The Faisalabad Three

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The Faisalabad Three is a term used to refer to three of the Guantanamo detainees facing charges before military commissions.^[1] Jabran Said bin al Qahtani, Sufyian Barhoumi and Ghassan Abdullah al Sharbi were captured in a safehouse in Faisalabad, Pakistan, together with approximately a dozen other suspects, including a senior member of the Al Qaeda leadership, Abu Zubaydah.^[2]

Abu Zubaydah is not detained in military custody. He is detained in an undisclosed location. He is believed to have traveled surrounded by an entourage of aides and bodyguards.

Barhoumi, al Qahtani, and al Sharbi have all tried to decline legal representation.

Abdul Zahir, the tenth Guantanamo detainee to face charges, was also captured in that Faisalabad safehouse. But he had denied being part of Abu Zubaydah's entourage, and he was cooperative during his interrogations and Combatant Status Review Tribunal..

Faisalabad is the home of Salafi University, a religious institution, supported by donations, that provides free room and board to international students. Many of these international students have been captured on suspicion of being tied to terrorism.

[edit] Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ruling and the Military Commissions Act

In the summer of 2006 the United States Supreme Court ruled that the United States President lacked the constitutional authority to set up military commissions. The Supreme Court ruled that only the United States Congress had the authority to set up military commissions. All ten captives who had faced charges before the Presidentially authorized military commissions had those charges dropped.

In the fall of 2006 Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which authorized commissions similar to those President George W. Bush had tried to set up. Just three captives faced charges before the new, Congressionally authorized military commissions.

However, in 2008, the Office of Military Commissions started to accelerate the pace at which charges were laid. Over a dozen captives who had not been charged before the Presidentially authorized commissions were charged before the Congressionally authorized commissions. Subsequently the Office of Military Commissions started to re-charge the captives who had been faced charges during the Presidentially authorized commissions.