Hozaifa Parhat

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Hozaifa Parhat
Born: February 11, 1971(1971-02-11)
Ghulja, China
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 320
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status cleared for release

Hozaifa Parhat is a citizen of China, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Internment Serial Number ("ISN") is 320. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report he was born in February 11, 1971, in Ghulja, China.

Parhat is one of 22 detainees from the Uyghur ethnic group.

Main article: Uighur detainees in Guantanamo

Contents

[edit] Parhat v. Gates

He is the lead petitioner in Parhat v. Gates, no. 06-1397 (D.C. Cir.), a case brought by seven Uyghurs challenging their "enemy combatant" designation under the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005.[2]

Susan Baker Manning, one of Parhat's attorneys, commented:

“If we’re going to hold people, possibly for the rest of their lives, it seems eminently fair that we should look at all the evidence to see if they are or are not the people who should be at Guantánamo.”[3]

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

He is one of approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees accused of membership in the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement.[4]

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".[5]

The brief biography of Hozaifa Parhat stated:

Hozaifa Parhat is a 33-year-old Chinese citizen, who is an ethnic Uighur from the (sic) Ghulja province of China. He claims to have fled the Xinjiang province, China to train in Afghanistan and return to fight Chinese oppression of ethnic Uighurs. He was last interviewed in mid 2004. He has no reported incidents of violence in his discipline history. Parhat 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.

[edit] Combatant Status Review

CSRT notice read to a Guantanamo captive.
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.
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". Hozaifa Parhat among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[6]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Hozaifa Parhat's memo accused him of the following: [7] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban:
  1. The detainee departed China in May 2001 and traveled to Tora Bora, Afghanistan via Pakistan.
  2. The detainee received training on the Kalashnikov [sic] AK-47 assault rifle and other light weapons at a Uighur training camp in Tora Bora, Afghanistan.
  3. The training camp was provided to the Uighurs by the Taliban.
  4. The East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM) operated facilities in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in which Uighur expatriates underwent small arms training. The camps were funded by Bin Laden and the Taliban.
  5. The detainee lived at the Uighur training camp from early June through mid-October 2001 until the United States bombinb campaign that destroyed the camp.
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.
  1. The detainee stated that the Uighur training camp was destroyed during the first night of the United States bombing campaign.
  2. The detainee fled along with others farther into the mountains of Tora Bora with the initiation of the United States bombing campaign.
  3. The detainee was captured in Pakistan fleeing Afghanistan with other Uighur and Arab personnel in 2001.

[edit] Transcript

Parhat chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[8] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a ten page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[9]

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • Parhat acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan, from China, via Pakistan.
  • Parhat acknowledged being shown how to use two different weapons while in Afghanistan.
  • Parhat testified he didn't know who provided the camp.
  • Parhat disputed that the Taliban or al Qaida funded the camp.
  • Parhat acknowledged living in the camp form mid-June through mid-October.
  • Parhat acknowledged that the camp was destroyed by US aerial bombardment. He did not know whether it was bombed on the first night of the bombing campaign, or not.
  • Parhat acknowledged fleeing the bombing with the other Uyghurs.
  • Parhat acknowledged being captured, in Pakistan, together with the other Uyghurs.

[edit] Opening statement

Parhat disputed that he and the other Uyghurs were opposed to the United States.

[edit] Beige uniform

"Non-compliant" captives are issued orange uniforms. Compliant captives are usually issued white uniforms. Hofaiza Parhat wore a beige uniform to his Tribunal.

A: That means level one.
Q: Is that for good behavior or for some other reason?
A: Yes, I believe so. If you do not have good behavior they will not put you in level one.
Main article: Guantanamo captive's uniforms

[edit] Current status

Five Uyghurs, whose CSR Tribunals determined they had not been enemy combatants were transferred to detention in an Albanian refugee camp in 2006. A man who was born to Uyghur parents, in Saudi Arabia, and thus was considered a Uyghur, was nevertheless returned to Saudi Arabia. All the other Uyghurs remain in Guantanamo.

In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2006.[10] [11] There is no record that a Board reviewed his status in 2005 or 2006.

In September 2007 the Department of Defense released the recommendation memos from 133 of the Administrative Review Boards that convened in 2005 and the recommendation memos from 55 of the Administrative Review Boards that convened in 2006.[12][13] No recommendation memos were released for Hozaifa Parhat.

[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. ^ Erika Tillery. "Hufaiza Parhat v. Robert M Gates", United States Department of Justice, December 18, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-04-08. 
  3. ^ William Glaberson. "Officials Cite Danger in Revealing Detainee Data", New York Times, Wednesday, September 12, 2007, p. A18. Retrieved on 2007-09-12. 
  4. ^ "China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo", Asia Times, November 4, 2004. Retrieved on 2008-03-28. 
  5. ^ Department of Defense, Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO, December 30, 2004
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ OARDEC (8 November 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Parhat, Hozaifa pages 55-56. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
  8. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 43-54. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-04-08.
  9. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  10. ^ OARDEC (August 9, 2007). Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  11. ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  12. ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index to Transfer and Release Decision for Guantanamo Detainees. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  13. ^ OARDEC (August 10, 2007). Index Index of Transfer and Release Decision for Guantanamo Detainees from ARB Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.