Jumma Jan

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Detainee 1095
-DOD insists that prisoner 1095 is Jumma Jan
-1095 asserts his name is Zain Al Abedin.[1]
Born: 1978 (age 29–30)
Flag of Tajikistan - Kurgantapa, Tajikistan which in 1978 was part of the Flag of the Soviet Union Soviet Union
Detained at:
ID number: 1095
Alleged to be a member of: Taliban
Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin

Jumma Jan is the name the United States calls a citizen of Tajikistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[2]

His detainee ID number is 1095. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1978, in Kurgantapa, Tajikistan.

Contents

[edit] Identity

The detainee informed his Combatant Status Review Tribunal that his name was not Jumma Jan, it was Zain Al Abedin.[1]

The Tribunal's President responded to the detainee's assertion that his name was Zain Al Abedin, not Jumma Jan by stating:[1]

"The detainee requested person or persons who positively identified him referring [sic] to his statement listed in the unclassified summery [sic] .
"The detainee was captured in Mazar-e-Shariff [sic] , Afghanistan by coalition forces and positively identified, on 3 July 2003. The identification of those who positively [sic] him at that time and place [sic] if available [sic] will be addressed in the closed session, because it would refer to classified information. The identification of those witnesses if they are identified will be referred to and be addressed in a closed session. So, for open session, for your information [sic] at this time [sic] these witnesses are not reasonably available. I have directed the Personal Representative to comment on the classified information relative to your request. That will be in the closed session of this hearing at a later time.
"Your other request, which I note [sic] on the Detainee Election Form [sic] was that you wished records indicating that you were a citizen of Afghanistan. Your citizenship as an Afghani is not relevant to your determination of [sic] being and enemy combatant..."

The Tribunal's President told the detainee he couldn't understand why he wanted the documents he felt would establish his identity and prove he was innocent of the allegations against him.[1]

During his Administrative Review Board hearing Al Abedin gave a statement about his identity.[3] He told his Board that, initially, his interrogators not only asserted that his real name was Jumma Jan, but also that he was an Uzbek.

Al Abedin told his Board he had only had a single, twenty minute interrogation, since he had arrived in Guantanamo, and he had no idea where the allegations against him arose.[3]

[edit] Press reports

Abedin was captured on July 3, 2003 near Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan.[4]

On March 15, 2006 The Guardian published an Associated Press story that reported that Abedin told his Tribunal he was a refugee who had fled Tajikistan in 1991 or 1992.[5][4] They reported that he claimed he was just a taxi driver, but that the US documents accused him of being a member of the Taliban and a leader in Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin who had carried out an al Qaeda mission Tajikistan.

Zain al Abedin tole his Tribunal[4]:

"That's true the people who found me, that's me they arrested me. But I'm not that name, I don't know what they call me. Jumma Jan. I am not that person."

Zain Al Abedin is the nickname used by the fourth Shi'a imam's[citation needed].

[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". Jumma Jan 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. Jumma Jan's memo accused him of the following: [1]

[edit] Allegations

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --
  1. The detainee, as a military commander, reportedly was assigned a mission in Tajikistan after 11 September 2001 as part of an al Qaida and Taliban operational plan.
  2. The detainee was a leader of a Taliban compound.
  3. The detainee is a high-ranking Taliban member and is currently a Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin [sic] (HIG) Commander.
  4. Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin [sic] (HIG) has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
  5. The detainee was captured in Mazar-e-Shariff [sic] , Afghanistan by coalition forces [sic] and positively identified, on 3 July 2003.
b. -- The general summary of the allegations of hostile activity were missing from the transcript. --
  1. The detainee was in leadership role in a rocket attack against United States forces at the Mazar-e-Shariff airfield.
  2. The detainee has been implicated in the roadside bomb assassination attempt of General Dostum, a Northern Alliance leader.

