Muhamad Naji Subhi Al Juhani

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There are multiple individuals named some variation of Muhammad al-Juhani.
Muhamad Naji Subhi Al Juhani
Born: October 5, 1967(1967-10-05)
Jeddah Saudi Arabia
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 62
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention

Muhamad Naji Subhi Al Juhani is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 062. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report he was born on October 5, 1967, in Jeddah Saudi Arabia.

JTF-GTMO analysts report captive 62 was captured with a group of men who were identified as Osama bin Laden bodyguards.[2]

Although all Guantanamo captives who haven't been charged, or cleared for release, are supposed to have their continued detention reviewed, there is no record that a hearing convened to review captive 62's status in 2005.[3][4]

The record shows that the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for the 2006 annual Administrative Review Board hearing, to determine whether the USA should continue to be held in Guantanamo was drafted a month after he was repatriated to Saudi Arabia.[2][5][6]

Contents

[edit] Identity

Captive 62 was identified inconsistently on official Department of Defense documents:

[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.[8][9] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[10]
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.[citation needed] This policy was challenged before the Judicial branch. Critics argued that the USA could not evade its obligation to conduct a 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] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Muhamad Naji Subhi Al Juhani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 22 September 2004.[7] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is a member of Taliban and al Qaida:
  1. Detainee was influenced by Fatwas issued to travel to Afghanistan and take up the Jihad.
  2. Detainee traveled in June of 2000 from Saudi Arabia to Kabul, Afghanistan.
  3. Detainee was a member of Al Irata, Mujahadin fighters.
  4. Detainee was a bodyguard for Usama bin Laden.
  5. Detainee was taking [sic] into custody in December 2001 while trying to cross into Pakistan from Afghanistan.
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.
  1. Detainee was a fighter in Tora Bora.
  2. Detainee may have been a fighter on the frontlines in Kabul.

[edit] Transcript

Al Juhani chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[11]

[edit] Testimony

Al Juhani denied all the allegations against him. During most Tribunals the allegations against the detainee are read aloud, and included in the transcript. The allegations against Al Juhani were not included in the transcript.

Al Juhani did not make an opening statement. The Tribunal's President confirmed that Al Juhani opted not to make an opening statement. The transcript records:

Al Juhani: I have nothing to say. All of this information is incorrect.
President: The Tribunal [sic] President confirmed that the Detainee didn't wish to make statement [sic] .
Al Juhani: There is no reason for me even to be here.
President: The Tribunal [sic] President assured the Detainee that he was welcome in Tribunal [sic] whether he made a statement or not. She went on to state that the Personal Representative, Recorder, and the Tribunal Members may have questions for the detainee. The detainee was then asked if he would be willing to answer questions if asked.
Al Juhani: I have no problem with that, as long as it's not a question that has been answered before.
President: The Tribunal [sic] President explained that the Tribunal had only seen the Unclassified Summary. Therefore, there was no way to know if the any [sic] questions that may be posed were redundant or not.
Al Juhani: If you want to find out about a question, get my file and get all the questions.

Neither of the other two Tribunal members had any questions for Al Juhani, neither did the Recorder, or Personal Representative. The Tribunal's President asked Al Juhani four questions. He answered the first three, confirming that he traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan, in order to teach the Koran.

President's fourth question Did you have a place to do that? Did you already contact the mosque or something [sic] where you were going to teach?
Al Juhani: All these questions are in my files. Go back to the file and read the file.

After this fourth question the Tribunal's President gave Al Juhani one last chance to speak for himself, and then terminated the open session of the Tribunal.

Note: The Tribunals did not have access to the detainee's interrogation files. When the open session of the Tribunal, open to the detainee, and to the occasional invited journalist, was over, the Tribunals re-convened in closed session, where they were presented with the classified evidence and allegations. But even then they were not given access to the detainee's interrogation files, only to summaries prepared from them.

[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".[12]

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.[3] 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.

[edit] First annual Administrative Review Board

There is no record that a Board convened to consider captive 62's status in 2005.[4]

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Muhammed Al Juhani's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 17 August 2006.[2] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee claimed that he used his own money to pay for his travel from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan in June 2000. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan to perform Islamic missionary work after hearing several fatwas issued by Imams in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
  2. A source identified the detainee as one of 30 men who were Usama bin Laden bodyguards and drivers.
  3. A source identified the detainee as one who visited Kabul, Afghanistan for approximately two weeks between fighting on the front lines.
  4. A senior al Qaida operative claimed that the detainee might have stayed at the Hamza al Ghamdi guest house in Kabul, Afghanistan. The source also stated that the detainee was seen on the front lines at Kabul, Afghanistan.
  5. An admitted jihadist identified the detainee as a Mujahedin fighter in Afghanistan and a member of al Wafa called [sic] al Irata [sic] . The source stated that the detainee taught the Koran, fought at Tora Bora, Afghanistan and was one of Usama bin Laden's bodyguards.
b. Connections/Associations
The detainee's name was found on a chart listing the names of captured Mujahedin. The information was found on a hard drive associated with a senior al Qaida operative.
c. Other Relevant Data
  1. The detainee departed Kabul, Afghanistan and spent eight days traveling by foot with a group of about thirty men headed to Pakistan.
  2. Ine December 2001, the detainee was arrested with a group of thirty men at the Pakistan border.
  3. The Pakistani warden in the prison told the jihadists to say they were in Afghanistan to teach the Koran or for religious studies.

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

a.

The detainee claimed that he did not attend any training camps or swear bayat to anyone. He claimed that he never participated in any type of military training or combat.
b.

The detainee stated he was not part of the Taliban or al Qaida.
c.

The detainee stated if given the opportunity he would return to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, pick up his life where he left off, and return to driving a taxi.
d.

The detainee said he would return to his family in Saudi Arabia if released.

[edit] Repatriation

A Saudi captive named Muhammad al Jihani was one of sixteen captives repatriated on July 16, 2006.[5][6]

Andy Worthington, the author of The Guantanamo Files: The Stories of the 774 Detainees in America's Illegal Prison, described him as a Koran teacher.[6] He offered a quote from Al Juhani's Combatant Status Review Tribuanl transcript, characterizing his replies to his questioning as "grumpy":

Q "Did you have a place to do that? Did you already contact the mosque or something where you were going to teach?"
A "All these questions are in my files. Go back to the file and read the file."

[edit] References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c d OARDEC (17 August 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Juhani, Muhammed pages 25-26. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
  3. ^ a b Army Sgt. Sarah Stannard. "OARDEC provides recommendations to Deputy Secretary of Defense", JTF Guantanamo Public Affairs, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-26. 
  4. ^ a b OARDEC (August 9, 2007). Index to Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round One. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  5. ^ a b Raid Qusti. "More Gitmo Detainees Come Home", Arab News, July 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-07-17. 
  6. ^ a b c Andy Worthington. "Who are the 16 Saudis Released From Guantánamo?", Huffington Post, July 18, 2007. 
  7. ^ a b OARDEC (22 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Juhani, Muhamad Naji Subhi page 76. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-01-19.
  8. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  9. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Muhamad Naji Subhi Al Juhani's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 29-30
  12. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.