Mosa Zi Zemmori

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Mosa Zi Zemmori
Born: August 3, 1978 (1978-08-03)
Wilrijk, Belgium
Citizenship Belgian
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 270
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status enemy combatant
Casio F91W, worn by over a dozen detainees who were captured wearing the exact same model.
Casio F91W, worn by over a dozen detainees who were captured wearing the exact same model.

Mosa Zi Zemmori (born 3 August 1978) is a Belgian citizen who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] Born in in Wilrijk, Belgium, Mosa Zi Zemmori's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 270. [2]

Contents

[edit] Captured wearing a Casio F91W digital watch

Zemmori was detained, in part, because he was one of over a dozen detainees who were captured wearing a Casio digital watch.

[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. Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed. 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.
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.[3][4] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[5]
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.

[edit] Allegations

During the winter and spring of 2005 the Department of Defense complied with a Freedom of Information Act request, and released five files that contained 507 memoranda which each summarized the allegations against a single detainee. These memos, entitled "Summary of Evidence" were prepared for the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's names and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of these memos, when they were first released in 2005. But some of them contain notations in pen. 169 of the memos bear a hand-written notation specifying the detainee's ID number. One of the memos had a notation specifying Mosa Zi Zemmori's detainee ID.[6] The allegations he would have faced, during his Tribunal, were:

a. The detainee is a member of a terrorist organization that was supported by al Qaida and the Taliban and participated in military operations against the United States or its coalition partners:
  1. In October 2000, the detainee left Belgium for Afghanistan, traveling through Iran.
  2. The detainee was a member of the Theological Commission of the GICM.
  3. The GCIM is associated with and supported by other known terrorist groups, including the: Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), Hizb-E Islami Gulbuddin [sic] (HIG), al Qaida, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), Egyptian National Tarouat Salah, the Taliban, and the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
  4. The GICM allies itself with al Qaida and has supplied personnel for al Qaida for operations abroad.
  5. The GICM, with assistance from al Qaida, planned to carry out attacks against U.S. citizens in foreign countries.
  6. Members of the GICM trained in an area between Kabul and the front lines against the Northern Alliance, where they fired AK-47 rifles.
  7. The detainee wanted to go to a military training camp in Afghanistan, but was unable to due to malaria.
  8. At the time of his capture, the detainee possessed a letter from a known member of al Qaida that contained a hand-written quote from Osama bin Laden, when roughly translated said, "Destroy their economy, crash their planes, and kill them wherever you find them, at land, sea and air."
  9. When captured, the detainee had a Casio watch.
  10. The Casio watch has been incorporated into improvised explosive devices that have been linked to al Qaida and radical-Islamic terrorist [sic] .
  11. The detainee was apprehended after crossing the Pakistan border, just East of Jalalabad.

[edit] Transcript

Zemmori chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[7]

[edit] Zemmori's Response to the allegations

Zemmori expressed confusion at various points during his Tribunal.

Detainee: That is not right. What is right is what is in my file; [that is] what I said to interrogators.
Tribunal President: Let me just interject here one minute, and make sure you understand: this Tribunal panel has not seen any information about you until today with this Unclassified Summary of Evidence and Detainee Election Form. We've come here with an open mind and have not seen your file; it is to your benefit to provide additional information.
Detainee: I understand, but you can ask for my file if you want.
Tribunal President: All right, if you prefer that, it can be done that way.

Zemmori denied any knowledge of terrorist organizations.

Zemmori denied any knowledge of the GICM. Zemmori said he didn't know what the GICM was, and no-one at the Tribunal could explain it to him.

The Tribunal recessed, so that the Recorder could go research a definition of the GICM. According to the Recorder: "The GICM stands for Group Islamiste Combatant Du Maroc; better translated as the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group."

When the allegation that he had wanted to attend a military training camp, but couldn't due to malaria was read to him, Zemmori responded:

"It's not right; this allegation is not right. I didn't train because I was sick with malaria. Somebody has called me to train, but not in a training camp. I didn't want to train because I was sick with malaria. The next reason is because he (someone else he heard of) killed himself by mistake. Because of this I didn't want to train, Your Highness.

Zemmori denied he was carrying a letter with a quote from bin Laden.

"It wasn't a letter first of all. Second, it wasn't meant for me. I was written in one book. It was in the book. This paper was an advertisement, and was not meant for me; it was just an advertisement Maybe you have this paper in America. Some people publish their opinion. This was one of the papers where people published their opinion. This was not mine. It was in a book. It was a book on how to read the Koran right, and this newspaper was in the book. I didn't know this paper was in this book.- Is there something else?"

Zemmori confirmed he was wearing a Casio watch when captured. Zemmori expressed confusion when the next allegation was read out to him. He didn't understand how his watch tied him to terrorism.

