Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely

Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely is a citizen of Iraq, who was held for more than six years in the United States Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.^[1] Al Naely's Guantanamo Internment Serial Number was 758.

Witness for detainee 433

Jawad Jabber Sadkhan had a statement from detainee 758 submitted as evidence at his Tribunal.^[2] In his statement detainee 758 identified himself as "Shaker Al Iraqi (Abass Abdou Erromi)". He testified that he suspected the accusation against him and detainee 433 were the result of animosity from detainee 111, Ali Abdul Motalib Awayd Hassan Al Tayeea. who he identified as "Ali Abdou Ahtaleb Al Iraqi" and detainee 252, who he identified as "Yassin Basro Al Yamani". The official record shows detainees 111 and 262 as Ali Abdul Motalib Awayd Hassan Al Tayeea and Yasim Muhammed Basardah.^[1] Al Naely says he knew Sadkhan in Afghanistan, and he knew him as a good, peaceloving, family man. Al Naely said that the two men he identified as Sadkhan's accusers did not know him in Afghanistan, and their accusations were complete fabrications.

Combatant Status Review

Al Naely was among the 60% of prisoners who participated in the tribunal hearings.^[3] A Summary of Evidence memo was prepared for the tribunal of each detainee. The memo for his hearing lists the following allegations:^[4]

a. The detainee is associated with al Qaida and the Taliban:

1. From 1987 to 1989, the detainee served as an infantryman in the Iraqi Army, and received training on the mortar and rocket propelled grenades.
2. A Taliban recruiter in Baghdad convinced the detainee to travel to Afghanistan to join the Taliban in 1994.
3. The detainee admitted he was a member of the Taliban.
4. The detainee pledged allegiance to the supreme leader of the Taliban to help them take over all of Afghanistan.
5. The Taliban issued the detainee a Kalishnikov rifle in November 2000.
6. The detainee worked in a Taliban ammo and arms storage arsenal in Mazar-Es-Sharif organizing weapons and ammunition.
7. The detainee willingly associated with al Qaida members.
8. The detainee was a member of al Qaida.
9. An assistant to Usama Bin Ladin paid the detainee on three separate occasions between 1995 and 1997.
10. The detainee stayed at the Al Farouq camp in Darwanta, Afghanistan, where he received 1,000 Rupees to continue his travels.
11. From 1997 to 1998, the detainee acted as a trusted agent for Usama Bin Ladin, executing three separate reconnaissance missions for the al Qaida leader in Oman, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
12. In August 1998, the detainee traveled to Pakistan with a member of Iraqi Intelligence for the purpose of blowing up the Pakistan, United States and British embassies with chemical mortars.
13. Detainee was arrested by Pakistani authorities in Khudzar, Pakistan in July 2002.

During the winter and spring of 2005 the Department of Defense complied with a Freedom of Information Act request, and released five files that contained 507 memoranda which each summarized the allegations against a single detainee. These memos, entitled "Summary of Evidence" were prepared for the detainee's Combatant Status Review Tribunals. The detainee's names and ID numbers were redacted from all but one of these memos, when they were first released in 2005. But some of them contain notations in pen. 169 of the memos bear a hand-written notation specifying the detainee's ID number. One of the memos had a notation specifying Al Naely's detainee ID.^[5]

Administrative Review Board

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.^[6]

Al Naely chose to participate in his Administrative Review Board hearing.^[7]

The following primary factors favor continued detention

a. Commitment

An associate of the detainee recommended that he should go to Afghanistan and join the Taliban in their struggle to establish an Islamic state. The detainee was led to believe that if he established himself early with the Taliban he would be successful, rising quickly in the Taliban ranks. The detainee left Iraq for Afghanistan in 1994.

1. The detainee claims to have fought in eastern Afghanistan.
2. Originally, the detainee explained this his decision to go to Afghanistan was made out of religious fervor and to fulfill his religious obligation to fight a jihad. Later, the detainee admitted that he is not a religious man. The detainee also cited his desire to become financially successful as a reason for traveling to Afghanistan, claiming he was told there would be good jobs there for an Arab.
3. The detainee arrived at a guesthouse near Logar, Afghanistan Logar, Afghanistan and went to the front lines.
4. The detainee served as a fighter for the Taliban.

b. Training

1. While in the Iraqi military the Detainee was trained on the rocket-propelled grenade and the mortar.
2. The detainee claims that he was at a guesthouse used by the mujahedin in Kashmir, Pakistan for more than a month. The detainee’s training consisted of physical training, marching and exercising.
3. A high-ranking member of al Qaida claims that the detainee trained at the al Farouq Camp in Kabul, Afghanistan.