[edit] Al Abedin's testimony in response to allegations

  • Al Abedin denied being a member of the Taliban, either before, or after September 11, 2001.
  • Al Abedin asserted he hadn't been in Tajikistan for 13 years prior to his capture.
  • Al Abedin denied being a leader of anything.
  • Al Abedin provided his Tribunal with a brief biography:
    • Al Abedin said he was born in 1978, in Tajikistan.
    • Al Abedin said he left Tajikistan as a teenager, due to chaos. main Tajikistan civil war
    • Al Abedin said he lived in Afghanistan, as a refugee, during 1991 and 1992.
    • Al Abedin told his Tribunal he then traveled to Pakistan, and became a refugee there, to continue his education. Al Abedin's translator told his Tribunal he thought Al Abedin meant Afghanistan, not Pakistan.
    • Al Abedin told his Tribunal that, while he was in Pakistan, his parents returned to Tajikistan.
    • Al Abedin told his Tribunal that, after he finished his education in Pakistan, he developed a serious case of tuberculosis. He didn't have the money to get medical treatment in Pakistan, so he decided to try to return to Tajikistan.
    • Al Abedin told his Tribunal that when he traveled from Pakistan to Afghanistan, an "Afghanistan gentleman" sponsored his Afghani citizenship, and provided him with a car to drive, as a taxi, so he could earn money to pay for his medical treatment.
    • Al Abedin said he earned the funds to pay for his medical treatment, and started working as a tractor driver.
    • Al Abedin told his Tribunal he would have left Afghanistan, except that his Tuberculosis treatment was not completely successful, and had to be repeated.
    • Al Abedin suggested that the doctor who treated his Tuberculosis could serve as a witness.
  • Al Abedin pointed out to his Tribunal that the Taliban and Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin were enemies. According to Al Abedin the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin had fought against the Taliban during their regime, and had been one of the organizations in the Northern Alliance. He questioned how someone could be a senior member of two organizations that were at war with one another.
  • Al Abedin denied ever being a member of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin.
  • Al Abedin offered an account of the circumstances of his capture:
    • Al Abedin described crossing the bazaar in the village he lived in outside of Mazari Sharif. He was carrying a fan-belt for a car he was planning to fix.
    • Al Abedin saw some American soldiers in the bazaar. After he had passed them, they called out after him, and asked him to get in their vehicle. When he complied they put a hood over his head, and drove him off to captivity.
    • Al Abedin said he was kept in isolation in a small room, prior to his first interrogation, which lasted 24 hours.
  • Al Abedin denied having a role in either the attack on Mazari Sharif airfield, and the assassination attempt on General Dostum.
  • In response to the allegation he had participated in an attack on Dostum, Al Abedin explained:
    "When we got as a refugee [sic] in Afghanistan, first [sic] time we came to the Caliza District and (inaudible) in the side of the road. As soon as we escaped form the Tajikistan side and passed the river because of the chaos inside Tajikistan and our enemy was following us and we came on the other side of the river, those Dostum he provided us with helicopters. One and a half years he supported us with food and clothes. The number of the refugges which they landed in the dessert [sic] which was sand only and Dostum provided a camp for us, it was 15000 (inaudible). When a person fees you for one and a half years how can you destroy the salft. It is an expression in that [sic] language. When you eat from somebody you can't do bad to him. How can I eat for one and a half years from him, food and I destroy the salt for him? It is not possible. For 13 years I was away form Tajikistan and they accuse me that I was doing the plan in Tajikistan, it is not possible. This is my story.

[edit] Al Abedin's answers to the Tribunal officer's questions

  • Al Abedin said he was captured two years prior to his Tribunal.
  • Al Abedin said he was engaged to a woman in Mazari Sharif.
  • Al Abedin said he had never heard the name Jumma Jan prior to his capture. The only Jumma he knew waa a doctor Jumma, who was a fellow refugee he met in the refugee camp.
  • Al Abedin confirmed that he had no idea why anyone would accuse him of being Jumma Jan.
  • The man who owned the tractor and the bus he drove was Haji Rasseed.