Zemmori disputed that he was captured after crossing the Pakistan border. He said he went directly to the Police Station, so they could take him to the Belgian Embassy, because he had no visa.

[edit] Zemmori's statement

Zemmori repeated that he was not a terrorist, and had no relationship with any terrorist group whatsoever.

[edit] Zemmori's response to questioning

Zemmori denied ever receiving any kind of military training.

Zemmori confirmed that he was a citizen of both Belgium and Morocco.

Zemmori denied that he had ever been in Afghanistan.

Q: What is your opinion of your groups like al Qaida and the Taliban? Do you have an opinion about them?
A: I don't know them.
Q: Do you have an opinion about the United States? It's OK to speak candidly.
A: I don't know the U.S. I am here at the Detainee camp. I have an opinion of the camp.
Q: What is your opinion?
A: Unjust; no human rights in this camp.
Q: Unjust?
A: Yes. I don't know about the United States.

Zemmori said he had lived all his life in Belgium, and knew nothing about Morocco.

Zemmori was asked why the camp authorities had issued him a tan colored uniform. (Compliant detainees had white uniforms. Non-compliant detainees wear orange uniforms.) Zemmori couldn't explain the significance of his tan uniform.

Zemmori confirmed that he visited the Derunta training camp. He said he visited because the person he was with wanted to visit.

Zemmori confirmed that he had been visited by both a Belgian delegation and a Moroccan delegation.

Zemmori said his Pakistani host was a businessman, a trader.

[edit] Khaki uniform

We noticed that the Detainees come here in different colors, some orange or white, and today you are wearing tan or beige or khaki. What is the significance of you wearing tan?

Main article: Guantanamo captive's uniforms

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".
Hearing room where Guantanamo captive's annual Administrative Review Board hearings convened for captives whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal had already determined they were an "enemy combatant".[8]

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.

On March 3, 2006, in partial compliance with Justice Jed Rakoff's court order, the US Department of Defense released new documents, revealing new details of the detainees detention. The factors for and against Zemmori's continued detention, summarized in preparation for his Administrative Review Board hearing were:[9]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. In October 2000, the detainee left Belgium for Afghanistan, traveling through Iran.
  2. The detainee wanted to go to a military training camp in Afghanistan, but was unable to due to malaria.
  3. When captured, the detainee had a Casio watch.
  4. The Casio watch has been incorporated into improvised explosive devices that have been linked to al Qaida and radical-Islamic terrorists.
  5. At the time of his capture, the detainee possessed a letter from a known member of al Qaida that contained a hand-written quote from Osama bin Laden; when roughly translated said, '"Destroy their economy, crush their planes, and kill them wherever you find them, at land, sea and air."
  6. The detainee was apprehended after crossing the Pakistan border, just east of Jalalabad.
b. Connection
  1. The detainee was a member of the Theological Commission of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (GICM).
  2. The GICM is associated with and supported by other known terrorist groups, including the: Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), Hizb-E Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), al Qaida, Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), Egyptian National Tarouat Salah, the Taliban, and the Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA).
  3. The GICM allies itself with al Qaida and has supplied personnel for al Qaida for operations abroad.
  4. The GICM, with assistance from al Qaida, planned to carry out attacks against U.S. citizens in foreign countries.
  5. Members of the GICM trained in an area between Kabul and the front lines against the Northern Alliance, where they fired AK-47 rifles.

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

a. CSRT
  1. The detainee denied any connection to the GICM during his CSRT.
  2. The detainee insists that the letter containing the hand-written quote from Osama bin Laden, that was in his possession during capture, was not intended for him, but was an advertisement from a newspaper.

[edit] Repatriation

A Belgian named "Moussa Zemmouri" was repatriated to Belgium on April 25 2005 along with Mesut Sen, onboard a Belgian airforce plane, to face the Belgian justice system.[10][11]

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ The Department of Defense reports that his date of birth is 3 August 1978, in Wilrijk, Belgium
  3. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  4. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ Summary of Evidence (.pdf) prepared for Mosa Zi Zemmori's Combatant Status Review Tribunals - November 22, 2004 page 209
  7. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Mosa Zi Zemmori's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 21-31
  8. ^ (Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", The Wire (JTF-GTMO), Friday March 10, 2006, pp. 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-12. 
  9. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Mosa Zi Zemmori Administrative Review Board - page 101
  10. ^ Belgians return from Guantanamo. Expatica Communications BV (www.expatica.com) (26 April 2005). Retrieved on 2008-04-26.
  11. ^ Michelle Shephard. "Canada is Khadr's 'only hope'", Toronto Star, April 30, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-30. "April 2005: Mesut Sen and Moussa Zemmouri released into Belgian custody."