Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair

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Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair
Born: 1978 (age 29–30)
Jurashi, Saudi Arabia
Released: authorized 5 August 2005
Citizenship Saudi Arabia
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 186
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status enemy combatant

Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair is a citizen of Saudi Arabia held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 186. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate he was born in 1978, in Jurashi, Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[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.
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]
Casio F91W, in daily alarm mode. The watch is currently set to ring an alarm, and flash its light, at 7:30am.
Casio F91W, in daily alarm mode. The watch is currently set to ring an alarm, and flash its light, at 7:30am.

Initially the Bush Presidency 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 Presidency's definition of an enemy combatant.

[edit] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 27 September 2004.[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. Detainee is associated with the Taliban and al Qaida.
  1. Detainee worked for Al-Ighatha Al-Islamiya, International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO).
  2. Detainee paid a known Taliban recruiter six to ten thousand PK Rubis [sic] to flee from Jalalabad to the AF/PK border.
  3. Detainee was captured with a Casio wristwatch typically used as a timing device to initiate an explosive charge.
  4. Detainee stayed approximately three months in a Taliban guesthouse in Jalalabad, AF.
  5. Detainee's name was listed on a computer hard drive associated with a known terrorist.
  6. The detainee's aliases also appeared on a list detailing mujahideen "trust" accounts found at al Qaida safe house in Pakistan. The list indicated that detainee's wallet and passport were being held in the "trust" account.

[edit] Transcript

There is no record that Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair participated 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".[6]

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] First annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 27 May 2005.[7] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Rashed Awad Khalaf Balkhair's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 7 August 2006.[8] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.[9]

[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.[10][11] The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his transfer on November 15, 2006.

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners, US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  3. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ OARDEC (27 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal - Balkhair, Rashed Awad Khalaf pages 94-95. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  6. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  7. ^ OARDEC (27 May 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Balkhair, Rashed Awad Khalaf pages 20-22. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
  8. ^ OARDEC (7 August 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Balkhair, Rashed Awad Khalaf pages 73-74. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-05.
  9. ^ The memo is three pages long. Page 2 was not released with the other two.
  10. ^ OARDEC (13 November 2006). Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 186 page 40. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.
  11. ^ OARDEC (15 August 2006). Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 186 pages 47-53. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-07.