Sahib Rohullah Wakil

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Sahib Rohullah Wakil
Born: 1962 (age 45–46)
Jalalabad, Afghanistan
Detained at: Guantanamo
ID number: 798
Conviction(s): no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status Repatriated May 2, 2008
There are multiple individuals named Haji Rohullah.

Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil is a citizen of Afghanistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 798. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1962, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Contents

[edit] Identity

Another Afghan known as Haji Rohullah is being held in the Bagram Theater detention facility.[2]

[edit] Background

Sahib Rohullah Wakil, a leader of the Wakil tribe, and a member of Afghanistan's legislature, the Loya Jirga, who was captured on Thursday August 22, 2002.[3][4] According to the New York Times the night before his capture Rohullah had attended a dinner to honor the newly appointed Governor, and had spoken about al Qaeda. According to the New York Times Rohullah had acknowledged it was "possible" al Qaeda was regrouping, but that he had his doubts. The article quoted Rohullah: "I told them, 'If there are Al Qaeda, tell us and we'll take care of them. It's been three months, and they haven't caught any Al Qaeda."

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed 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 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.[5] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[6]

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] Summary of Evidence memo

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Sahib Rohullah Wakil's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 25 October 2004.[7] The memo listed the following allegations against him: Haji Sahib Rohullah Wakil

The detainee is associated with the Taliban and al Qaida forces;
  1. The detainee is an Afghanistan citizen who is a high-ranking member of Jama' AT UL Dawa AL Qurani [sic] (JDQ).
  2. Jama' AT UL Dawa AL Qurani [sic] (JDQ) is an Islamic extremist group operating in Pakistan, which received funds from Non-Governmental Organizations located throughout the Middle East.
  3. The detainee received a permit from a Pakistani government official that allowed vehicle convoys to transport food and blankets between the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders in 2001.
  4. The detainee helped al Qaida members escape into Pakistan.

[edit] Transcript

Wakil chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[8] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[9]

[edit] Witness requests

Rohullah’s Tribunal’s President informed him that attempts to contact his nine witnesses, through the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan failed. Rohullah said that it should have taken just a few days to locate his witnesses, because they were all important, well-known men. So he was surprised that the USA hadn’t been able to find them given one whole month.

Rohullah was informed that the policy was that the witnesses could only be approached through their governments. The fifth Denbeaux study, the “No-hearing hearings” documents that none of the Guantanamo captive’s requests for an off-Island witness succeeded, even when those witnesses were US government employees.

[edit] Evidence requests

Rohullah was told that his request for his notebook could not be satisfied, because it could not be found. Rohullah told his Tribunal he was surprised at this too, as his interrogators routinely had his notebook in their possession during his interrogations.

Main article: Guantanamo evidence requests

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • Rohullah confirmed he was a member of Jama' AT UL Dawa AL Qurani JDQ .

[edit] Witness for Sabar Lal Melma

Another Guantanamo captive, Sabar Lal Melma, requested the testimony of three witnesses, including a Rohullah Wakil.[10] He was told that new rules prohibited Rohullah Wakil testifying 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.

Wakil chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[11]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee is a member of the Jamaat al Dawa al Quran [sic] .
  2. The detainee was actively involved in two Jamaat al Dawa al Quran training camps.
  3. The detainee attended a meeting with a Foreign Government Agency to develop a plan to conduct double agent operations against the United States.
  4. A Foreign Government Agency provided the detainee money to hire a group of men to fire a rocket from the Marawara [sic] region of Konar in a U.S. compound near Asadabad.
  5. In December 2001, small groups of Arabs escaped from the Tora Bora and were initially resettled to the Konar Province village of Marah Warah [sic] . The detainee moved the Arabs for their safety.
  6. The detainee paid to have a radio antenna installed to facilitate the Arab’s communication.
  7. The detainee was responsible for members of the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin having access to a cache of light and heavy weapons in the Kamdesh district area.
b. Training
  1. The detainee knows how to use an AK-47, pistols and grenades.
c. Connections/Associations
  1. The detainee provided another man with money and instructions to smuggle the Arabs into Pakistan.
  2. The detainee is a member of an alliance between the Taliban, Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, and Wahhabi to coordinate efforts to drive U.S. Forces from Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee received weapons and supplies from al Qaida through the Nawa Pass.
d. Other Relevant Data
  1. The detainee stated that the Jamaat al Dawa al Quran is a small organization interested in helping the Afghani people rebuild their lives. The original purpose of the Jamaat al Dawa al Quran was to repel the Russians from Afghanistan.
  2. The detainee stated that he no longer fights and the Jamaat al Dawa al Quran does not represent his beliefs in any manner.
  3. The detainee traveled to the United Arab Emirates ten times from 1996 to 2002.

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

a. The detainee fought jihad against the Russians and fought against the Taliban and al Qaida at Tora Bora.
b. The detainee supported the Northern Alliance in their efforts to defeat the Taliban, al Qaida, and Usama Bin Laden.
c. In 1997 or 1998, the detainee traveled to Mazar–e-Sharif [sic] to visit with Massoud.
d. The detainee traveled twice to Tajikistan in 1998 in connection with Masood and the Northern Alliance.
e. The detainee traveled to Cyprus three times in 1999 to attend international conferences organized by influential expatriate Afghans to increase resistance to the Taliban.
f. The detainee states that he never worked with the Arabs or against the Americans.

[edit] Testimony

[edit] Repatriation

On May 1, 2008 nine Guantanamo captives were repatriated.[12][13][14] The identity of the three Sudanese captives, and the sole Tunisian were made public on the day of their repatriation. The identity of the five Afghans did not immediately become public.

By May 5, 2008 it had become public that a captive named "Haji Rohullah" had been repatriated.[15] Peter M. Ryan, an attorney who had represented many Guantanamo captives, wrote that Rohullah had merely been transferred from US custody to Afghan custody `

Sami Al Hajj

[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. ^ Joe Palazzolo. "The New Gitmo: The Latest Legal Showdown Over Detainee Rights: Why Afghanistan is becoming the latest front in the legal showdown over detainee rights", Legal Times, October 29]], 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. 
  3. ^ "US forces arrest five Afghans", BBC, Saturday, 24 August 2002. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. 
  4. ^ Ian Fisher, John F. Burns. "U.S. troops focus on border's caves to seek bin Laden", New York Times, August 28, 2002. Retrieved on 2007-10-31. 
  5. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ OARDEC (25 October 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Wakil, Haji Sahib Rohullah page 11. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  8. ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 16-25. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.
  9. ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15. 
  10. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Sabar Lal Melma's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 49-62
  11. ^ Summarized transcript (.pdf), from Sahib Rohullah Wakil's Administrative Review Board hearing - page 231
  12. ^ James Oliphant. "U.S. releases nine from Guantanamo", Chicago Tribune, May 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-06-02. 
  13. ^ "Sami al-Hajj hits out at US captors", Al Jazeera, May 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-02. 
  14. ^ "Amnesty International Urges the Bush Administration to Release or Provide Fair Trials to All Remaining Guantanamo Detainees", Amnesty International, May 2, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-02. 
  15. ^ Peter M. Ryan. "It's motto: "Oops."", Philadelphia Inquirer, May 5, 2008. Retrieved on 2008-05-08.