guantanamo inmates. The US Department of Defense reports that Al Shirbi was born on December 28, 1974, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
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[edit] Identity
Captive 682 was identified inconsistently on official Department of Defense documents:
- His name was spelled as Ghassan Abdallah Al Sharbi in November 2005, on his official charge sheet.[2]
- His name was spelled as Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi on May 15, 2006, when the DoD released it first official list of all the captives who had been held, in military custody, in Guantanamo.[1]
[edit] Background
Ghassan was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia but attended high school in the United States, and went on to study aeronautical engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Arizona.[3][4]
He was captured by Pakistani forces during a raid at Faisalabad, Pakistan in March 2002. He wasn't brought to Bahrain Airbase, as prisoner #237, for interrogation until June when he was chiefly interrogated by two soldiers romantically linked to each other.[3]
Speaking fluent English, he appeared "dismissive and aloof", and said that he was glad to see the Taliban ruling Afghanistan, quoting statistics that showed a dramatic decrease in crime rates and new schools built under their government.[3]
He asked the interrogations chief whether he had read anything by T. E. Lawrence, or From Beirut to Jerusalem, and later dismissed the interrogator's statement that he was a graduate of Fordham University by retorting that it was a "third-tier school". He offered the names, addresses and phone numbers of several American classmates, professors and landlords he said would vouch for him having done nothing wrong.[3] The interrogator later remarked that al-Shirbi had a "seeming preoccupation with death".[3]
When it was arranged to transfer al-Shirbi to Guantanamo, he calmly told his interrogators that "after a while, the truth would blur for him and that he would just say whatever we wanted to hear just to have the solitude that would come from the end of our questioning".[3]
In testimony before the Combatant Status Review Tribunal in Guantanamo, he accepted the title "enemy combatant" as well as all 15 charges against him. Upon dismissal from the room, Ghassan chanted "May God help me fight the infidels or the unfaithful ones."
On November 7, 2005, the United States charged Ghassan and four other detainees.[2] They will face a trial before a military commission. Ghassan, Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Binyam Ahmed Muhammad, and Sufyian Barhoumi face conspiracy to murder charges. Omar Khadr faces both murder and conspiracy to murder charges.
Al-Sharbi wants to decline legal representation.[5] His lawyer, Bob Rachlin, is trying to arrange for Al-Sharbi to talk, by phone, with his parents, hoping they will be able to convince him to accept Rachlin's legal assistance.
On April 27, 2006 al Sharbi acknowledged membership in al Qaeda, and told his military commission:[4]
- "I came here to tell you I did what I did and I'm willing to pay the price"
- "Even if I spend hundreds of years in jail, that would be a matter of honor to me,"
- "I fought the United States, I'm going to make it short and easy for you guys: I'm proud of what I did."
In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, in July 2006, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the Bush Presidency lacked the constitutional authority to set up the military commission. Only Congress had the authority to set up military commissions. Congress subsequently passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
On May 29, 2008 Ghassan Abdullah al-Sharbi, Sufyian Barhoumi and Jabran al-Qathani were charged before the Congressionally authorized military commissions.[6][7]
[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal allegations
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 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.
Al Shirbi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[10]
[edit] Summary of Evidence memo
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 4 November 2004.[11] The memo listed the following allegations against him:
-
- a The detainee is associated with al Qaida:
- The detainee was born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- In August of 2001 the detainee traveled from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Faisalbad Pakistan.
- The detainee lived in a safe house with senior al Qaida operative [sic] in Pakistan until the time of the detainee’s capture.
- The detainee was captured by Pakistani forces in a March 2002 raid of the safe house in Faisalbad, Pakistan.
- Abu Zubaydah is a senior Al-Qaida lieutenant.
- The detainee taught English to other guest [sic] at the safe house in Faisalbad, Pakistan.
- The detainee received specialized training on remote control devices for use in explosives to detonate bombs against Afghani and United States forces.
