Yusef Abbas
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| Yusef Abbas | |
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| Born: | 1980 (age 27–28) Aksu, China |
| Detained at: | Guantanamo |
| Alias(s): | Abd Al Sabr Abd Al Hamid Uthman |
| ID number: | 275 |
| Conviction(s): | no charge, held in extrajudicial detention |
| Status | there is no record that he has been cleared for release, however, there is also no record any of the annual review hearings the DoD was obliged to hold have been convened. |
Yusef Abbas is a citizen of China held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 275. Joint Task Force Guantanamo counter-terrorism analysts estimate that Abbas was born in 1980, in Aksu, China.
Abbas is one of approximately two dozen detainees from the Uighur ethnic group.[2]
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[edit] Identity
His name has been transliterated into English text in several different ways over the years, including;
- Captive 275 was identified as Yusef Abbas in the Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO, drafted on October 30, 2004, on the Summary of Evidence memo prepared for his Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 3 November 2004, and on four official lists of captives' names.[1][3][4][5][6][7]
- Captive 275 was identified as Abd Al Sabr Abd Al Hamid Uthman in the Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO, drafted on October 30, 2004.[3]
- Captive 275 was identified as Adusupur on the detainee election form prepared when Abdal Razak Qadir requested his testimony on 16 October 2004.[8]
- Captive 275 was identified as Abdu Supur when he testified on behalf of Abdal Razak Qadir on 23 October 2004.[9]
He is one of approximately two dozen Uyghur detainees accused of membership in the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement.[2]
Documents released in response to the writ of habeas corpus Hassan Anvar v. George W. Bush contained a December 30 2004 memo which provided one-paragraph biographies of 22 Uyghur captives, and asserted they were all caught at an "ETIM training camp".[3]
The brief biography of Yusef Abbas stated:
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- Yusef Abbas is a 29-year-old Chinese citizen who is an ethnic Uighur [sic] from the town of Qarayar or Ghirak in Aksu or Gulja, Xinjiang province of China. He left the Peoples Republic of China in 2001, after being imprisoned twice, and traveled to Jalalabad Afghanistan via Kyrgyzistan and Pakistan. He was last interviewed in mid 2003. He has no reported incidents of violence in his discipline history. Abbas is suspected as being a probable member of the East Turkistan Islamic Movement (ETIM). He is suspected of having received training in an ETIM training camp in Afghanistan.
The document listed an alias for Yusuf Abbas -- "Abd Al Sabr Abd Al Hamid Uthman".
[edit] Combatant Status Review
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".
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". Yusef Abbas among the two-thirds of prisoners who chose to participate in their tribunals.[10]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal, listing the alleged facts that led to his detainment. Yusef Abbas's memo accused him of the following: [11][4]
- a. The detainee is a part of a force associated with al Qaida or the Taliban:
- The detainee traveled from China to Afghanistan via Kyrgystan [sic] and Pakistan in the summer of 2001.
- From approximately 01 August through 01 October 2001, the detainee attended the Uigher [sic] in the Tora Bora mountains where he received instruction in the Kalashnikov [sic] rifle.
- The detainee retreated from Tora Bora to Pakistan in late 2001, where he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.
- b. The detainee participated in military operations against the United States and it coalition partners.
- The detainee participated in the battle of Tora Bora.
- The detainee was wounded as a result of coalition bombing, and received medical treatment from the Taliban.
- The detainee from Tora Bora to Pakistan in late 2001, where he was arrested by Pakistani authorities.
On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published an eight page summarized transcripts from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[12]
[edit] Testimony
- Yusuf Abbas denied association with or membership in the Taliban.
- Yusuf Abbas pointed out that it was not illegal to travel from China to Afghanistan.
- Yusuf Abbas responded to the allegations about Tora Bora by denying knowing where Tora Bora was.
- Yusuf Abbas confirmed he received injuries during the US bombing, but denied receiving medical treatment from the Taliban. He said he received his medical treatment in an Afghan hospital.
Abbas gave a long explanation why he traveled to Afghanistan.
