Mahbub Rahman

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mahbub Rahman is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 1052. According to the Department of Defense Rahman was born in 1985 in Khowst, Afghanistan.

Main article: minors detained in the global war on terror

[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.^[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.

Rahman chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5]

According to the BBC Rahman was accused of spying on U.S. forces.^[6]

[edit] Witness requests

Rahman requested three witnesses, Azimullah, Mohammed Salim and Rahman Tulah. His Tribunal's President determined that they would be relevant. Azimullah was another Guantanamo detainee, and his testimony was made available. Mohamed Salim was held in Bagram, but the Bagram authorities had not responded to the Tribunals requests for testimony.

The Tribunal's President asked Rahman to offer more details of who Rahman Tulah was. He informed them he was another student at Faizal Quran, the Madrassa he attended, and that his tribal name was Sadarai. They were captured together.

The Tribunal's President determination that Mohammed Salim and Rahman Tulah's testimony was "not reasonably available".

[edit] Allegations

The allegations against Rahman during his Tribunal were:

a. The Detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban:

1. The detainee agreed to spy on the Americans.

b. The Detainee participated in military operations against the United States and its coalition partners.

1. The detainee acknowledged shooting an Afghan Militia Force (AMF) soldier and two civilians in April 2003.
2. The detainee directed others to a cemetery used as a staging and hiding area prior to assault on Firebase Salerno.
3. Afghan Militia Forces captured the detainee and three others on I June 2003.
4. When captured, the detainee had in his possession two AK-47s, bayonets, a binocular, and a spare videocassette for a video camera in the possession of one of the three other captured comrades.
5. The Detainee did no surrender willingly; gunshots and grenades were exchanged with the AMF.

[edit] Rahman's response to the allegations against him

• Rahman denied all association with the Taliban or al Qaida. He denied spying on the Americans.
• Rahman denied shooting any members of the Afghan Militia Force. He acknowledged shooting at personal enemies from a personal dispute.
• Rahman acknowledged being present in the cemetery. But said he was there simply to wait for his friend Salim.
• Rahman acknowledged that he was captured in the mosque attached to the cemetery.
• Rahman denied carrying the bayonet, binoculars, or spare videocassette he was alleged to be carrying. He acknowledged possessing one AK-47, which he carried simply for personal defense. The other AK-47 was his friends.
• Rahman denied there was a fight when he was captured. He asserted that he was sleeping when the Afghan militia woke him.

After responding to the allegations Rahman offered his own account of his capture:

[edit] Azimullah's testimony on Rahman's behalf

In response to questions Rahman's Personal Representative posed:

• Azimullah testified he knew Rahman from the Madrassa the two of them had attended.
• Azimullah confirmed that they were waiting in the mosque by the cemetery for Rahman's friend.
• Azimullah confirmed that they weren't hiding from anyone, just waiting for Rahman's friend.
• Azimullah testified that, during the time he had known him, Rahman had never fought the Afghan Militia Force.

In response to Rahman's questions:

• Azimullah testified that Rahman told him he returned to Afghanistan to see his family.
• Azimullah confirmed that neither of them was carrying a video equipment of binoculars.
• Azimullah testified that Rahman had never spied on the Americans.

In response to Tribunal officer's questions:

• Azimullah testified he and Rahman had studied together at the Madrassa for about a year and a half.
• Azimullah testified that Rahman never had any military training.
• Azimullah testified that the other individual captured with Rahman was Machman Datla.
• Azimullah testified that the Madrassa they attended was near Shinkat.

[edit] Azimullah's response to Tribunal questioning

Rahman's Personal Representative asked Rahman to explain more fully about his personal enemy:

In response to questions from the Tribunal's officers:

• Rahman testified his personal enemy was not a soldier.
• The gun he used to shoot his enemy was his enemy's gun. His own gun was back at the mosque.
• Rahman testified that Azimullah had brought Rahman Tulah to visit with him, in the mosque, and that he too was captured when he was.
• Rahman testified that there were no American bases near where he was captured.
• When asked what Salim could have testified to that Azimullah had not already testified Rahman said:

  He could tell you why I came to Afghanistan and how we traveled together and how I was waiting for him to give that weapon. Also, he can tell you that two of the AK-47s, one was his personal and the other one I was going to give to him also.

• Rahman testified he had never had any military training, nor had he ever had any informal training on how to use the AK-47.
• Rahman testified he did not know whether he fired two or three shots. He fired at the ground in front of his enemy, but he surmized he had hit his leg, or hit him with a ricochet.
• Rahman testified that he had never been asked during any of his interviews or interrogations anything about spying on the Americans.
• Rahman testified that Rahman Tulaf could have testified that they were asleep when they were captured, that there was no fighting.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

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.

