Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (Arabic: عبد الرحيم النشيري‎) (born January 5, 1965^[2]) is a Saudi Arabian citizen alleged to be the mastermind of the USS Cole bombing and other terrorist attacks, he allegedly headed al-Qaeda operations in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf states prior to his capture in November 2002 by the CIA's Special Activities Division.^[3][4]

The CIA waterboarded Al-Nashiri, a gun was loaded during his interrogation and a power drill was held next to his head.^[5][6][7][8]

In December 2008, he was charged before a Guantanamo Military Commission.^[9] The charges were dropped in February 2009 pending the Obama administration's review of all Guantánamo detentions.^[10][11]

Al-Nashiri is currently on trial before a military tribunal in Guantanamo on charges that carry the death penalty. His lawyers have called the proceeding a show trial as al-Nashiri has no meaningful possibility to be freed if he is found not guilty.^[12]

Background

Born in Saudi Arabia, al-Nashiri travelled to Afghanistan to participate in attacks against the Russians in the region. In 1996 he travelled to Tajikistan and then Jalalabad, where he first met Osama bin Laden.^[13] Bin Laden attempted to convince al-Nashiri to join al-Qaeda at this point, but he refused because he found the idea of swearing a loyalty oath to bin Laden to be distasteful. Still, after al-Nashiri travelled to Yemen, he began to consider committing terrorist actions against United States interests.^[13]

When he returned to Afghanistan in 1997, he again met bin Laden, but again declined to join in the terrorist group. Instead, he fought with the Taliban against the Afghan Northern Alliance. Still, he assisted in the smuggling of four anti-tank missiles into Saudi Arabia, and helped arrange for a terrorist to get a Yemeni passport. His cousin, Jihad Mohammad Ali al-Makki, was one of the suicide bombers in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya.^[13]

Allegedly joined al-Qaeda

Finally, probably in 1998, al-Nashiri allegedly joined al-Qaeda, allegedly reporting directly to bin Laden. In late 1998, he allegedly conceived of a plot to attack a U.S. vessel using a boat full of explosives. Bin Laden allegedly personally approved of the plan, and allegedly provided money for it. First, al-Nashiri allegedly attempted to attack the USS The Sullivans as a part of the 2000 millennium attack plots, but the boat he used was overloaded with explosives and began to sink.^[13]

The next alleged attempt, however, the USS Cole bombing, was successful. 17 U.S. sailors were killed, and many more were injured. This alleged success brought him allegedly fame and respect within al-Qaeda, and al-Nashiri became allegedly the chief of operations for the Arabian Peninsula.^[13] He organized the Limburg tanker bombing in 2002, and he may have planned other attacks as well.

Arrest

In November 2002, al-Nashiri was captured in the United Arab Emirates.^[14] He is currently in American military custody in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp,^[4] having previously been held at some secret location. On September 29, 2004, he was sentenced to death in absentia in a Yemeni court for his role in the USS Cole bombing.

The U.S. military put al-Rahim al-Nashiri in prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the Pentagon said March 14, 2008. He was held by the CIA for an undisclosed amount of time.^[15]

Combatant Status Review

The Department of Defense announced on August 9, 2007 that all fourteen of the "high-value detainees" who had been transferred to Guantanamo from the CIA's black sites, had been officially classified as "enemy combatants".^[16] Although judges Peter Brownback and Keith J. Allred had ruled two months earlier that only "illegal enemy combatants" could face military commissions, the Department of Defense waived the qualifier and said that all fourteen men could now face charges before Guantanamo military commissions.^[17][18]

Interrogation

Abd al-Rahim attributed his confessions of involvement in the USS Cole bombing to torture.^[19] All the details Abd al-Rahim offered of his claims of torture were redacted from his transcript.^[20][21]

Through Freedom of Information Act requests the American Civil Liberties Union was able to acquire less redacted versions of the transcripts from Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, and those of three other captives.^[22][23]

In his opening statement, al-Nashiri listed seven false confessions he had been coerced to make while being waterboarded.^[20]

1. The French Merchant Vessel Limburg incident.
2. The USS Cole bombing.
3. The rockets in Saudi Arabia.
4. The plan to bomb American ships in the gulf.
5. Relationship with people committing bombings in Saudi Arabia.
6. Osama Bin Laden having a nuclear bomb.
7. A plan to hijack a plane and crash it into a ship.

During the course of his tribunal he claimed additional confessions he had made, while being tortured. He was ostensibly the last of the al-Qaeda suspects to be videotaped, as he was waterboarded in Thailand by CIA officers who questioned him. Shortly after, when a prisoner died in CIA custody in Iraq, it was decided that all such interrogations would not be videotaped, as it provided criminal "evidence".^[24] All the tapes showing detainees being waterboarded were destroyed in 2005.

It was reported on August 22, 2009, that al-Nashiri was the subject of what is described as a mock execution during his torture by the CIA. A power drill and a handgun were used.^[25]

In May 2011 al-Nashiri's lawyers filed a case against Poland with the European Court of Human Rights. Al-Nashiri was held and allegedly tortured in a secret CIA "black site" prison "north of Warsaw" (OSAW) from December 2002 to June 2003.^[26]

USA v. Al Nashiri

Al Nashiri is currently on trial before a Guantanamo military commission in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.

Order overruled

On January 29, 2009, an order from Obama's new White House administration to suspend all Guantanamo military commission hearings for 120 days was overruled by military judge Army Colonel James Pohl in al-Nashiri's case.^[27][28]

Charges dropped

On February 5, 2009, al-Nashiri's charges were withdrawn without prejudice.^[29]

Charges re-instated

Death penalty

The prosecution planned to request the death penalty for Al Nashiri.^[30] The decision lies with the Convening authority, retired Admiral Bruce MacDonald. In April 2011 the Department of Defense allowed Richard Kammen, a civilian lawyer with a background in defending suspects against death penalty cases, is allowed to join Al Nashiri's defense team.^[31]

Al Nashiri became the first Guantanamo captive to face the death penalty.^[32]

Request to end the prosecution

In a letter in July 2011, al-Nashiri's legal team said:

"Through the infliction of physical and psychological abuse, the government has essentially already killed the man it seized almost 10 years ago." and "By torturing Mr. Al-Nashiri and subjecting him to cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, the United States has forfeited its right to try him and certainly to kill him,"^[33]

Questioning whether Al Nashiri will continue to be detained if he is acquitted

On October 24 2011 Lieutenant Commander Stephen Reyes filed legal motion requesting that jurors in his case be informed that he can continue to be detained in Guantanamo, even if he was acquitted of all charges.^{[34][35][36][37]} Al Nashiri's formal charges are scheduled to be announced at the Tribunal on November 9, 2011.

Legal scholar Robert Chesney, of Lawfare, speculated Al Nashiri would be detained, if acquitted, for at least several more years.^[38] Chesney argued that it would not be unjust to continue to detain Al Nashiri, even if he were acquitted, because conviction requires a higher standard of evidence than a habeas corpus petition.

"Eligibility for military detention, according to a now-substantial body of habeas caselaw, turns on the preponderance of the evidence standard, as applied to a substantive test inquiring whether the person was a member of al Qaeda at the time of capture. One can satisfy that standard consistent with a military commission acquittal."

References