Nawwaf Fahd Humood Al-Otaibi

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Nawaf Fahad Al Otaibi (born July 1, 1972, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia) is a citizen of Saudi Arabia who was held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His detainee ID number is 501.

Contents

[edit] Identity

The official documents from the US Department of Defense, and from the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington DC transliterate Al Otaibi's name differently:

  • His name was transliterated as Nawaf Fahad Al Otaibi on the official lists of names released by the US Department of Defense.[1]
  • His name was transliterated as Nawaf bin Fahd Homoud Al-Otaibi on the press releases from Saudi officials, when he was repatriated on May 19, 2006.[2]

[edit] Detained in adult custody, even though he was a minor

On June 15, 2005 Human Rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith identified Al Otaibi as one of a dozen teenage boys held in the adult portion of the prison. [3] According to Smith Al Otaibi was born in November 1987. Smith observed that official US documents referred to his dozen minors solely by their initials, because US law prohibit identifying minors. Official documents referred to Al Otaibi as NAO.

Main article: minors detained in the global war on terror

Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts report that he was born on November 7, 1972, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.[1]

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive.
Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive.

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 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 Nawaf Fahad Al Otaibi's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 24 September 2004.[4] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

The detainee is associated with the Taliban and al Qaida:
  1. The detainee traveled from his home in Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan in June 2001.
  2. The detainee stayed at a Taliban house while in route [sic] to Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee went to Afghanistan for the specific purpose of obtaining training at an al Qaida training camp.
  4. The detainee was identified as possibly having stayed in a Taliban guesthouse.
  5. The detainee's name was listed on a file seized from an al Qaida safehouse.

[edit] Transcript

There is no record that Al Otaibi chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

[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".[5]

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.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Nawaf Fahad Al Otaibi's Administrative Review Board, on 11 February 2005. The Department of Defense released multiple versions of this file in March 2006 and September 2007. On March 3, 2006.[6][7] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Training
  1. The detainee traveled to Afghanistan to train at a Libyan camp.
b. Connection/Associations [sic]
  1. The detainee stayed at a Taliban house while in route [sic] to Afghanistan.
  2. The detainee was identified as being captured in Tora Bora.
  3. The detainee's name was listed on a file seized from an al Qaida safehouse.
c. Intent
  1. The detainee traveled from his home in Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan in June 2001.

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

  • The detainee stated that if given the opportunity he would return to Saudi Arabia to reside with his family members and seek employment as a school teacher.
  • The detainee stated that while he was in Afghanistan, he did not receive any training and never possessed a weapon.

[edit] Transcript

Captive 501's Board convened on February 24, 2005.[8] Captive 501 did not attend the Board. His Assisting Military Officer told his Board that captive 501 was "primarily non-communicative" and "unresponsive other than declining to appear and participate".

The Department of Defense did not release the transcript from the unclassified session of his Board hearing.

[edit] Board recommendations

In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.[8][9] The Board's recommendation was unanimous. The memos were so heavily redacted that the recommendation was unclear.

The Board relied on intelligence assessments from the FBI, the CIA, the State Department, and the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs.

[edit] Repatriation

The Saudi embassy announced that a Saudi named Nawaf bin Fahd Homoud Al-Otaibi was one of fifteen Guantanamo captives repatriated to Saudi Arabia on May 19, 2006.[2][10]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ a b Saudi detainees at Guantanamo returned to the Kingdom; names given. Royal Saudi Embassy Washington DC (May 19, 2006). Retrieved on March 7, 2007.
  3. ^ The Kids of Guantanamo Bay, Cageprisoners, June 15, 2006
  4. ^ OARDEC (24 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Otaibi, Nawaf Fahad page 28. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
  5. ^ (Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  6. ^ OARDEC (11 February 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of pages 86-87. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
  7. ^ OARDEC (11 February 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Otaibi, Nawaf Fahad pages 86-87. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
  8. ^ a b OARDEC (26 April 2005). Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 501. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
  9. ^ OARDEC. Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 501. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-11-20.
  10. ^ Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman (March 19, 2007). The Saudi Repatriates Report. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.