- Muslims suffer religious oppression in China.
- The Voice of America convinced him to leave.
- He thought his best destination would be to immigrate to the USA.
- It was difficult to get his travel documents, but they were legal.
- Abbas described arriving in Pakistan, without any realistic idea of how close to America he could get with his $600 savings.
- An Uighur he met in Pakistan, who had let him stay with him for a few days, recommended he go stay at a Uighur camp in Afghanistan, where he could live for free.
- Almost all the work he and his fellow Uighurs did at the camp was construction work.
- One of his fellow Uighurs, Abdul Maxam, provided him with a limited introduction as to how to fire the camp's only AK-47.[13]
[edit] Testimony on behalf of Abdul Razak
Yusuf Abbas testified on behalf of Abdul Razak.[9] Abdul Razak asserted, and Yusuf Abbas confirmed, that they met in a hospital, in Kabul, when he was ill. The hospital authorities introduced them so Abdul Razak could cater his food. According to the testimony at this Tribunal Yusuf Abbas was in hospital for one month prior to going to the Afghan camp, and that Abdul Razak had catered his food that entire time.
On Abdul Razak's detainee election form Yusuf Abbas's name was recorded as "Adusupur".[14] In his testimony he referred to Yusuf Abbas as "Abdu Supur".
Yusuf Abbas confirmed that he had traveled to the camp with Abdul Razak, that they had fled the American aerial bombardment of Afghanistan with the other Uyghurs, through the mountains, into Pakistan, where they were turned over the Pakistani authorities.
Both men testified that they hadn't seen the other man train on or carry any weapons.
Abdul Razak testified that the camp was near a village he called Urhurl.
[edit] Current status
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.[16] 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.
In September 2007 the Department of Defense published all the Summary of Evidence memos prepared for the Administrative Review Boards convened in 2005 or 2006.[17][18] There is no record that any Administrative Review Board hearings convened in 2005 or 2006 to review his detention.
Five Uyghurs, whose CSR Tribunals determined they had not been enemy combatants were transferred to detention in an Albanian refugee camp in 2006. A man who was born to Uyghur parents, in Saudi Arabia, and thus was considered a Uyghur, was nevertheless returned to Saudi Arabia. All the other Uyghurs remain in Guantanamo.
[edit] References
- ^ a b 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.
- ^ a b China's Uighurs trapped at Guantanamo, Asia Times, November 4, 2004
- ^ a b c Information paper: Uighur Detainee Population at JTF-GTMO pages 28-34. United States Department of Defense (30 October 2004). Retrieved on 2007-12-19.
- ^ a b OARDEC (3 November 2004). Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- Abbas, Yusef page 16. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ OARDEC (April 20, 2006). List of detainee who went through complete CSRT process. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ OARDEC (July 17, 2007). Index for Combatant Status Review Board unclassified summaries of evidence. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ OARDEC (September 4, 2007). Index for testimony. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-09-29.
- ^ Detainee election form (ISN 219) page 89. United States Department of Defense (16 October 2004). Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ a b OARDEC (23 October 2004). Summarized Sworn Detainee Statement (ISN 219) pages 20-35. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^ 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
- ^ OARDEC (3 November 2004). [Summary of Evidence for Combatant Status Review Tribunal -- name redacted (published March 2005) page 41. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ "US releases Guantanamo files", The Age, April 4, 2006. Retrieved on 2008-03-15.
- ^ OARDEC (date redacted). Summarized Statement pages 18-25. United States Department of Defense. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
- ^ Detainee election form (ISN 219) page 89. United States Department of Defense (16 October 2004). Retrieved on 2007-12-18.
- ^ Spc Timothy Book. "Review process unprecedented", JTF-GTMO Public Affairs Office, Friday March 10, 2006, pp. pg 1. Retrieved on 2007-10-10.
- ^ Army Sgt. Sarah Stannard. "OARDEC provides recommendations to Deputy Secretary of Defense", JTF Guantanamo Public Affairs, October 29, 2007. Retrieved on 2008-03-26.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
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