Zaid Muhamamd Sa'id Al Husayn

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Zaid Muhamamd Sa'id Al Husayn is a citizen of Jordan held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba.^[1] Al Husayn's Guantanamo detainee ID number is 50. American intelligence analysts estimate Al Husayn was born in 1974, in Amman, Jordan.

[edit] Identity

One the official lists of Guantanamo captives Zaid Muhamad Sa'id Al Husayn is said to be a Jordanian. A report from Asharq Alawsat states that a Saudi named Zayd Al Husayn al-Ghamidi had been falsely identified as a Jordanian for the last five years.^[2]

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunal notice read to a Guantanamo captive. During the period July 2004 through March 2005 a Combatant Status Review Tribunal was convened to make a determination whether they had been correctly classified as an "enemy combatant". Participation was optional. The Department of Defense reports that 317 of the 558 captives who remained in Guantanamo, in military custody, attended their Tribunals.

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.

There is no record that Al Husayn chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.

[edit] Administrative Review Board hearing

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.

The factors for and against continuing to Al Husayn were among the 121 that the Department of Defense released on March 3, 2006.^[3]

[edit] The following primary factors favor continued detention:

a. Commitment

1. The detainee left Saudi Arabia in July 2001 after being inspired by a posted flyer from a missionary group called The Al Haramain Al Sharifer Organization.
2. Executive Order 13224, which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism, designates al Haramayn as a global terrorist entity.
3. The detainee used his savings of approximately $7,000 U.S. dollars to travel to Afghanistan from Saudi Arabia via Bahrain; Karachi, Pakistan, Quetta, Pakistan; then to Kabul, Afghanistan.

b. Connections/Associations

1. The detainee is a member of the NGO al Wafa.
2. Al Wafa has been designated a terrorist organization.
3. The detainee admits meeting a man named "Suhaib" in Kabul. Suhaib identified himself as being from Saudi Arabia and a member of Al Wafa. Suhaib assisted the detainee with a money exchange.
4. Executive Order 13224, which blocks property and prohibits transactions with persons who commit, threaten to commit, or support terrorism, designates al Wafa as a global terrorist entity.

c. Intent

1. Upon arriving in Kabul, the detainee asked about the location of the Taliban headquarters.
2. The detainee lived in Afghanistan for approximately five to six months. During this time, the detainee traveled with a convoy of Taliban troops and slept in Taliban facilities.
3. The detainee carried a weapon in Afghanistan.
4. The detainee went to the Taliban frontlines in the Takhar, Afghanistan Takhar region.
5. The detainee was identified as a fighter and occasional leader of approximately thirty men on the frontlines in the Talaquan, Afghanistan region.
6. The detainee was present and wounded during military operations at Khowst, Afghanistn on or about 5 Dec 2001.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. In June 2003, the detainee stated he was very angry and wanted to kill the translator and the interviewers.
2. The detainee stated he was not a soldier or a fighter for the Taliban, since that was not the Fatwah he answered. However, if he were, he would be proud of it and admit it and be a martyr for that cause.

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

• The detainee claimed to have been involved only in humanitarian work in Afghanistan and has no affiliation to al Qaida. He claimed he was not involved with any armed forces. He did admit to having frequent contact with Taliban forces while in Afghanistan, but claimed to have had such contact solely for protection purposes.
• The detainee denied meeting any al Qaida members or having attended any training camps.
• The detainee claimed he was approached by an Afghan named "Isaac" and was asked to participate in the Jihad, which he refused.

[edit] References

1. ^ list of prisoners (.pdf), US Department of Defense, May 15, 2006
2. ^ Manal Homeidan. "Missing Saudi Found in Guantanamo after 5 Years", Asharq Alawsat, February 5, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-07. "According to his family Saudi detainee Zayd Al Husayn al-Ghamidi went missing after the events of September 11th 2001 but had recently discovered his whereabouts when his name was reported with those of Guantanamo's Jordanian detainees in a list issued by American authorities last March and from the testimonies of several of the 16 detainees who were recently released." 
3. ^ Factors for and against the continued detention (.pdf) of Zaid Muhamamd Sa'id Al Husayn Administrative Review Board - page 90

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