Sabar Lal Melma

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Sabar Lal Melma is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] Sabar Lal Melma's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 801. American intelligence analysts estimate that Sabar Lal Melma was born in 1962, Darya-e-Pech, Afghanistan.

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. 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.[2][3] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[4]
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 a competent tribunal 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.

Sabar Lal Melma chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[5]

[edit] Allegations

The allegations Saber Lal Melma faced during his Tribunal were:

a. -- The general summary of the allegations that establish an association with terrorism were missing from the transcript. --
  1. The detainee aided al Qaida members in their escape from coalition forces.
  2. The detainee had bodyguards.
  3. The detainee called for a jihad against the United States.
  4. The detainee assisted in the escape of Usama Bin Laden from Tora Bora.
  5. The detainee was one of Usama Bin Laden's commanders during the Soviet jihad.
  6. The detainee collaborated with regional al Qaida leadership.
b. -- The general summary of the allegations of hostile activity were missing from the transcript. --
  1. The detainee coordinated a rocket attack against United States forces.

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • Saber denied aiding al Qaida. Rather, he said, he had fought against the Taliban for six years.
  • Saber was initially confused by the term "personal bodyguard". He said that the troops he commanded during his fight against the Taliban grew to be over 600 men. When bodyguard was explained to him as men who accompanied him to preserve his safety he acknowledged he had a personal staff of six men.
  • Saber denied calling for a jihad against the United States. Rather, the USA were his ally in his fight against the Taliban. He had shared meals with them, and fought beside them.
  • Saber repeated that the Taliban and al Qaida were his enemies.
  • Saber acknowledged fighting against the Soviet occupiers. But he was just a youth, not a commander. And he did not serve under Osama bin Laden. He said the first time he heard of Osama bin Laden's name was in a news report following al Qaedaa's bombing of the American embassies in Africa in the late 1990s.[6]
  • Saber denied collaborating with regional al Qaida leaders. He repeated that, during the Taliban regime, he fought the Taliban and al Qaida from a mountain hideout, as an anti-Taliban guerilla. That is why Hamid Karzai had rewarded him with a battalion sized command.
  • Saber denied any involvement in any attacks against his American allies.

[edit] Witness request

Saber requested the testimony of three witnesses:

All three agreed to testify. New rules prevented Saber being able to question Rohullah Wakil in person.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

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.

Sabar Lal Melma chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[7]

[edit] Factors for and against continued detention

  • The detainee is a Brigadier General in the Afghan military. He is suspected of assisting al Qaeda members to escape from Tora Bora into Pakistan. He was a commander of 600 border security troops in Konar, Afghanistan.
  • The detainee is a member of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al-Qurani Wasouna [sic] (JDQ).
  • The detainee has met with Haji Rohullah, leader of Jamiat-e-Dawa-el-al Qurani Wasouna [sic] , and Loya Jirga, representative for the Konar region, on numerous occasions.
  • Jamiat-ul-Dawa-ul-Qurani [sic] , an Islamic extremist group with ties to the Pakistani Inter-Service Intelligence Directorate, consisted of Afghan refugees from camps in the Peshawar area. This organization supported the continued war in Kashmir.
  • The detainee’s military service includes being appointed the title of Brigadier General due to his experience fighting against the Soviet Union and the Taliban.
  • During the fight against the Taliban, the detainee was Nasruldeen’s commander. Nasruldeen was allegedly responsible for attacks on government and coalition entities.
  • The detainee knew Faquirullah. He knew Faquirullah was possibly involved with the Jam’ at Islami, was a high level commander for the Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin (HIG), and a dedicated Mujahideen.
  • HIG has long-established ties with Osama bin Ladin. In the early 1990s, it ran several terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and pioneered sending mercenary fighters to other Islamic conflicts. It offered shelter to Osama bin Ladin after the latter fled Sudan in 1996.
  • The detainee met Ali (NFT) twice in the Konar region, and twice in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. The detainee confirmed Ali was a member of the Hezb-e-Islami Khalis under Yunis Khalis.
  • Around 15-16 November 2001, nine Arabs, two of whom were wounded, fled Tora Bora for Konar Province, Afghanistan. The detainee assigned one of his leaders to personally handle the security for the Arabs.
  • The detainee arranged for the nine men to be transferred to his fort, where they awaited the arrival of Haji Rohullah. When he arrived, Rohullah provided the detainee with an unspecified amount of money and instructions to smuggle the Arabs in Pakistan. The Arabs’ weapons and the truck were given to the detainee as a reward.
  • The detainee denied having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11th and also denied having knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States.

[edit] Response to the factors

[edit] Response to Board questions

[edit] Release

Sabar Lal Melma was released in September 2007.[8]

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), 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. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Sabar Lal Melma's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 49-62
  6. ^ That is, almost a decade after the Soviets occupiers had been kicked out of Afghanistan.
  7. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Sabar Lal Melma's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 248 - August 10, 2005
  8. ^ Andy Worthington. "Eight More Wrongly Imprisoned Men are Quietly Released: The Anonymous Victims of Guantánamo", =Counterpunch, October 5, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-06.