Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al Harbi

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

here was at least one other Saudi named Mohamed Al Harbi detained in Guantanamo, Mohamed Abdullah Al Harbi.

Mohamed Atiq Awayd Al Harbi is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.^[1] His detainee ID number is 333. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born on July 13, 1973 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

1 Combatant Status Review Tribunal
- 1.1 allegations
- 1.2 testimony
2 Earned mention in the "No-hearing hearings" study
3 References

[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.

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

[edit] allegations

a The detainee is associated with al Qaida.

Originally from Saudi Arabia, the detainee traveled extensively with little or no means of support throughout the Middle East and former Soviet Union during the period from 1999-2000.
The detainee states that he traveled from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan in November 2001 to assist Afghani refugees.
The detainee was arrested by Pakistan authorities at a checkpoint in the vicinity of Quetta, Pakistan.
The detainee’s name was found on a document recovered at a former residence of Osama Bin Laden in Kandahar, Afghanistan.

b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States or its coalition partners.

The detainee was a member of al Irata and a mujahadin fighter at Kandahar.

[edit] testimony

Al Harbi denied traveling extensively. He acknowledged a vacation in Turkey, a short trip to Georgia, and a trip to Kuwait. He expressed frustration with the inability of the recorder to produce his passport. He said his interrogators had his passport in their possession during many of his interrogation sessions. He asserted that the production of his passport would refute several of the allegations against him.

His passport, and the return portion of his ticket, would show that when he traveled to Pakistan in November 2001, he only planned to stay for eight days - which he suggested was far too short a time if he had planned to slip across the border to engage in hostilities. He said his November trip was in order to help ordinary Afghani refugees who had escaped from war-torn Afghanistan. He had not ansticipated that Pakistani authorities were arresting all Arabs, and selling them to the Americans for a bounty.

Further, he pointed out that the travels he was alleged to have taken between 1999 and 2000 were long before hostilities broke out between the USA and Afghanistan.

Concerning the allegation that his name was found on a document in Osama bin Laden’s former residence, he pointed out that his surname, Al Harbi, was shared with millions of other Saudis. He said he knew of two other Guantanamo detainees named Mohammed Al Harbi. He called this allegation meaningless.

During questioning Al Harbi offered more detail as to when he was shown his passport. FBI interrogators showed it to him in Pakistan The passport was shown to him again, in Bagram and Kandahar and Cuba, as recently as six months prior to his Tribunal.

The Tribunal’s President asked the Personal Representative to explain the inquiry he made to obtain the detainee’s passport and visa. He replied:

“There is an evidence room here in the camp and I went and checked the safe. The documents and money were not there. I asekd the evidence custodian if there were any other locations these things might be kept. He said it was possible that other agencies might have things at other locations, but in most cases, whatever made it to Guantanamo Bay was there."

One of the Tribunal members asked Al Harbi what Al Irata was. Al Harbi said he didn’t know. He had asked his Personal Representative what it was. And he didn’t know either. Neither did the Recorder.

One of the charities Al Harbi was in contact with in Pakistan was Jama’at al Talbligh.

[edit] Earned mention in the "No-hearing hearings" study

According to the study entitled, No-hearing hearings, Al Harbi was an example of a captive who was arbitrarily denied the opportunity to present exculpatory documents to his Tribunal.^[6]

The study quoted Al Harbi:

"It is important you find the notes on my visa and passport because they show I was there for 8 days and could not have been expected to go to Afghanistan and engage in hostilities against anyone."