Salam Abdullah Said

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Salam Abdullah Said is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] Said's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 126. The US Department of Defense reports that Said was born on February 13, 1981, in Tabokh, Saudi Arabia.

Contents

[edit] Identity

Captive 126 was named 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.[11][12] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.[13]
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 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 Muhammad Hussein Ali Hassan's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 28 September 2004.[14] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. Associations
  1. The detainee traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Pakistan in August 2001 to join the Jihad and fight with the Taliban.
  2. The detainee received 10 days of weapons training while in Kandahar.
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.
  1. The detainee joined the Taliban on the front line following training.
  2. The detainee was given a Kalashnikov when the front lines withdrew to Konduz.
  3. The detainee surrendered between Konduz and Mazar-e-Sharif [sic] .
  4. The detainee was sent to the Al-Janki prison [sic] in Mazar-e-Sharif [sic] , where he was present for the prison uprisings.

[edit] Transcript

Said chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[15]

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • In response to the allegation that he traveled to Afghanistan to participate in jihad captive 126 replied:

"I did not say I went there (Afghanistan) for the Jihad or to fight with the Taliban. I. went for the fatwa from the clergy to promote and search for things. I didn't hear of fatwa I read of fatwa calling for people going there to help people."

  • Captive 126 denied ever telling any interrogators that he received weapons training.
  • Captive 126 denied serving on the front lines or participating in hostilities.
  • Captive 126 acknowledged fleeing with other individuals, and acknowledged receiving an AK-47 during his flight. He said it was necessary to protect himself from robbers.
  • Captive 126 said he returned the AK-47 when he arrived safely in Konduz. He said he was arrested with regular people, and he was unarmed when he was captured.
  • Captive 126 acknowledged being present at the Al-Janki prison during the prison riot, but said he did not participate.

[edit] Response to Tribunal questions

  • Captive 126 stated that he had never been a member of any armed forces.
  • Captive 126 stated he traveled on his Saudi Arabia passport, and paid his own travel expenses.
  • Captive 126 stated he had many brothers, but none of them had traveled to Afghanistan.
  • When captive 126 was asked what kind of help the fatwa had recommened, he replied:

"Helping people because they were in need of help. I'm prepared to explain it further if you are prepared to listen. It's a lot of words. During the Afghan Jihad, everyone was helping the Jihad at that time. Even America was helping the Jihad. So after a while, there's fighting between the people there. So the picture to us was tainted and the reputation was not good. And after a while, there was fighting in Afghanistan and then the fighting started to slow down and people were united for one government. We had the sheiks and normal people started saying to us that there are people there who need your help and you should go help them. The situation was now better than it was before. So these are the reasons that caused me to go over there."

[edit] Salam Abdallah Said v. George W. Bush

A writ of habeas corpus was submitted on Salam Abdallah Said's behalf.[16] The Department of Defense released seventeen pages of unclassified documents arising from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal on May 24, 2006.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearings

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".[17]

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 Salam Abdullah Said's first annual Administrative Review Board, on 16 September 2005.[9] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] Second annual Administrative Review Board

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Salim Abdallah Said Al Bayahsh Al Shihri's second annual Administrative Review Board, on 23 May 2006.[10] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ OARDEC (26 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Bayahsh, Salim Abdallah Said page 37. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  3. ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index for Combatant Status Review Board unclassified summaries of evidence. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  4. ^ OARDEC (September 4, 2007). Index for testimony. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  5. ^ OARDEC (August 8, 2007). Index for CSRT Records Publicly Files in Guantanamo Detainee Cases. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index of Summaries of Detention-Release Factors for ARB Round Two. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
  8. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, April 20, 2006
  9. ^ a b OARDEC (16 September 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Said, Salam Abdullah pages 51-52. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  10. ^ a b OARDEC (23 May 2006). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Al Shihri, Salim Abdallah Said Al Bayahsh pages 1-2. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  11. ^ Guantánamo Prisoners Getting Their Day, but Hardly in Court, New York Times, November 11, 2004 - mirror
  12. ^ Inside the Guantánamo Bay hearings: Barbarian "Justice" dispensed by KGB-style "military tribunals", Financial Times, December 11, 2004
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ OARDEC (28 September 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Hassan, Muhammad Hussein Ali page 36. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  15. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Salam Abdullah Said's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 48-53
  16. ^ Salim Abdallah Said v. George W. Bush pages 38-55. United States Department of Defense (May 24, 2006). Retrieved on 2007-12-03.
  17. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.