Rahman chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[7]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for every captive for whom an Administrative Review Board hearing was convened, summarizing the "factors" for and against their continued detention. Those factors were always broken down under two headings: "The following primary factors favor continued detention"; and "The following primary factors favor release or transfer". The factors favoring continued detention were further subdivided under sub-headings like: "Training"; "Intent"; "Commitment"; "Associations". And the factors under those sub-headings were sequentionally numbered.

Te Summary of Evidence memo was always read out, in its entirety, at the beginning of the hearing. Most captives were offered an opportunity to hear the factors read out, one at a time, so they would have an opportunity to respond to each in turn.

Some captive's transcript recorded the factors, and the captive's responses, but did not record the headings, sub-headings or sequential numbering.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

• The detainee was captured on 1 June 2003, along with four others, one of whom was a Saudi ^[sic] whose mission was to photograph Chapman and Balerno Bases for possible future attacks.
• In late March 2003, Abu Laith al-Libi, an al Qaida facilitator, planned and coordinated a foiled reconnaissance mission to film the Salerno forward operating base and the villages surrounding the city of Khowst, Afghanistan.
• Al-Libi is the al Qaida southern Afghanistan regional commander. He is responsible for operations in the areas of Khowst, Paktia andh Ghanzni Provinces, to include Miran Shah, Pakistan ^[sic] . Al-Libi is a Libyan who specializes in explosive devices and guerilla warfare.
• The detainee had been provided with a Kalashnikov rifle, ammunition, and a military cargo belt.
• On the evening of 28 May 2003, al-Libi's group met with Abdul Rakhman and a student recruited from the Nazamia Madrassa at a house in the mountains near Naurak, Pakistan. The plan was for Rakhman to take the members of the team to Khowst, Afghanistan, so that they could film the airfield.
• Abdul Rakhman is a known Arab al Qaida member who has been reported to operate in the Shahi Kowt area.
• The Nazamia Madrassa has been previously reported on for its affiliations with Afghanistan Ant-Coalition Militia. In March of 2003, this Madrassa was reported as being used by al Qaida, Taliban, and HIG personnel for training. It was cited as having been frequently visited by [[Jalaluddin Haqqanni] in 2002. Reports also indicate personnel from Nazamia Madrassa were, in the past, sent across the Afghan-Pakistan boarder ^[sic] to collect intelligence on United States and coalition forces in Khowst Province.
• Gulbuddin Hikmatyar founded HIG as a faction of the Hizb-Islami party in 1977, and it was one of the major Mujahadin groups in the war against the Soviets. HIG has long established ties with Usama Bin Laden. HIG has staged small attacks in its attempt to force United States troops to withdraw from Afghanistan, overthrow the Afghan government, and establish a fundamentalist state.
• Jalaluddin Haqqani is the former Taliban Minister of Tribal Affairs and personal friend of Usama Bin Laden.
• On the afternoon of 1 June 2003, three men, not including the detainee, were asking people in the village of Kondee, which is east of Salerno, where Salerno is located. One of the men they asked was an Afghan Militia Force soldier. He did not answer them, but made his way to Salerno to inform his superiors.
• When he arrived at the burial ground near Salerno, Rakhman took the camera to being filming. Shortly thereafter, shots rang out.
• When the AMF moved towards Kondee to investigate the three men asking questions about Salerno, the three men began firing on the AMF with AK-47s. All three were apprehended after a short firefight.
• The three men were brought to Salerno for questioning. They had one AK-47, one pistol, one ICOM radio turned to the Salerno security frequency, one set of binoculars, eight hand grenades, one small video camera. The men stated that there was another man neat the Lakan Madrassa.
• The AMF arrested two more men at the Madrassa with two AK-47s, bayonets, one set of binoculars, and a spare videocasette for the video camera. The detainee was one of the two men captured at the compound. The detainee was identified as someone who shot an AMF soldier in March.

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

• The detainee stated he supports the new Afghani governmnet and fully believes America's presence with Afghanistan ^[sic] is important to achieving peace within his country.
• The detainee claims he is not presently, nor has he ever been affiliated with al Qaida.

[edit] Testimony

[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. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mahbub Rahman'sCombatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 93-108
6. ^ Pentagon reveals Guantanamo names, BBC, March 4, 2006
7. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Mahbub Rahman's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 90