Sobit Valikhonovich

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Sobit Valikhonovich is a citizen of Tajikistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo detainee ID number is 090. The US Department of Defense reports that he was born on November 13, 1969, in Itsfaratz, Tajikistan.

Contents

[edit] Combatant Status Review

CSRT notice read to a Guantanamo captive.
CSRT notice read to a Guantanamo captive.

Initially the Bush administration asserted they could withhold the protections of the Geneva Conventions from captives in the War on Terror, while critics argued the Conventions obligated the United States to conduct competent tribunals to determine the status of prisoners. Subsequently the Department of Defense instituted Combatant Status Review Tribunals, to determine whether the captives met the new definition of an "enemy combatant".

The trailer where CSRTs were convened.
The trailer where CSRTs were convened.

From July 2004 through March 2005, a CSRT was convened to make a determination whether each captive had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Sobit Valikhonovich among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[2]

A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Sobit Valikhonovich's memo accused him of the following: [3]

[edit] Allegations

During the winter and spring of 2005 the Department of Defense complied with a Freedom of Information Act request, and released five files that contained 507 memoranda which each summarized the allegations against a single detainee. These memos, entitled "Summary of Evidence" were prepared for the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's names and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of these memos, when they were first released in 2005. But some of them contain notations in pen. 169 of the memos bear a hand-written notation specifying the detainee's ID number. One of the memos had a notation specifying Sobit Valikhonovich's detainee ID.[4] The allegations Sobit Valikhonovich would have faced, during his Tribunal, were:

a. The detainee is a supporter of the Taliban and/or [sic] al-Qaida:
  1. The detainee was recruited by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) to work in Tolidara, Tajikistan.
  2. The State Department list the IMU as a foreign terrorist organization.
  3. The detainee was then transported by helicopter from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in January 2001.
  4. The detainee spent time at three (3) offices of the IMU while in Afghanistan.
  5. While in Afghanistan, the detainee received training on the Kalashnikov, and learned how to assemble and disassemble the rifle.
  6. The detainee admitted carrying a Kalashnikov rifle and standing guard duty in Afghanistan.
b. The detainee participated in military operations against the coalition.
  1. The detainee claims to be an IMU fighter who was expelled from Tajikistan, with other IMU members, by the Tajik government.
  2. After spending about nine (9) months in Afghanistan, the detainee was captured by General Dostum's Northern Alliance forces in November 01.

[edit] Response to the allegations

  • Valikonovich denied supporting the Taliban and al Qaeda.
  • Valikonovich acknowledged being recruited in Tolidara, Tajikistan, but testified that he thought he was being recruited to join the Tajik army.
  • Valikonovich testified that he and two other men were duped by a recruiter named Rostam.
  • Valikonovich testified he and his two companions were handed over to a recruiter named Zakir, who confiscated their passports and took them to Afghanistan by force.
  • Valikonovich testified he was unaware of any Uzbeks in Tajikistan.
  • Valikonovich testified he had never heard of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan until he arrived in Afghanistan.
  • Valikonovich acknowledged visiting three IMU offices; first in Konduz; then two days later in Kabul, where he first learned of the existence of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. The reason for his visit was to try and get his passport returned.
  • Valikonovich testified that after five months he found an opportunity to escape, and ran away to a madrassa. One of the teachers at the madrassa advised him to travel to Mazari Sharif first, if he wanted to get back to Tajikistan.
  • Valikonovich testified that he left the madrassa with another man who knew the way to Mazari Sharif, and spent three months traveling there, and trying to figure out a way to cross into Tajikistan.
  • Valikonovich testified that he was captured, by the Northern Alliance, in Mazari Sharif.
  • Valikonovich testified that he didn't learn how to assemble and disassemble the Kalashnikov in Afghanistan. He testified that it was compulsory for all tenth grade students in Tajikistan to attend a week of military training, and he was how to fire and maintain a Kalashnikov at that camp.
  • Valikonovich acknowledged that he carried a Kalashnikov while standing guard duty. But this guard duty was not performed for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan who kidnapped him. Rather he performed guard duty for his hosts at the madrassa who took him in and helped him when he was escaping from the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
  • Valikonovich testified that the Kalashnikov was the madrassa's weapon, not his. Further, "It was only for the security of the madrasa. They told us there were a lot of thieves around the madrasa, so it was just for safety and we never even held the Kalashnikov in our hands. It was hanging by the door."
  • Valikonovich denied that he had ever said he fought for the IMU, that he had ever fought against the USA, or that he was a part of the IMU.

[edit] Response to Tribunal questions

  • When he was asked about the men he was captured with Valikonovich testified that he was staying with three other men in Mazari Sharif. One was a doctor, he didn't know the other two. He was awoken by a knock, early in the morning. When he answered the door he was asked who he was. When he replied he was a Tajik he was taken into custody. He was whisked away so he didn't know if the other men were also captured.
  • Valikonovich testified that there were no fighters at the madrassa, all the students were young boys.
  • Valikonovich testified that he had never fought against the Northern Alliance prior to his capture. Prior to his capture he had never heard of the Northern Alliance.
  • Valikonovich testified that he had never been a member, or associated with, any political groups. He had never heard of al Qaida prior to his interrogations.

[edit] Testimony of Rukniddin Sharipov

Rukniddin Sharipov was another Tajik duped by a recruiter for the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

  • Rukniddin testified he had known Valikonovich since he was a child.
  • Rukniddin arrived in Afghanistan a day after Valikonovich. It was in Afghanistan he realized he had not been recruited by the Tajik army.
  • Rukniddin testified that he and Valikonovich spent about two weeks in Lajar, Tajikistan, receiving some cursory training, prior to being sent to Afghanistan. The base in Lajar was the last time he saw Valikonovich prior to seeing him again after his capture by the Northern Alliance.
  • Rukniddin testified that he and Valikonovich were imprisoned together in Afghanistan.
  • Rukniddin testified that most of his time in the camp in Lajar was spent collecting firewood.

[edit] Press reports

Canadian journalist, and former special assistant to US President George W. Bush, David Frum, published an article based on his own reading of the transcripts from the Combatant Status Review Tribunals, on November 11, 2006.[5] It was Frum who coined the term "Axis of evil" for use in a speech he wrote for Bush. Valikhonovich's transcript was one of the nine Frum briefly summarized. His comment on Valikhonovich was:

"A young Tajiki told the tribunal that he had attended a training camp at the suggestion of a man he met on a train. He did not know the man’s name. But he had never had any weapons training: He had spent his time carrying firewood."

Frum came to the conclusion that all nine of the men whose transcript he summarized had obviously lied.[5] He did not, however, state how he came to the conclusion they lied. His article concluded with the comment:

"But what’s the excuse of those in the West who succumb so easily to the deceptions of terrorists who cannot invent even half-way plausible lies?"

[edit] References

  1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
  2. ^ OARDEC, Index to Transcripts of Detainee Testimony and Documents Submitted by Detainees at Combatant Status Review Tribunals Held at Guantanamo Between July 2004 and March 2005, September 4, 2007
  3. ^ Summarized transcripts (.pdf), from Sobit Valikhonovich's Combatant Status Review Tribunal - pages 31-44
  4. ^ Summary of Evidence (.pdf) prepared for Sobit Valikhonovich's Combatant Status Review Tribunals - August 31, 2004 -page 187
  5. ^ a b David Frum. "Gitmo Annotated", National Review, November 11, 2006. Retrieved on April 23.