The President of Al Abedin's Tribunal could not understand why Al Abedin hadn't requested the man who owned the tractor and bus Al Abedin drove to testify on his behalf. Al Abedin's Personal Representative tried to explain it to him

"Yes, sir. As we saw from his replies to all the pieces of evidence against him, he did tell me, at that time, that the information was in the file and yes I explained to him that the Tribunal does not look at the file, nor does the Personal Representative before we meet with the individual. Because it gives us both a more objective approach to deliberate the evidence against that side of the story. So regarding the specific asking for witnesses, it is clear he has disputed each and every piece of evidence on the unclassified summery[sic] . His story and time in Afghanistan is a lengthy and detailed one. He had no idea what evidence to cause to skew things in his mind far out there, which is why he had asked me for the individual or individuals who had positively identified him, to address what they knew how they identified him and what they were bringing up his allegations. Based on all the information received then he could provide names and numbers, phones locations of anybody the Tribunal would like."

[edit] Administrative Review Board

Hearing room for ARB hearings, after captives had been found to be "enemy combatants" during their CSRT.
Hearing room for ARB hearings, after captives had been found to be "enemy combatants" during their CSRT.[7]

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.


The factors for and against continuing to detain Jumma Jan were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.[8]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee, as a military commander, reportedly was assigned a mission in Tajikistan after 11 September 2001 as part Of an al Qaida and Taliban operational plan.
  2. The detainee has fought with the Taliban under several commanders. The detainee has also resided with several Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) commanders.
  3. HIG has been designated by the United States as a terrorist organization.
  4. HIG has long-established ties with Usama Bin Laden. HIG has staged small attacks in its attempt to force U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, overthrow the Afghan Transitional Administration and establish a fundamentalist state.
  5. The detainee was captured in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan by coalition forces and was positively identified on 3 July 2003.
b. Training
The detainee has been involved in training operatives in the use of explosives and improvised explosive devices in order to target United States military personnel.
c. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee was identified as the leader of a compound where approximately 100 Taliban soldiers stayed.
  2. The detainee is a high-ranking Taliban member and is a HIG Commander.
  3. The detainee admitted he was a driver for Taliban Commander Guli, for one year.
  4. The detainee is associated with Qarim Boy, a HIG commander and Maulawi Shamsul Haq, who was a security guard for Mullah Mohammad Omar.
  5. Mullah Mohammad Omar is the former Taliban Supreme Leader.
  6. Maulawi Shamsul Haq was also a former Deputy of the Taliban Party.
  7. The detainee met with Mulla Zarmai sometime around June 2003. Mulla Zarmai is a former commander to Mullah Omar.
d. Intent
  1. The detainee was in a leadership role in a rocket attack against United States forces at the Mazar-e-Sharif airfield.
  2. The detainee has been implicated in the roadside bomb assassination attempt of General Dostum, a Northern Alliance leader.
  3. The detainee has been involved in the purchase, construction and storage of mines in the Chemtal area of Afghanistan.
e. Other Relevant Data
The detainee speaks Farsi, Russian, Uzbecki, Pashto and some English.

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

a. Detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11th, and also denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the U.S. or U.S. interests.
b. The detainee stated that if he were released, he would go home, be married to his fiance" and continue on with his life. The detainee stated he had no associations with the Taliban, besides being their driver in the past.
c. The detainee claims he never transported, built or used explosives of any kind.

[edit] Transcript

Jan chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[3]

Al Abedin explained to the Board that his name was not Jumma Jan.

Unlike the President of his Tribunal, the Board's Presiding Officer insisted that Al Abedin be referred to as Jumma Jan.

[edit] Letters

Al Abedin's Assisting Military Officer presented five letters addressed to Zainulabudin as evidence of his actual identity. Other detainees have had letters they submitted as evidence appended to their transcripts. But Al Abedin's letters were not appended.

[edit] Testimony

Al Abedin's Assisting Military Officer read the response's Al Abedin had dictated to him, in response to the factors.

