Zakirjan Asam

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Zakirjan Asam
Born:	May 18, 1975(1975-05-18) Saratov, Russia
Detained at:	Guantanamo
Alias(s):	Zakirjan Hassan, Zakirjan Hasam
ID number:	672
Conviction(s):	no charge, held in extrajudicial detention
Status	Determined not have been an enemy combatant.

Zakirjan Asam (also transliterated as Zakirjan Hassan) is a citizen of Uzbekistan, held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camps, in Cuba.^[1] His Guantanamo Internee Security Number is 672. The Department of Defense reports that Asam was born on May 18, 1975, in Saratov, Russia.

[edit] Combatant Status Review Tribunal

Combatant Status Review Tribunals were held in a 3 x 6 meter trailer. The captive sat with his hands cuffed and feet shackled to a bolt in the floor.^[2] Three chairs were reserved for members of the press, but only 37 of the 574 Tribunals were observed.^[3]

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 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 Zakirjan Asam's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 6 December 2004.^[4] The memo listed the following allegations against him:

A. The detainee is associated with forces that are engaged in hostilities against the United States or its coalition partners.

1. The detainee traveled from Tajikistan to Afghanistan in the spring of 2001.
2. The detainee is a member of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU).
3. The IMU is listed in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Terrorist Organization Reference Guide as having ties with the Taliban.
4. The detainee is acquainted with two individuals who hold leadership roles in the IMU.
5. The detainee was at Mazar-e-Sharif ^[sic] , Afghanistan, when the U.S. bombing campaign began.
6. The detainee has ties to Muslims in the Sink'Iang ^[sic] Province of China.
7. The detainee fled to the mountains when the U.S. bombing campaign started.
8. The detainee was captured by the Northern Alliance in the mountains.
9. The detainee was captured a second time and turned over to U.S. forces.

[edit] Transcript

Asam chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[5] On March 3, 2006, in response to a court order from Jed Rakoff the Department of Defense published a fourteen page summarized transcript from his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[6]

[edit] Testimony

Azam said he was "sent" by special forces from Kazakhstan to Tajikistan.

Azam said he had not even heard of the IMU prior to his arrival in Guantanamo. He heard about the IMU from two of his fellow detainees. He said this in answer to one of his interrogators questions. He believes that the allegation that he knew two people who held leadership roles in the IMU may have been due to a problem in translating this answer.

Azam denied being at Mazari Sharif when the U.S. bombing campaign started. He said he had never been to Mazari Sharif.

Azam said he had never heard of Sink'Iang^[sic] .

Azam denied being captured by the Northern Alliance. He said associates demanded a bribe or they would turn him over to the Americans for a bounty.Everyone knew that the Americans would pay a bounty for any foreigner.

[edit] Determined not to have been an Enemy Combatant

The Washington Post reports that Asam was one of 38 detainees who was determined not to have been an enemy combatant during his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.^[7] They report that Asam remains in detention. They report his nationality as Russian. The Department of Defense refers to these men as No Longer Enemy Combatants.

The Ottawa Citizen speculates that Asam may be one of a select number of detainees under consideration for an offer of Asylum.^[8]

[edit] Celikgogus v. Rumsfeld

Zakirjan Asam is one of the five plaintiffs in Celikgogus v. Rumsfeld.

[edit] References

v • d • e Captives held at Guantanamo Bay before being exonerated and found to not be "enemy combatants" Afghanistan Abdul Rahman, Mohammad Gul, Gul Zaman, Abdul Rahim Muslimdost, Qalandar Shah, Shahwali Zair Mohammed Shaheen Naqeebyllah, Rasool Shahwali Zair Mohammed Mohammed, Abdul Qudus, Shahzada, Hammdidullah, Mohammad Nasim, Kako Kandahari, Feda Ahmed, Nasibullah, Habib Noor, Jalil, Hukumra Khan Algeria Ahmed Adil, Akhdar Qasem Basit, Mohammed Ayub, Abu Bakr Qasim, Adel Abdulhehim, Sadik Ahmad Turkistani Egypt Sami Abdul Aziz Salim Allaithy, Allah Muhammed Saleem France Mustaq Ali Patel Jordan Khalid Mahomoud Abdul Wahab Al Asmr Maldives Ibrahim Fauzee Pakistan Fazaldad, Shed Abdur Rahman Saudi Arabia Saleh Abdall Al Oshan Sudan Hammad Ali Amno Gadallah Tajikistan Maroof Saleemovich Salehove Turkey Salih Uyar Uzbekistan Zakirjan Asam Yemen Karam Khamis Sayd Khamsan