Ha'il Aziz Ahmad Al Maythal

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Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali is a citizen of Yemen, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Al Maythali's Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 840. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1977, in Zemar, Yemen.

Contents

[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. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. The neutrality of this section is disputed. Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.
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]
The neutrality of this section is disputed.
Please see the discussion on the talk page.(December 2007)
Please do not remove this message until the dispute is resolved.

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.

[edit] Allegations

A memorandum summarizing the evidence against Al Maythali prepared for his Combatan Status Reiew Tribunal, was among those released in March of 2005.[5] The allegations Al Maythali faced during his Tribunal were:

a. The detainee is a member of the Taliban or al Qaida.
  1. The detainee voluntarily traveled from Yemen to Afghanistan in November 2000 to fight the Jihad.
  2. The detainee stayed at a Taliban guesthouse in Quetta, Pakistan during his travel to Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee stayed at an al Qaida guesthouse in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  4. The detainee trained at the al Farouq training camp.
  5. While at the al Farouq camp; the detainee was trained on the Kalashnikov rifle, PK machine gun, Makarov pistol, and Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPG's) [sic] .
  6. The detainee was also trained in trench digging, disguise, mountain climbing, map reading and orienteering at al Farouq.
  7. The detainee returned to the al Farouq camp for advanced training, which consisted of preparation for fighting and reconnaissance techniques.
  8. The detainee was at al Farouq on three separate occasions when Usama Bin Laden gave lectures.
  9. The detainee also received training at the Kandahar airport. This training was in personal security, survival skills, how to obtain a passport without drawing attention to one's self and how to get through customs.
  10. The detainee assisted the Taliban on the front lines near Kabul, Afghanistan.
  11. The detainee stated that he fought on the front lines for one week.
  12. The detainee was in Afghanistan during the fall of Kabul.
  13. The detainee was arrested in a guesthouse in Karachi on 11 September 2002.

[edit] Transcript

Al Maythali did not attend his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6] But his Personal Representative presented his responses to the allegations on his behalf.

[edit] Responsess to the allegations

  • Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali acknowledged that he traveled to Afghanistan for jihad in 2000 -- but not against the USA and the Northern Alliance.
  • Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali acknowledged that he stayed in a Taliban guesthouse, in Quetta.. But he pointed out that the Taliban was the legitimate government of Afghanistan at the time.
  • Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali acknowledged that he stayed in a guesthouse in Kandahar. He acknownowledge many Arabs stayed there. But he denied knowing it was an al Qaida guesthouse.
  • Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali acknowledged confessing to attending the al Farouq training camp, but stated this was a false confession, coerced through torture.
  • Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali acknowledged being present on the front lines in Afghanistan -- in 2000. He said he was only there for one week. There were no hostilities. He never participated in any training.

and an al Qaida guesthouse in Kandahar

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  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. ^ Summary of Evidence memo (.pdf) prepared for Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - October 19, 2004 - page 102
  6. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Ha Il Aziz Ahmed Al Maythali's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 12-14