- The detainee received military training, including Basic Weapons (use, operation, and assembly/disassembly of assault rifles, UZI, Kalashnikov, Simonovs, M-16 and RPGs), Basic Warfare Tactics (tactical movement, concealment and mine avoidance) and navigation (navigation using compass, watch, stick in the ground against sunlight method and celestial methods) at a terrorist training camp in Afghanistan.
- Usama Bin Laden visited a Terrorist training camp in Afghanistan about ten times while the detainee was receiving training at that camp.
- The detainee was observed chatting and laughing like pals with Usama bin Laden during Bin Laden’s visit to the particular terrorist training camp.
- The detainee pressured another man to swear bayat ot Usama Bin Laden during a face-to-face meeting at that particular terrorist training camp.
- The detainee admittedly supports the jihad and Chechens in the fight against the Russians.
- The detainee wanted to be a mujihadeen freedom fighter.
- In December 2001, the detainee was one of approximately 100 mujahideen near Birmal, Afghanistan.
- The detainee is called the “electronic builder” by GTMO [sic] detainees, and is known as “Abu Zubaydah’s right hand man”.
- a The detainee is associated with al Qaida:
[edit] Al Sharbi's statement to his Combatant Status Review Tribunal
During the portion of his Tribunal where he was permitted to give a statement he first indicated that he was honored to be classified as an enemy combatant. He then offered a couple of hundred words of criticism of the United States, homosexuality and Capitalism. Although he speaks fluent English he chose to give his statement in Arabic, and his translator had to ask him to pause several times, so they could catch up.
He ended his statement saying:
- “Your culture chose to review the enemy combatant status. Your status as enemy combatants does not need a court. For your culture, the enemy combatant is Muslims, Islam. Enemies yes, combatants no, you only wear the uniform of what you call a coalition forces what I call traitors. I do not have anything to add and I do not want to say anything more than this and I do not want to hear more than this.”
When he finished his Tribunal's President told him she presumed he was finished, and tried to tell him what the next steps in the process would be. Al Sharbi started to chant at the same time. He chanted through her concluding remarks.
The Tribunal reconvened, in open session, shortly after al Sharbi had been removed, so the translator's translation of his chant could be recorded in the unclassified portion of his dossier. He chanted: “May god help me fight the infidels or the unfaithful ones”
[edit] Administrative Review Board
Detainees whose CSRT labelled them "enemy combatants" were then scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to judge whether the detainee posed a threat if repatriated to their home country.
In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 or 2006.[13][14] There was no record that an ARB had been convened to review his detention.
[edit] References
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b USA v. al Sharbi. United States Department of Defense (November 7, 2005). Retrieved on February 27, 2007.
- ^ a b c d e f Mackey, Chris. "The Interrogators", 2004
- ^ a b Saudi man admits enemy role at Guantanamo hearing, Reuters, April 27, 2006
- ^ Vermont lawyers represent Guantanamo detainees, Burlington Free Press, April 13, 2006
- ^ Andrew Gilmore. "Pentagon files new charges against 3 Guantanamo detainees", The Jurist, Friday, May 30, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ "Charge sheet (2008)", United States Department of Defense, May 29, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
- ^ 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.
- ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi Al Shirbi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 26-30
- ^ OARDEC (4 November 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Shirbi, Ghassan Abdallah Ghazi pages 44-45. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ Book, Spc. Timothy. The Wire (JTF-GTMO), "Review process unprecedented", March 10, 2006
- ^ OARDEC, Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One, August 9, 2007
- ^ OARDEC, Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two, July 17, 2007
[edit] External links
- Commissions Transcripts, Exhibits, and Allied Papers
- US military charges Omar Khadr with murder, CTV, November 7, 2005
- US charges five Guantanamo detainees with war crimes, China Daily, November 7, 2005
- Canadian held at Guantanamo charged with murder, CBC, November 7, 2005
- Five More Guantanamo Detainees Charged, The Guardian, November 7, 2005
- Supreme Court to hear challenge to military commissions, San Francisco Mercury, November 7, 2005
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