Mohammed Hashim
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| Mohammed Hashim | |
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| Born: | 1976 (age 31–32) Kandahar, Afghanistan |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo |
| ID number: | 850 |
| Conviction(s): | spying, launching rockets |
| Status | Faces charges before a military commission. |
Mohammed Hashim is a Kuchi nomad from Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1]
He was formally charged in June 2008, and faces the death penalty, accused of war crimes, at the Guantanamo military commissions on charges that he spied on American troops and prepared to launch a rocket attack.[2] He claims to have helped Osama bin Laden escape from Afghanistan and was also charged with "providing material support for terrorism", but critics have suggested he is either delusional or exaggerating.
He claims that he does not harbour any hate or idealogues opposed to Americans, and had joined the Afghan military under Taliban rule five years earlier simply because he needed a job.[3]
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[edit] Life
Hashim lived with his parents, as their only unmarried child, while his two sisters had each married. He joined the Taliban military because he needed the money, and fought at the battles of Konduz and Mazar-e-Sharif prior to the 2001 US Invasion of Afghanistan.[3]
He later said that his work with Osama bin Laden's Arab volunteers meant that he heard discussion of 20 pilots about to fly planes into American buildings, including from the Northern Alliance enemy commmander Mohammed Khan who maintained ties with the group.[3]
He also claims to have been close to Abdul Razak, and prior to November 2001 drove to Jalalabad with Razak to pick up bin Laden and take him to the Pakistani border regions in a small convoy led by Hajji Zaher, and left him a Soviet jeep and a pick-up truck to cross the border himself.[3] Over the next month, Hashim says he visited Kabul, Meydan Shahr, Ghazni, Qalat and stopped in Kandahar for several days during Ramadan.[3] There, he was in a group of 40 people led by Abdul Wahed, with Razaq as his lieutenant, and Asmatullah, Haji Gader, Gul Ahmed and Jano Popalzai also present.[3] Here, he says he was asked to serve as a "spy" who would help import weapons from neighbouring countries.
His stories have been dismissed as "fantasy" by critics who allege he is either delusional or lying about his fantastic connections and actions.[4]
[edit] Capture and imprisonment
Hashim was captured by Afghan forces who found him unarmed measuring lengths near Mullah Muhammad Omar's residence and asking locals about security arrangements. He was accused plotting a ranged mortar or rocket attack, but was released. He was taken back into custody shortly afterwards, and turned over to American troops.[3]
[edit] Combatant Status Review
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".
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". Mohammed Hashim among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[5]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Mohammed Hashim's memo accused him of the following: [3]
Hashim agreed that he had helped bin Laden escape American pursuers, and did not dispute any of the unclassified evidence against him, but stressed that it was just a paying job for him and he didn't fight for any ideologies. He concluded the unclassified session of his Tribunal with the comment:
Now that I've seen Americans, they are nice people. The people used to give us lectures that America was bad, but I never listened to them because I was just there to make money.
[edit] Administrative Review Board
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.
In September 2007 the Department of Defense released all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 or 2006.[7][8] There was no record that an ARB had been convened to review his detention.
[edit] References
- ^ 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.
- ^ Melia, Michael, Miami Herald Chief Gitmo judge defends tribunals, June 2 2008
- ^ a b c d e f g h Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mohammed Hashim's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 17-19
- ^ Worthington, Andy, "Afghan Fantasist to Face Trial at Guantanamo", June 4, 2008
- ^ 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
- ^ Book, Spc. Timothy. The Wire (JTF-GTMO), "Review process unprecedented", March 10, 2006
- ^ OARDEC, Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One, August 9, 2007
- ^ OARDEC, Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two, July 17, 2007
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