'c. Connections/Associations

1. Once in Afghanistan the detainee met with Usama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban. The detainee pledged a bayat to Mullah Omar.
2. While traveling in Afghanistan, the detainee said that he came into contract with Mullah Omar. The detainee claims that he asked Omar for money to help assist him in getting back to his family in Iraq. The detainee said Omar gave him 200,000 Afghani rupees and wrote a letter to the governor of Herat requesting that the governor also help with his situation.
3. The detainee claims that on three separate occasions Usama bin Laden met with and tasked the detainee to conduct missions in support of al Qaida.

d. Other Relevant Data

1. The detainee served as an infantry corporal from 1 May 1987 through November 1988.
2. The detainee was transferred and served as a border guard in November 1988.
3. The detainee claims to have been put back in the Iraqi Army for the first Gulf War. American Forces captured the detainee during the first Gulf War.

The following primary factors favor release or transfer

a. The detainee claims he met with Usama bin Laden and Mullah Mohamed Omar in May 2001. The purpose of this meeting was for the detainee to tell Omar that his soldiers were committing war crimes and atrocities, he could no longer support the Taliban. Omar told the detainee to leave Afghanistan or risk being thrown in prison.

b. A person known to the detainee claims that the detainee was recruited to join groups of fighters and [he] refused.

c. The detainee advised that he was basically a beggar while in Afghanistan. The detainee went from charity to charity and frequently visited Taliban officials asking from money.

d. The detainee claims that he never committed any acts of aggression against the Coalition Forces. The detainee stated that he was never armed with any type of weapons while in Afghanistan and his only military training was the time he served in the Iraqi Army.

e. The detainee acknowledged that his first story about being a close associated of Usama bin Laden was not true. The detainee said the truth is that he never personally met Usama bin Laden.

Statement from Jawad Jabber Sadkhan

Jawad Jabber Sadkhan wrote a letter of testimonial describing helping Al Naely when they were both Iraqi refugees in Afghanistan, during the Taliban's regime.

“I know this man from Afghanistan when he visited me in my own home begging me for some help. I did not have anything to offer [him]. But when I looked at his overall look and his dirty clothing he had on, he looked so miserable. So I went to another friend of mine and asked him for money. That person gave me about $3 and I gave it to ISN 758. I have invited him to stay at my house for that particular night, byt he refused. This person came back to me again (meaning ISN 758) asking me for more money that I didn’t have to give him. I also learned from other people that this person was addicted to Hash, he smokes grass. This was a reason that made me decide not to help him because every time I would help him he would spend it on Hash. To me he was not a political person, a religious person, or a military person. I have never heard once that he hated America or it’s [sic] allies. I never heard that he really served with the Taliban. He received some help from the Taliban like other Iraqi refugees, and I am one of them. I am one of them and I have received help from the Taliban. They only gave me food for my family and me. They gave me a house to stay with my family. In regards to 758, they did not give him a house because he was not married. They only gave [one] to me. He is a peaceful man and he does not pose a threat on nobody and he has parents that need him. Anything that happened between him and me, like some kind of animosity was a result of the investigators here on this facility. So they can create animosity between the two of use [sic]. I was exposed to a lot of abuse, psychological abuse from the investigators and God only knows what happened. This person ISN 758 is innocent from any allegations and God knows everything. This is what I have and peace be upon [you].”

Medical records

On March 16, 2007 the Department of Defense published records of the captives' height and weights.^[8] Abbas Habid Rumi Al Naely's records indicate he was 73 inches tall, and that he weighed 146 pounds when he arrived at Guantanamo on August 5, 2002.^[9]

Release

Abbas Habid Rumi al Naely was transferred to Iraq on Jan. 17, 2009.^[10][11]

References

External links

• Refuting Cheney’s Lies: The Stories of Six Prisoners Released from Guantánamo Andy Worthington