Abdullah Hekmat is a citizen of Afghanistan who is still held in extrajudicial detention after being transferred from United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camps, in Cuba — to an Afghan prison.[1][2]
His Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 670. American intelligence analysts estimate that he was born in 1972, in Akhcha, Afghanistan.
He was transferred to an Afghan prison on November 2, 2007.[3]
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Abdullah Hekmat is an Afghan businessman who was denounced to American forces, and spent many years in Guantanamo. He acknowledged that he had been involuntarily conscripted into the Taliban's civil service in the mid-1980s.
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 tribunal 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.
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Hekmat's Combatant Status Review Tribunal, on 22 November 2004.[4] The memo listed the following allegations against him:
- The detainee is a member of the Taliban:
- The detainee was a member of the Taliban.
- The detainee was in charge of the 3rd police precinct in Mazir e Sharif under the Taliban.
- The detainee signed all official correspondence in his position with the Taliban police.
- The detainee's duties for the police included conscripting young men for the Taliban by grabbing them off the street.
- The detainee was authorized to receive money from the abovementioned conscriptees in lieu of their service to the Taliban.
- The detainee stated he was hired as a supervisor in a petroleum company as a result of a resume he prepared for the Taliban.
- The detainee's position with the aforementioned petroleum company required his nomination to the Prime Minister by a high-ranking Taliban official and approval by the Cabinet.
- The detainee was in charge of approximately 15,000 people with the aforementioned petroleum company.
- The detainee was in charge of the aforementioned petroleum company for approximately eighteen months.
- The detainee was captured with an article about the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) given to him by an Imam.
- The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the Executive Order 13224.
Hekmat chose to participate in his Combatant Status Review Tribunal.[6] On March 3, 2006 the Department of Defense complied with a court order and released summarized transcripts from the unclassified sessions of the captives' Tribunals. Abdullah Hekmat's transcript was twelve pages long.
Detainees whose Combatant Status Review Tribunal labeled them "enemy combatants" were scheduled for annual Administrative Review Board hearings. These hearings were designed to assess the threat a detainee may pose if released or transferred, and whether there are other factors that warrant his continued detention.[7]
A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for Abdullah Hekmat's Administrative Review Board, on 30 June 2005.[8] The memo listed factors for and against his continued detention.
Hekmat chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.[9] In the Spring of 2006 the Department of Defense complied with a court order and released a ten page summarized transcript of his hearing.
Factors for and against continued detention
- a. Commitment
- The detainee was a Taliban member.
- Shortly after joining the Taliban, the detainee was placed in charge of the 3rd Police Precinct in Mazar-e-Sharif where his duties included conscription and receiving bribes in lieu of conscription.
- The detainee, in his role at the 3rd Police Precinct, signed all official paperwork while he was in charge for two months.
- The detainee was identified as President of the Department of Research and Exploration in Sheberghan Province for 18 months during the late 1990s.
- The appointment process involved a written proposal submitted to the Prime Minister for careful review before the Prime Minister would issue the appointment order to the Cabinet for final approval.
- b. Other Relevant Data
- The detainee was turned over to a commander of Dustum’s forces, he was in prison for four months, and then turned over to U.S. Forces as a Taliban and al Qaida operative.
The following primary factors favor release or transfer
- a. Four armed men arrested the detainee from Mazar-e-Sharif under the pretense of protecting him from Hazra tribes.
- b. The detainee was convinced by his father-in-law to join the Taliban because it would keep their family safe.
- c. The detainee claims he was indifferent regarding the Russian government, the Taliban, or the United States, as he was too busy with his business and trying to make money to worry about issues pertaining to their agendas.
- d. When asked how he felt about Jihad, the detainee stated that he had no desire for Jihad or "other stupid things" (NFI), and that he just wanted to go home, be with his family, and try to restart his business.
- e. When asked what he would do if released back to Afghanistan, the detainee stated that he would return to his businesses and family.
In early September 2007 the Department of Defense released two heavily redacted memos, from his Board, to Gordon England, the Designated Civilian Official.[10][11] The Board's recommendation was unanimous The Board's recommendation was redacted. England authorized his transfer on October 5, 2005.
On November 25, 2008 the Department of Defense published a list of when Guantanamo captives were repatriated.[12] According to that list he was repatriated on November 2, 2007. Seven other Afghans were repatriated that day, two Jordanian captives and one Libyan captive.
The Center for Constitutional Rights reports that all of the Afghans repatriated to Afghanistan from April 2007 were sent to Afghan custody in the American built and supervised wing of the Pul-e-Charkhi prison near Kabul.[2]
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