Saleh Ali Jaid Al Khathami

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Saleh Ali Jaid Al Khathami is a citizen of Saudi Arabia, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 191. American intelligence analysts estimate he was born in 1981, in Dharan [sic] , 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. 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 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 Saleh Ali Jaid Al Khathami's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 1 October 2004.[5] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

a. The detainee is an al Qaida operative:
  1. The detainee traveled from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan via Pakistan.
  2. The detainee stayed for one week in a known safe house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee stayed at Nejim Al-Jihad, a known terrorist organization housing compound owned by Usama Bin Ladin [sic] .
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition:
  1. The detainee received small arms training at the al Farouq training camp.
  2. The detainee was listed on a computer hard drive used by suspected al Qaida members captured by Allied personnel in a suspected al Qaida safehouse in Pakistan.

[edit] Transcript

Al Khathami chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6]


[edit] Testimony

Al Khathami acknowledged traveling to Afghanistan. He stated that the purpose of his travel was to teach the Koran. He traveled as an individual, not as a member of any organization.

Al Khathami denied ever passing through or staying in Jalalabad. He had to have the term "safe house" explained to him. He denied staying in any safe houses. He said he always stayed with Afghans, that he didn't interact with any other Arabs during his travels.

Al Khathami said he might have falsely confessed to other things during his time in Pakistani custody. If so he recanted any such false confession, because the Pakistanis had tortured him.

Al Khathami denied staying at Nejim Al-Jihad. He had never heard of this place.

Al Khathami denied receiving small arms training at al Farooq, and said he didn't know where al Farouq was.

Al Khathami said he had no knowledge of this hard drive his name was said to be found on. He pointed out how similar Arabic names were, and how many Arabs have the same name.

When the Tribunal President started asking him questions Al Khathami said he preferred to wait to answer question when he was in a real court.

[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".[7]

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 Saleh Ali Jaid Al Khathami's Administrative Review Board, 8 September 2005.[8] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment
  1. The detainee was persuaded by a Sheikh Abdullah Abdah Rahman Jabrin and a former Chechnya fighter to leave Saudi Arabia to train in Afghanistan and contact a Chechnya faciliatator in Jalalabad.
  2. Sheikh Abdullah Abdah Rahman Jabrin is from the detainee's hometown.
  3. The detainee was in the Ibin Taymia Mosque in Al-Jubay, Saudi Arabia when the Sheikh told him to go to Afghanistan through Karachi, Pakistan to meet with other Arabs to get his training.
  4. The detainee went to Afghanistan in order to train and fight.
  5. The detainee stayed for one week in a known safehouse in Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
  6. The detainee then became ill with Jaundice like symptoms and went to a house called Nejim Al-Jihad for rest.
  7. The Nejim Al-Jihad is an al Qaida terrorist organization housing compound owned by Usama Bin Laden that is located west of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Al Qaida members and their families occupy this compound.
  8. The detainee's name was listed on a document as one of seventy-six that were fighting with the Taliban against the Northern Alliance.
b. Training
  1. The detainee gave his money and Saudi passport to Abu Khalid in Kandahar in return for training at Camp Farouq. For two weeks the detainee received AK-47 Assault Rifle Training.
  2. The al Farouq Camp was located approximately on a four to five hour drive south of Kandahar, Afghanistan.
  3. The detainee also had training on the PK Machine Gun.
c. Other Relevant Data
  1. On 14 December 2001, the detainee with 83 other Mujahideen fighters was captured in the Nangarhar Province by the Pakistani Government.
  2. The detainee was captured with one bullet, 1,500 Pakistani rupees, a casette player and two batteries.
  3. Allied personnel raided a suspected al Qaida safehouse in Islamabad, Pakistan and recovered a computer hard drive that was used by suspected al Qaida members. The detainee's name was on the hard drive.
  4. The detainee's name and phone number were found on a 20 Giga-byte hard drive that listed the names of captured mujahideen. The hard drive was associated with a senior al Qaida member.
  5. The detainee's name was on a translated document listing 324 Arabic names, aliases and nationalities recovered from a safehouse raid associcated with suspected al Qaida in Karachi, Pakistan.
  6. The detainee's name was on an undated letter list of 68 probable al Qaida members incarcerated in Pakistan.
  7. The detainee stated that he spent four months in Afghanistan teaching the Koran and went to Afghanistan three months prior to the 9/11 attacks.

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

a.

The detainee changed his story about why he was in Afghanistan after he talked to the Saudi Delegation. The detainee now states that he traveled to Afghanistan to teach the Koran and did not go to fight with the Taliban as he previously stated.
b.

The detainee denies having any knowledge of the attacks in the United States prior to their execution on September 11 and also denied knowledge of any rumors or plans of future attacks on the United States or United States interests.
c.

The detainee stated if he returned to Sauda Arabia, he would live with his family and immediately seek a wife and then look for a job.

[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.[9][10] The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his transfer.

[edit] Repatriation

According to The Saudi Repatriates Report Al Khathami was one of five men repatriated on June 24, 2006.[11]

[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. ^ OARDEC (1 October 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Al Khathami, Saleh Ali Jaid Al Khathami pages 1-2. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  6. ^ OARDEC. "Summarized Unsworn Statement", United States Department of Defense, date redacted, pp. pages 1-4. Retrieved on 2007-12-09. 
  7. ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  8. ^ OARDEC (8 September 2005). Unclassified Summary of Evidence for Administrative Review Board in the case of Jaid Al Khathami, Saleh Ali pages 28-30. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  9. ^ OARDEC. Administrative Review Board assessment and recommendation ICO ISN 191 page 67. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  10. ^ OARDEC (3 October 2005). Classified Record of Proceedings and basis of Administrative Review Board recommendation for ISN 191 pages 68-74. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-09.
  11. ^ Anant Raut, Jill M. Friedman (March 19, 2007). The Saudi Repatriates Report. Retrieved on April 21, 2007.