  • Al Abedin said he was born, in 1978, in Tajikistan, and immigrated to Afghanistan in 1992.[9]
  • Al Abedin confirmed that he had some lessons in the English and Russian languages, in middle school, prior to leaving Tajikistan. He was not able to get regular schooling after he immigrated to Afghanistan.
  • Al Abedin confirmed that, in the late 1990s, during the initial ten months when he drove a car provided for him by a benefactor, he drove around a member of the Taliban who had lost the use of his legs.
  • Al Abedin confirmed he had worked for a Swedish organization. He said "they call it the Swedish Committee". The organization provided medical aid.
  • Al Abedin confirmed that he had received further treatment for his Tuberculosis while in custody, four months in Bagram and seven months in Guantanamo. He spent 48 days in an isolation ward, and underwent a further six months of treatment after leaving the isolation ward.
  • Al Abedin stated he had dual citizenship with both Tajikistan and Afghanistan.
  • According to one of the questions from the Presiding Officer, Al Abedin was associated with a Qarim Boy. Al Abedin denied knowing a Qarim boy.

Al Abedin's Presiding Officer posed the following question:

"Jumma Jan, in your comments that the Assisting Military Officer made for you, you asked, "How do they find these things out, they're killing you with extra questions and what not, they do not ask me." So I am going to ask you a couple [of questions] here. The commitment [referring to the unclassified summary of information] [the] detainee has fought with the Taliban under several commanders. Can you explain.. .why the detainee has also resided with several HIG commanders, Hezb-e-Islami commanders, could you explain that?"
  • When Al Abedin was asked about the allegations that he had fought under several Taliban commanders, he disputed the allegation, reminded the Board that he was being held under the wrong name, and suggested maybe the guy he was accused of being was the guy who did the crimes he was accused of.
  • Al Abedin confirmed he was captured in Mazar-e Sharif.
  • Al Abedin denied knowing anything about explosives and denied providing training in the use of explosives.
  • Al Abedin confirmed speaking Farsi and Pashto. His fianee speaks Pashto. He was able to study some Pashto and Urdu when he was in Pakistan.
  • Al Abedin's Presiding Officer asked him why the letters he provided had material that was blacked out.
  • Al Abedin's Presiding Officer asked him if he had any letters from the Swedish charity he had worked for. Al Abedin said he did not. He only had letters from his father, his brother, and his future father-in-law. Al Abedin asked his Presiding Officer for advice as to how he could get that letter from the Swedish Company, if that would help him get released. His Presiding Officer suggested that maybe the ICRC might help him.

[edit] Concluding statement

For the last two years I have been detained under the name of Jumma Jan. I wanted to know what is the reason and what is the proof of people calling me Jumma Jan. First they called me Uzbek and if I am fiom Uzbekistan. Why [are] the letters coming for me from Tajikistan? Since I [have been here] in Cuba, they [have] just interrogated me for less than twenty minutes, once, only once. I don't know how these accusations [have] come about I [have been] here for one and a-half years and [only] one time [have] they interrogated me. [On] a weekly basis, I always insist for [an] interrogation, but nobody [will] take me. Well, the world and everybody [is] hoping [mat] America is a great country and [that] they are helping to vanish the terrorist and provide justice. I don't know why they [keep] call[ing] me a different name and [why] they are putting [so many] accusation^] against me. They should have proof. Tajikistan people, they are hoping [that the] Coalition Force[s] or Americans should come and control mem because they need stability. But this kind of stability, I don't know. Well when I moved from Pakistan to Afghanistan there was not [an] embassy from Tajikistan there. Also my parents or my family were not there, so I needed money for treatment I was vomiting blood and I was in a very bad shape so what was I suppose to do? The Taliban government was not a recognized government, so anyway I worked in order to get some money to buy the treatment for myself. Well thank you very much for listening to me. This is all I have.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Jumma Jan's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 41-52
  2. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  3. ^ a b c Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Jumma Jan's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 32
  4. ^ a b c Kim Sengupta. "Details of Camp Delta inmates released to public", The Indepedent, March 6, 2006. Retrieved on 2007-09-05. 
  5. ^ Sketches of Guantanamo Detainees-Part II, The Guardian, March 15, 2006
  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. ^ Book, Spc. Timothy. The Wire (JTF-GTMO), "Review process unprecedented", March 10, 2006
  8. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Jumma Jan Administrative Review Board - page 105-107 - April 4, 2005
  9. ^ Tajikistan went through a civil war following the breakup of the Soviet Union.